Chennai, December 10: “ Rape is the worst form of violence against women,” expressed renowned social activist and women’s rights crusader, Padmashri Dr.Jaya Arunachalam at a public lecture titled, “ Empowerment, Equity and Freedom from violence”, held here on Thursday. “Rape leaves the victim scarred, and they often don’t approach legal systems for support and action as the onus is often on her for proof,” she added.
“The media inculcates wrong values with respect to gender violence,” the Jamnalal Bajaj Awardee further added. The media is not gender sensitive, and depicts women as objects of lust while portraying violence against women, thereby increasing chances of gender violence, she opined.
Dr.Jaya said that violence against women acts as permanent road blocks in the socio-economic progress of women. “There is no exaggeration in the number of incidents of violence against women reported. They are indeed increasing and becoming more gruesome. Such violence threatens the basic rights of women,” she emphasized. Gender violence manifests itself in many ways, through the dowry system, devadasi system, and through trafficking of women, she said reinforcing that it has an averse effect in economic empowerment.
Organized by Prajnya, a Chennai-based non profit centre, the lecture brought an end to 16 days of campaigning against gender violence, that began on 25th of November. This is the second year in a row that the campaign has been held. “This year the campaign has been held in multiple formats such as workshops, symposiums and concerts, in order to appeal to different groups of people,” said Anupama Srinivasan, Campaign Coordinator, “We hope that the campaign will trigger longer conversations on gender-based violence,” she added.
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