Women’s Safety & Security and Engaging Men/Boys – Srinagar – 13-14 Feb
February 13-14, 2023 – Amrita University’s Gender Equality and Disability C20 Working Group (GED WG) held a two-day policy dialogue on the themes of “Women’s Safety & Security” and “Engaging Men & Boys.” The University of Kashmir hosted the event in Srinagar under India’s G20 Presidency.
The event aimed to ensure that civil society considerations related to gender and disability are considered in the G20 discussions and translated into the G20 Leaders’ Declaration as policies and commitments to be implemented.
The two-day event had panel discussions, conversations with CSOs, and deliberations on previously identified areas of concern related to the event themes. It also included an in-depth exploration of one of the GED WG ‘Udaaharans’ (promising practices), a gender sensitization and mental health initiative targeting CRPF jawans in the Srinagar district under the leadership of IPS Officer Ms. Charu Sinha. This initiative has, to date, been deployed to over 20,000 jawans in the district.
Participating experts proposed several recommendations, highlighting the need for legal reforms; gender sensitization in school curricula and for all professionals; improved gender-disaggregated data collection (that includes information on transgender and non-binary genders) on which to base policy; leveraging public platforms to facilitate gender equality and disability awareness; the need for disability inclusion with regards to policy and implementation at all levels; and the need to target the psychological underpinnings of gender inequality and disability exclusion to create sustainable changes.
University of Kashmir’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Nilofer Khan, presided over the event, which was attended by Shombi Sharp, the UN Resident Coordinator for India, Vijay K. Nambiar, UN Ambassador and Sherpa of the C20 India, Kanta Singh, Deputy Country Representative of UN Women in India, Huma Masood, Senior Gender Specialist at UNESCO, Nayana Sahasrabudhe of Bharatiya Stree Shakti, and Inspector General of the Central Reserve Police Force, Ms.Charu Sinha (IPS). Indian coordinator of the GED WG, Dr. Bhavani Rao, delivered the vote of thanks.
