“Women’s World Congress” to be held in August

Academicians, activists, policy makers and students of all ages numbering close to 2,500 are expected to come together to attend the ‘Women’s World Congress’, the 12{+t}{+h}international interdisciplinary convention on women, to be held in India in August this year.

The catch here would be that they belong to what is categorised as fairer sex. And what HoD of History and joint faculty of Centre for Women’s Studies, University of Hyderabad Rekha Pande, under whom the six-day congress is being spearheaded, wants to achieve is to promote awareness, sensitise people to see the broader perspective of women’s issues and come up with solutions.

To ensure inclusiveness and participation, presentation of projects, street plays and lectures on themes such as ‘gender and culture’, ‘gender and health’ and ‘gender and violence’ apart from panel discussions on women entrepreneurs, women’s health and empowerment and trafficking of women form part of the international meet.

Focus on research

With the theme of the year being ‘gender in a changing world’, the symposium focuses on research-based projects pertaining to violence against women, drawing hundreds of people together to share their views and chalk out an action plan to bring about change in society.

Explaining about the composition of the unique gathering and the deliberations scheduled from August 17 to 22 at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), Dr. Pande says that a lot of homework goes behind the screen.

Visiting the city recently to deliver a lecture on ‘women safety and security’ in Andhra University, she said, “The conference, involving a collection of educationists and NGO representatives, has been initiated by Worldwide Organisation of Women’s Studies in the year 1981. And India is hosting it for the first time. With the exchange of presentations from across the globe, we focus on transforming the ideology on various issues concerning women and propose fresh policies.”

Those who want to browse through the details or register for paper presentations can visit www.womensworld2014india.com.