‘Women rights is human rights and human rights is women rights’
–Dr. Ilaben Patak, AWAG
According to United Nations (1978), all human beings are born free and are equal in dignity and rights. Human rights are inherent to all human beings irrespective of nationality, gender, religion or social status.
The constitution of India also pledges equal rights of men and women. However, in the domain of women’s rights in India, there exists a significant gap between theory and practice. India still follows a strong patriarchal system, where men are accepted to be superior in the society. On the other hand, women are being constantly discriminated and dishonored in some form or the other. With women disproportionately being subjected to rape, dowry, child marriage, sexual harassment etc. one begins to wonder if India is violating human rights of women.
In reality, how many women receive the same education and equal opportunities as men? Even today, when people are asked what does human rights mean to them, most of them focus on rights of a man. AWAG urges people to consider that women have equal rights to men. They should be given their rights, so they have the same societal, economic and political status as men. Women should be equally respected and honored in her environment.
One of the important reasons to celebrate Human Rights day at AWAG is to shed light on the importance of ‘equal rights’. The organization took part in a rally at Lal Darwaza, Ahmedabad, Gujarat collaborating with 12 other charity organisations including Movement of secular democracy (MSD), Peoples Union for Civil Society (PUCL) and Ahmedabad Muslims Women’s Association (AMWA) to commemorate Human Rights Day. These type of civil society movements provide a platform to educate the masses and ensure women will not be discriminated against men based on gender anymore.
‘The fighting of women’s human rights from 1948 wen the UN made the human rights committee to 21st century 2015 has been going on, but there is still so much left to do’
– Ms. Nalini Trivedi, AWAG