From hearing out problems to organising activities that will encourage girls in their campus, the women’s empowerment cell at St Mary’s College is a busy group.
In a college where boys outnumber girls by a big margin (there are just about 220 girls), the importance of having a women’s empowerment cell is not just restricted to complaints about eve teasing, if there are any.
“One of the aims of the cell is to inculcate better communication skills among the girls. We have a lot of activities planned for them, one of them is an essay writing competition which is inspired from Pakistani educational activist Malala Yousafzai’s book,” says M. Madhuri, one of the student co-ordinators of the cell.
Often girls in their college are shy to take part in extracurricular activities, and the cell ensures that they are smart. “We are not just about cultural activities, of course, that is also a part of our events planned. But it’s more about the empowerment of the girls in the college, making sure their voices are heard; and it does create a big impact,” says Sushmita Ghanta, another student co-ordinator. She adds, “It opens up communication amongst students.”
The cell is also open to ideas from students that they can implement as part of their yearly activities. “We go around from class to class asking students about their ideas, what do they want to do as a part of the member activities, do they want guest lectures etc.,” says Sushmita.
And they already have bright ideas. “One of the students is learning karate and she wants to hold a self-defence workshop. When we get ideas like these, we pitch it to our principal. We have started yoga classes for the staff and are asking the students to join. For the housekeeping staff, we are trying to organise a medical camp,” says Madhuri.
In a recent event hosted by the cell, Priya Reddy, an image consultant, spoke to the girls about etiquette. They plan to organise many more such talks and awareness programmes. Madhuri adds, “People confuse women’s empowerment with feminism. We are not just about feminism. In a class, where there are more than 40 boys and just 15 girls, they are often shy and we tell them that we are there to help to them out.”
