Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
I remember wishing to myself during the ceremony, that I could bottle this and take it home. God knows I was going to need it.
The 12th Laadli Media & Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity concluded on 2 November at the DDE Auditorium, MANUU, Hyderabad. But the crackling energy of the 100+ attendees, the hard hitting topics that won their creators awards, and their courage to do what they did have stayed with me.
I crash landed into reality yesterday and immediately needed a whiff. A man stood too close to me in the check-in queue at the airport. Then the elderly gent sitting next to me on the plane poked his elbow into my sides and spread his legs, forcing me to huddle into a corner of my seat.
I moved ahead of the young man in the check in queue, put my suitcase between us and gave him a death glare. In the flight, I lowered the handlebar between the seats, forcing the older man to retract his elbow and heart thudding, shifted to cover the width of my seat. His knees went back to his seat.
Everyday battles won, one word, one minute, one brave gesture at a time.
Throughout the event, I saw people who had cried their eyes out in the loo, cried in their seats and probably cried in their hearts, too. We all helped each other, even though we hadn’t met before. There was the woman who dropped her trophy and other gifts to the side to help the next winner, a disabled person, navigate the three narrow and steep stairs to the stage. My fellow author winner from Women’s Web Shalini gave me a shoulder to cry on when I broke down at dinner, and messaged me as soon as she woke up the next morning, “How are you?”
There are so many more out there, doing the right thing, being good and kind because that’s the best way to be, every minute of every day. They may not get awards, they may not write articles, record podcasts or film documentaries, but they are still heroes.
This is us. We are a small group but we are powerful. And I believe, more than anything I have ever believed before, that this is a wave that will only grow stronger with time.
When the day comes, when The Day comes the wall that separates us from outdated thinking and gender biases falls with a mighty crash when the world as we know it will change forever Where do you want to be?
A red ribbon engraved with the words, ‘Celebrate Her Life.’ In the organisers’ words, ‘the trophy captures movement, free spirit and reaches out to the sky, denoting unlimited potential.’
Each winner received a framed certificate describing what the jury appreciated about the entry.
Congratulations to all of us!
I asked so many questions that I stopped getting answers. Then I started writing. read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
Please enter your email address