Women’s Day Celebration: Bandra Plot

On March 10, 2016, Safecity celebrated International Women’s Day with 25 women and girls of Bandra Plot, a community located in Jogeshwari East.

The event began with talking about Women’s Day, the historical significance attached to it and why it should be celebrated- and how we were grateful  that these women took time out of their busy schedules to celebrate with us.

The women and girls from Bandra Plot, Jogeshwari (E)

We also spoke about rights, especially women’s rights. Her right to health, to education, but also her right to have some fun. With that we began a game of passing the parcel, however with a twist. Whoever the music stopped on had to pick a “forfeit” from a box.

Playing a game

We designed these “forfeit” so as to not only be fun, but open up conversations between the women and girls. Some examples, Talk about your best achievement,a  restriction on women you’d like to break, favorite thing about yourself, a wish you have from society, a change you want to bring and so on.

We saw women, mostly mothers, talking about a new society for their daughters. We also saw daughters share their dreams in front of their mothers.

Sharing dreams and aspirations

Besides this, there was also singing, recital of poetry and many laughs. We also saw a special bond between the girls and women, as the former coaxed their mothers to enjoy themselves and latter swelled with pride at their daughter’s clever and well thought out answers.

The group sharing a laugh

After the game, we set up a film screening of “Gaon nahi kinhi paanch ka”- a film where marginalized people in the village, especially the women, come together to bring about change. After the film we had a short discussion on how collective voices are important and how, by working together, change can be brought.

It was truly a wonderful experience to have all the women and young girls come together and celebrate the spirit of International Women’s Day.