Women Leadership Program
2021
Women's underrepresentation in Politics, Government services and various other services is a topic of discussion around the world. Although some countries have taken steps to improve their representation, many more do not. Despite seven decades of independence, India has been unable to offer legal support for increasing women's representation in politics, government services and in various walks of life.
Women being in positions of leadership and decision-making at all levels are vital in improving gender equity and equality while ensuring economic, social, and political progress for all.
Youth for Good Governance Foundation in collaboration with WINGS Foundation organised a three-day virtual workshop for 50+ aspiring women councillors to provide them with practical legal and technical expertise that will enable the aspirational women city councillors to understand how they can rightfully fulfil their obligations as city councillors in accordance with the 74th Amendment Act.
Through this workshop, we strived to rebuild and shift the power relations in society while also destigmatizing gender roles in society. We had also focused on numerous laws, rights, and issues encountered by women in politics at the grassroots levels during the workshop.
Day 1
The Women's Leadership Workshop started on 25th September. The workshop was inaugurated by the presence of Sri Dr Jayaprakash Narayana. Sir being an Indian liberal politician and founder of Lok Satta Party enlightened the rural women aspirants about the power dynamics in the society by emphasizing the need to have good governance at the local level by empowering both rural and urban communities, for which the key to be Decentralisation and Political Literacy. Sir a true visionary, did stress upon 'power is not just merely a position but a responsibility, a nation will flow toward this contemporary convergence.
In the second Session of the day, we had Ms. Bhakti Sharma, also known as the Iron-Willed Sarpanch set the ideation to transform the Indian village politics as model panchayat. She spectacularly boosted the zeal in our participants to get into contesting local body elections. Ma'am spoke about various plans and strategies one should use to connect with the local people, which indeed was an eye-opener. Her experiences were truly reflected in the conceit she put forth and stood as an example of true women leadership and a laid road map to women in politics.
In the third Session of the day, we had Prof. Arun Kumar covered the session on destigmatising politics thoroughly. Sir effortlessly put forth the challenges faced by women in local body elections and the role of women agencies in women empowerment. Sir patiently handled the session by covering each bit of the topic, which was so conceptually and visually appealing to our audience and kept them very much active in the loop with illustrative descriptions.
Day 2
The day 2 of Women Leadership Program was held on 26th september.The keynote speaker for Day-2 of the women's leadership program was Ms Sujata Patekar, Mumbai City Corporator R -North Ward, Mumbai. She enlightened the women participants with her rich experiences as a corporator. She further made the participants aware of the roles and responsibilities of city corporator.
The first session of day-2 was conducted by Mr. Akshat Gandhi, a national political consultant. Mr. Gandhi’s session centred around the importance of ethical politics. He assisted the audience in understanding the need for such a concept through practical occurrences from India’s political history.
Our second session of day-2 was conducted by Ms. Chandrima Biswar who is a Political Consultant and expert in Digital Communications, SRI, and media. Ms. Biswas equipped the audience with hands-on knowledge on the relevance of digital media in today’s campaigns. She further elaborated on ways on how to use them effectively and strategically.
The third session of day-2 was conducted by Mr. Shailendar Gautam who is a political consultant. He provided a detailed overview of the laws, rights, and enactments of women councillors. He also delved further into the origin of many such laws and their implementation at grass-root levels to provide the audience with a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
Day 3
The Final Day of the women leadership program, 2nd October 2021 was graced by the Hon'ble Chief Guest, Shri Pratap Sarangi, Former Minister of State in the Government of India for Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. He addressed the audience on the theme 'Gandhian Strategies for Democratic decentralization and development'.
The Second session of the womenleadership program on 2nd October 2021 was addressed by Advocate Mahima Singh, Advocate Supreme Court of India on the topic '74th amendment and decentralization- in light of judgments, Advocate Mahima Singh, Distinguished Speaker'.
The third session of the women leadership program on 2nd October 2021 was addressed by the distinguished speaker Ms Kiran Chenvankar, Corporator from Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation. She enlightened the audience based on her practical experience as a corporate on the topic 'Role of City Councilors in Good City Governance'.
The final session of the women leadership program on 2 October 2021 was addressed by the distinguished speaker Ms Abha Maryada Banerjee, Practicing Advocate and a motivational speaker on the topic "Why Girls Show Limited Political Ambition?".