Marching for the women’s cause

Started by a few city organisations in 2007, Women’s March today is a full-fledged movement celebrating women’s emancipation through arts, culture and a series of seminars. Amita Desai, executive director of Goethe Zentrum and one of the organisers, says that one day is never enough to celebrate, commemorate or bring up issues regarding what needs to be done or what women need to do for themselves.

And that is why a month-long activity was needed during the month of March, which also celebrates the International Day for Women. “This way, we could bring in more activities, women’s theatre and dance groups, panel discussions or film screenings. We are hopeful that there is some movement, some mobility in the cause in days ahead,” she adds.

The event this year will have photography and art exhibitions, theatre performances and poetry and documentary film sessions. Jean-Manuel Duhaut, director of the Alliance Francaise, speaks about the photo exhibition, which he is helping to organise. He says, “There will be two sets of photos, one by Indian photographer Uzma Mohsin, and the other by French photographer Viviane Dalles. While Uzma’s photographs try to capture Indian women in different professions like boxing or circus, Viviane’s photographs document the Gulabi Gang, a group of women in Bundelkhand who fought for their rights in their villages.”

The exhibition, which is to be held at Kalakriti Art Gallery from March 7, will be an open space event, utilising the space outside the gallery. This time, students of three schools of University of Hyderabad — Women’s Studies, Arts and Communication and Comparative Literature – will also be part of the event through a theatre production of Torn Curtains theatre group.

“We need to keep talking about women’s struggles, sometimes their achievements, and most times the requirement to address as a society, issues that are at stake. We are talking about being heard, be it as an artiste, as a filmmaker, or as a housewife. We do wish to create a platform where women become an essential part of the society, neither being left out at the periphery or just carrying the larger burden of being a nurturer,” says Amita.