Gender issues: Call to liberate society

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The taboo on talking about sexuality is what creates many sexual errors in the society and open talks on it could liberate the society from many gender issues, Vice-Chancellor of Kerala University A Jayakrishnan has said. He was presiding over the women’s day programme organised by the KU Cell to Combat Sexual Harassment, Women’s Study Centre, Women’s Forum and Women’s Club.  Quoting the ‘Puranas’, the VC said that women in earlier times enjoyed equal or better status than men. All good things like wealth and education are attributed to Goddesses and men are mere slaves. But somewhere down the line, we missed the point, he said, and there have been aberrations.  Inaugurating the seminar, Land Revenue Commissioner K B Valsalakumari said women had to part with their power ever since land became a hot consumer property. This year’s thrust on the Day is ‘Connecting girls, inspiring future’, which is a contemporary topic, she said. Brief biographies should be prepared on inspiring men and women, to which girls should have access to. Connecting is important because women or girls would know how to form a networking and combat the injustice against them.  There should be efforts to break the gender perceptions in society, she said. Investing in girls would bring back more development to society, she added.  Syndicate member and associate professor of Malayalam at University College, P S Sreekala, who offered felicitations, said it is not a day that gives anything to rejoice for women. Instead, it should be a day when women should think how even after education and job and enjoying financial freedom, they face violence and insecurity in society. She said that women who react are often seen as indecent, even by other women. This perception should change. It is not that women want men to be sidelined or made slaves. Women only want their power to think and lead a life just like their male counterparts and it is not a cry for authority, but equality, she said.  The seminar was also attended by Dr G S Jayasree, Diana Stephen, Rose Mary and Anna Lyndberg, among other women representatives.