The Journey from Existence to Co Existence

The National Girl Child Day is celebrated on January 24th and is an initiative undertaken by the ministry of women and child development. This day is meant to create awareness in the society about the rights a girl owns and to provide equal opportunities and to remove the gender biases. It aims at educating the society about girl child education and to reduce female feticide. Several government campaigns and initiatives such as ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ and ‘Save the Girl Child’ are in line with this day.

- More than 1 in 3 women experience gender-based violence during their lifetime.

- More than 5 women or girls are killed every hour by someone in their own family.

- Less than 40 per cent of women who experience violence seek help of any sort.

Women's rights activists have observed 25 November as a day against gender-based violence since 1981. A 16 days campaign is done to spread awareness about activism against gender violence. The #MeToo movement is an ongoing battle to help a large population, especially women to gain power over their experiences, a very powerful movement since 2006. Here’s a few changes that have taken place as a result of the movement:

- MeToo raised awareness of the incidence of workplace harassment and available redress options.

- Companies took measures in response to the Me Too movement.

- India's business community was on guard as they were startled from their complacency by it.

- All businesses paid attention to the Luxury Act, which mandates the formation of an internal complaints committee for businesses with more than 10 employees but which was previously either not taken seriously or completely disregarded.

- There was a resurgence of interest in conducting sessions with women and gaining their views on the workplace environment. Educating people about various kinds of harassment, gathering feedback on any complaints, and assuring them of support.

- Due to the movement and increase in support by organisations worried about reputational hazards, this saw a surge in complaints by almost 14–15% in 2018–2019. 965 complaints were filed with the NCW in 2018, up from 570 in 2017.

- Organizations knew that if women were denied a voice or a way to voice their complaints, they would speak out in public, on social media, or in person with the police.

- Women felt more in control. Businesses began to do more and more, and female employees gained confidence.

- Many businesses have implemented gender-neutral policies in addition to what is required by law.

This initiative has given new employees, who were typically the targets, the confidence to question up front about the ICC and complaint procedures. Previously, a few behaviours and gestures were regarded as usual in a number of service-oriented professions, including advertising, travel, hospitality, and even film, where people were very complacent about the liberal attitude.

It has instilled terror in the hearts of the offenders, making them think twice before acting. It inspired businesses to address the problem of harassment. Many skeletons are starting to emerge from the cabinet, the ICC frequently takes all of this seriously, and the victims are starting to receive justice. All employees feel empowered. There are prohibitions against nondisclosure agreements in many states. There are more workers who fall under the category of "employees" in several counties. There are numerous farm and household labourers present. The legal definition of independent contractors has been expanded in some states.

Women are an essential aspect of society. They are many crimes perpetrated against women that are mostly not reported making the system ineffective to protect them in future. It is also to be understood that women are thrust with the responsibility of the whole family like child sustenance and sustenance of old parents and if they are suppressed then it is possible that they won’t be able to contribute equally as their male counterparts. Along with the growing inflation it is impossible to keep up with the monetary needs of the family with just one person winning the bread. It is a need that women to be protected so that they can be equal contributors to societal development.

For voicing the plight of women and taking an action against it, it is really important that women are made aware of the legal and social facilities provided by the government and non-profit organisations. They must be told about their basic rights which unfortunately is not common knowledge. They also should be brought to the frontline in the economic front to survive in the world full of competition.