Women continued to face discrimination in all spheres of life and violence against them was on the rise, said Srilatha Swaminathan, national president of All-India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA), here on Wednesday.
Addressing the inaugural session of the sixth national conference of the association at Tummalapalli Kalakshetram in the city, Ms. Swaminathan said the association would continue its relentless war against injustice meted out to the fairer sex until all the wrongs were rectified and converted into rights.
Andhra Pradesh State secretary of APIWA Nagamani spoke about how women had successfully drawn the government attention to the exploitative micro-finance institutions. She also raised serious concern over the persisting crimes like rape and acid attacks on women.
P. Durga Bhavani and Challapalli Vijaya, State vice-president of National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) and State president of Stree Vimukthi Sangathan respectively, called for a united struggle to face the several challenges posing grave threat to women across the country. Sanjila Ghising of Democratic Revolutionary Women's Federation from Darjeeling highlighted the State repression and exploitation of women labour in that State.
National general secretary of AIPWA Meena Tiwary said it was heart-warming to see women from different States gathering under one roof to fight for a common cause. Women delegates from nearly 20 States attended the inaugural of the two-day conference. Earlier, they walked in a rally from the railway station to the venue of the meeting and raised slogans insisting their demand for gender equality and immediate and effective steps to end atrocities against the fairer sex in all forms and at all places. Cultural troupes of Jana Sanskritika Mandali and Lambada women led the procession. At the venue, an impressive exhibition by two young artists, Anupam Roy and Bablu Paul, depicted the growing offences against women.
