Dr Tessy Thomas, Scientist & Director General of Aeronautical Systems, DRDO, articulated the importance of treating women and men at par with each other. She was speaking as the chief guest at the ‘She M Power Women’s Conclave and Awards 2020’, which took place at HICC, Hyderabad, on Thursday.
The event saw over 1,200 participants, including few police officials from across a couple of states. “That also means if women take on careers and can still manage their families, men should also be able to do the same,” said the ‘Missile Woman’ of India. “That is how Gen Next will learn to value and respect each gender.”
The event also saw Swati Lakra (IG), In-Charge, Women’s Safety Wing; Anasuya, DCP, Woman & Child Safety, She Teams and Convener of Women’s Forum Hyderabad; Krishna Yedula, General Secretary Society for Cyberabad Security Council (SCSC);V.C. Sajjanar, IPS, Commissioner (Cyberabad); and actress Sai Pallavi gracing the occasion.
‘She M Power’,where ‘M’ stands for ‘male’, is an initiative by the SCSC in the city, aiming to empower women across all walks of life, hoping to bring equality among people. The initiative also works on safety issues for women while talking about their achievements across various fields as also focuses on the aspect of Respect–Reach–Rise, when a woman evolves, rising to herself and others towards equality of the human race.
Rewarding empowerment
The Conclave gave away awards for the good work women across various fields have done. The women safety and empowerment awards were given in three categories: (i)She M Power — Best Male Ally; (ii) Safe Workplace Award — Best Practices Employed on Women Safety and (iii) Safe Workplace Award —Best Practices to Strengthen the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace.
Speaking at the function, Krishna Yedula, General Secretary, SCSC, said, “This initiative was taken to ensure Hyderabad is safe for women. And we brought in women achievers to motivate other women with their inspirational stories.”
In her speech, DCP Anasuya hoped that the session would empower many women to break the glass ceiling in their respective fields.
The event also saw the launch of a women’s safety app, called ‘She Safe’. Designed by a group that includes a majority of women, this app hopes to stop any kind of violence committed against women. Shalini, one among the six who developed the app, stated that it had taken the team more than three months to develop the app, which has all the facilities to protect women and keep them safe.
The Suryapet District team won the best She Team Award in Telangana. “We have set up awareness programmes in the district because of which people started talking about She Teams. We take up every problem seriously so that we can help stop events of violence in the district. We focused our works on young people in colleges and schools and that is how we were able to come first today,” a team member from the Suryapet She Team told us.
