‘Dalit women should strive to excel in all fields’

Vijayawada: Women in general and Dalit women in particular should strive to excel in all fields to achieve equality in society, said Jhansi Geddam, national convener of Dalit Sthree Shakti (DSS) while presiding over the workshop on ‘Equality in Independent India’ at Makineni Basavapunnaiah Vignana Kendram here on Wednesday.

Addressing the women’s collective from various districts, who attended the meeting, Jhansi said that Dalit women should shed inhibitions and lead an independent life. She advised the Dalit women to treat the boys and girls equally at home to prepare the boys to treat women with respect. “Give them brooms to clean the house so that they could learn what is housekeeping and understand the dignity of labour,” she added.

Jhansi appealed to the women to respect themselves to get respect from others. Devatoti Nagaraju, members of SC, ST Development Council, expressed concern over the castiesm and how the people are becoming caste-centred. “If anybody wants to even rent a home, he is asked about his caste,” he rued. Despite stringent laws, there is no safety and protection to Dalits, he added.

Prof Maqsood Syed, general secretary of BAMCEF, recalled that Nirbhaya Act was enacted when an upper caste woman was raped and killed but nothing would happen if Dalit women were raped and killed. Prof A Subrahmanyam, Dean of Law in Nagarjuna University, Dr Sirdoji, convener of IAS, IPS Officers’ Forum, Anuradha, DE of APSEB, Manikyam, Kiran and others spoke. Daniel Prakash, national programme manager of Dalit Sthree Shakti coordinated the programme.