"I will consider India truly free only when every woman can walk the streets alone at midnight without any fear". Thus spake Gandhi nearly fifty years ago on the eve of India Independence. We are nowhere close today to achieving the free India that he dreamt of.
Sexual Harassment and eve teasing are an ever growing menace in India. A society that has been a traditionally male dominated one, is yet to come to terms with the freedom that the woman has been granted in the constitution and one which women have been powerfully voicing and exercising in the past few decades.
The Internet however has emerged as a powerful medium to be the voice for the voiceless millions across the globe. And Indian women are leaving no stone unturned in reigning in the power of the N
et to make public their ghastly experiences and set rolling a new wave of awareness among the general public of the need to give today's woman the respect she has been deprived of all along.
Three Indians under the assumed names of Mangs, Jasmeen and Chinmayee have initiated a Blog-a-thon ( Blog Marathon ). Nick named the Blank Noise Project, longtime bloggers in India, more so women, have been invited to post a special item in their blogs that speak of the kind of harassment that women close to them or around them or they themselves have faced and their ideas, opinions on how women could join hands to secure their rightful freedom. Polls were conducted, blogs were written and voices were aired. The idea here is to bring to the notice of media and the political authorities of the need to take steps to right the wrongs being committed against women.
Notice has definitely been taken. Non-Indian Websites and bloggers have highlighted this laudatory effort by the Indian women and are contributing in their own ways to lend support to the cause. One such site is by Mark Pritchard.
The media in Indian and the world too are taking notice. Prominent among them are India Together, The Times of India, The Hindu, The Telegraph, Deccan Herald, Global Voices in Boston and DNA MUMBAI
Do visit the official blog site which is the least you could do to ensure that the female members of your family are not subject to loathsome and horrifying experiences that some of the participants in the blogathon have described. Let us all join hands to at least educate the people around us. That would go a long way in ensuring that the efforts of hundreds of these women bloggers does not go a waste.
Sexual Harassment and eve teasing are an ever growing menace in India. A society that has been a traditionally male dominated one, is yet to come to terms with the freedom that the woman has been granted in the constitution and one which women have been powerfully voicing and exercising in the past few decades.
The Internet however has emerged as a powerful medium to be the voice for the voiceless millions across the globe. And Indian women are leaving no stone unturned in reigning in the power of the N
et to make public their ghastly experiences and set rolling a new wave of awareness among the general public of the need to give today's woman the respect she has been deprived of all along.Three Indians under the assumed names of Mangs, Jasmeen and Chinmayee have initiated a Blog-a-thon ( Blog Marathon ). Nick named the Blank Noise Project, longtime bloggers in India, more so women, have been invited to post a special item in their blogs that speak of the kind of harassment that women close to them or around them or they themselves have faced and their ideas, opinions on how women could join hands to secure their rightful freedom. Polls were conducted, blogs were written and voices were aired. The idea here is to bring to the notice of media and the political authorities of the need to take steps to right the wrongs being committed against women.
Notice has definitely been taken. Non-Indian Websites and bloggers have highlighted this laudatory effort by the Indian women and are contributing in their own ways to lend support to the cause. One such site is by Mark Pritchard.
The media in Indian and the world too are taking notice. Prominent among them are India Together, The Times of India, The Hindu, The Telegraph, Deccan Herald, Global Voices in Boston and DNA MUMBAI
Do visit the official blog site which is the least you could do to ensure that the female members of your family are not subject to loathsome and horrifying experiences that some of the participants in the blogathon have described. Let us all join hands to at least educate the people around us. That would go a long way in ensuring that the efforts of hundreds of these women bloggers does not go a waste.
Comments
Speaking of women voicing themselves on the net, I stumbled upon this blog post http://o3.indiatimes.com/verlisphere/archive/2006/03/06/519494.aspx,
and thought of sharing it with you.
The author relates multiple incidents of harassment on her. The comments for this post indicate the sympathy and support that she got back. She is also a participant of Blank Noise.