By L. Bhushan
Mumbai: One Day International Conference titled “Looking at the Pandemic Through Gender Lens” was organized by the Women Development and Empowerment Cell (WDEC), KES Shroff College in collaboration with Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM), Government of Maharashtra and Beti Bachao Abhiyan, Department of Students’ Development, Shivaji University, Kolhapur.
The May 24 conference saw over 1600 registered delegates out of which 93 people presented their research papers. The conference was live-streamed on YouTube where it would be available for later viewing.
The conference started at 10 AM with a prayer to Goddess Saraswati – a Hindu Goddess of Knowledge.
The inaugural session was flagged off by Jaanvi Joshi who also anchored the event.
The Principal of KES Shroff College Dr. Lily Bhushan welcomed the dignitaries and resource persons and delivered a concept note.
Dr. D. T. Shirke, Vice-Chancellor, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, delivered the inaugural address followed by Jyoti Thakare’s introduction to the social work of Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal, to which she currently serves as a chairperson.
Dr. Pam Rajput, Professor Emerita and Founder Director, Center for Women’s Studies and Development, Punjab University delivered a keynote address which was a disquisition on the gendered response to COVID-19 given by India.
Kamla Bhasin, founder, Sangat, a feminist network, was the guest of honor who presented in absentia the work done by her NGO during COVID.
The inaugural session ended with a Vote of Thanks delivered by Dr. Pratibha Desai, Asso. Professor, Shivaji University.
The plenary session by Dr. Sangeeta Desai, Faculty, SNDT Women’s University, Dr. Vibhuti Patel, Economist and Women’s Rights Activist, Dr. Chitra Sinha, Co-founder, Kooheji Consultancy, Bahrain, and Dr. Marium Seedat Khan, Professor, University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
The discussion was about the impact of COVID on gender norms, women at the workplace, legal framework, and women’s health. This panel discussion was moderated by Prof. Roxana Marinescu, Faculty, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania.
Post lunch, the conference was divided into five parallel paper presentation sessions moderated by Dr. Sangeeta Desai, Dr, Vibhuti Patel, Dr. Chitra Sinha, Dr. Marium Seedat Khan, and Dr. Arvind N. Haldankar, respectively.
Each session had its theme related to women and COVID 19. Total 93 papers were presented which studied from the lens of pandemic various issues like law, gendered violence, the impact of technology on women, women’s mental health, and women’s issues at the workplace, at home, in sports, and as frontline workers. The papers had come from countries like the Philippines, Kuwait, Sierra Leone, Romania, South Africa, Canada, and India.
In the valedictory session that followed the paper presentation session, Dr. Elizabeth Broderick, Rapporteur of United Nations Human Rights Council, delivered a valedictory address and enlightened the audience about the work of the United Nations for the rights of women.
Dr Harshad Santosh Pore, the rapporteur of the conference, presented a formal report. Dr. Vibhuti Patel announced the winner of the Best Research Paper Award from each Paper Presentation Session. The winners were Manjusha Patwardhan, Bhavan’s H. Somani College, Mumbai; Tauseef Fatima, Centre for Women’s Studies, Aligarh Muslim University and Mridula Chauha, Rohilkhand University, Bareilly (coauthors); Anjuman Yadav, Miranda House, University of Delhi and Ruchita Yadav, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow (coauthors); and Akash Dewangan, Delhi University. Besides them, Sweetie Jain Birla of D G Khetan International School, Mumbai and Mohammed Arafat Hasan Rizvi of Centre for Women’s Studies, Aligarh Muslim University along with Faisal Hassan, Department of Psychology, Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, Rampur, India tied for the award. Gurleen Pannu of Thakur College of Engineering and Technology, Mumbai and Dollu Mehta of KES Shroff College, Mumbai (coauthors) along with Diya Kirttania, Medha Nandini, and Vaishnavi Singh of Miranda House, University of Delhi (coauthors) were given special awards based on the moderators’ recommendation.
In the end, Vaishali Ojha, the conference Convener proposed a Vote of Thanks. The conference concluded by playing Vande Mataram and the delegates expressing gratitude for being a part of the conference.
What will be the impact of this international conference on the Indian women, especially, the oppressed, exploited, excluded and sexually harassed Indian women??? This is a million-dollar question.