In the opening event of the 16-day "International Day of Elimination of Violence against Women" observation of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), held today at the Conference Hall, Administrative Block, faculty members of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) called for international action to raise awareness about violence against women. They did this by promoting advocacy and creating opportunities for discussion on challenges and solutions.
"People are becoming more aware of gender-based violence, but there is definitely more that has to be done," said Prof. Tariq Mansoor, vice chancellor of AMU.
The Vice Chancellor said, in his capacity as the first event's Chief Guest, "Prevention plays a crucial role to eradicate and remove the fundamental causes of gender-based violence. Such preventative action can benefit greatly from youth involvement and work.
Even if things are gradually changing, he emphasised that more has to be done to alter mindsets and challenge gender norms and stereotypes that normalise gender-based violence in society. This can be accomplished by setting up campaigns, providing training, facilitating peer-to-peer education, or incorporating a gender equality component into every part of life.
"It is encouraging to see that women are becoming more prominent in public life around the world. Nordic and Scandinavian nations have female head of states. The representation of women in politics, the civil service, and the police is also rising, according to Prof. Mansoor, and women entrepreneurs in India are continually shattering preconceptions and transforming the commercial scene.
Prof. Mohammad Gulrez, the guest of honour and pro vice chancellor, emphasised that the culture of misogyny and gender-based violence devalues women, normalises or downplays abuse, ignores sexism, encourages aggressive or even toxic masculinity, and makes use of men's accomplishments to defend, justify, and downplay the effects of their behaviour.
He continued, "The founder of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, asked people to grasp what lay in a woman's heart and not to refer to women as the "weaker sex" since doing so would be demeaning to them and an act of injustice on the part of men."
"The last few weeks have thrown up many heartbreaking stories of violence against women," Prof. Mohammad Sajjad (Department of History) remarked in a speech he gave on "International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women: Theme, History, Significance and Key Facts." A local media writer was driven to suicide or possibly thrown to his death from the 16th floor of a building in Noida, along with a partner who was hacked into pieces, a six-year-old baby girl who was murdered by her father, a little child who was murdered by her parents, and three more victims. There is something wrong with society and our collective mind processes when we constantly hearing about such gruesome incidents.
He emphasised: "We are discussing these concerns in a setting known as a university where public funds are used to create and disseminate knowledge. These institutional settings bear the greatest responsibility for raising people's awareness of their outrage at such views and for motivating them to take further action in opposition to violent regressivism.
On this occasion, a short animated film called "Violence against Women throughout the Life Cycle" was also shown. It documents women's inner torment and exposes the numerous layers in which they are imprisoned to deal with mental and physical violence.
