SIBC collaborated with the Women Development Cell of Pillai HOC College of Arts Science and Commerce to observed UN 16 Days of Gender Activism today with an objective to raise awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at a local and regional level.

Two movies were screened – ‘*_That Day After Everyday_*’ and ‘*_Juice_*’ for a mixed audience of ‘Mawshis’, girl students and some male students – a varied representation of civil society.

The former movie focused on the ways of combating gender – based violence – which is more of a mental battle than a physical one whereas in the latter, Shefali Shah anchors the story of internalised patriarchy and misogyny in Indian homes which struck just the right chord amongst the audience.

The Panel Discussion which followed witnessed an engaged, vocal, inquisitive audience who interacted quite instinctively with the Panelists about their opinions and views.

SIBC observed the UN 16 days of Activism by conducting a talk on Women rights and the Domestic Violence Act for the women support staff of two educational institutions, Dr. Pillai Global Academy and Dr. K. M. Vasudevan Pillai Campus in New Panvel. In total around 100 women who are underprivileged and semi-literate attended these sessions. The sessions lasted for 1 hour each and the resource person, Ms. Rajshree, a lawyer on women rights in Mumbai covered important topics like property rights, domestic abuse, financial independence etc. It was very informative and was highly appreciated by the audience because they could use this information in their lives. Many women came forward and personally spoke to the resource person with regard to their own problems.