A strong woman isn’t afraid of anything but a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of her fear.
A select group of women present at the auditorium of Samana Institute for Design Studies (SIDS) on Saturday was an enchanting mix of the two. Women from various walks of life gathered, greeted and celebrated a day that belonged to them — International Women’s Day.
The city reverberated with slogans of women's empowerment as leading women from different fields took centre stage voicing concern over the abuse heaped on the fairer sex, raising their voice against perennial injustice to their less privileged sisters and inspiring scores of others to bring to the fore their inner strength to achieve success in life.
The Hindu , in association with SIDS, created a platform to felicitate women achievers on the occasion.
Addressing the gathering, Assistant Director of All-India Radio, Vijayawada, M. Krishna Kumari, underscored the need for women to inculcate resilience and fighting spirit to overcome the hazards lurking around every nook and cranny.
She evoked ‘true fighters’ like Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani school girl who stood up to the Taliban and defended her right to education, Laxmi, the acid attack victim who won the International Women of Courage award for successfully leading the campaign against acid attacks on women in India and the 2012 Delhi gang rape victim Nirbhaya and said the trio had inspired women suffering abuse in silence, across the world.
Woman entrepreneur Jogulamba said women were internally very strong besides being good multi-taskers.
Bhakti Manihara of SKCV Trust said girls must draw inspiration from Jhansi Lakshmi Bai who never gave up her fight despite a series of defeats.
Radha Rani of RR Sports urged women to form a collective force to reckon with. Former Mayor Mallika Begum mooted an all-women’s ‘Mahila Party’ to fight the coming elections.
Other speakers urged the students to work hard to scale great heights in life but without drifting from their rich culture. The felicitations were sprinkled with intermittent rounds of ramp walk by SIDS students who showcased their designs.
There was unanimity on the contention that the strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain. “Men can be analysed, women merely adored,” a speaker said amidst loud round of applause. SIDS Managing Partner and CEO Samana Moosavi said gifted with both beauty and brains, a woman could achieve success in any given field provided she is determined to.
