Students of Lady Doak College here took a pledge to fight sexual violence against women at an awareness programme held here on Wednesday.
Students signed a banner put up outside the department of Centre for Women’s Studies, as part of a campaign on gender-based violence.
Speaking at a function, S. Selva Gomathi, Deputy Director, SOCO Trust, said violence against women originated at home. According to a study, most women in the world experience harassment from their intimate partners. Tamil Nadu stood first in the list of States that recorded the highest number of cases related to domestic violence, she pointed out.
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Urging the students to be courageous, she asked them to report sexual harassment at places of work and educational institutions without any fear or hesitation.
Further, Ms. Gomathi mentioned about the presence of internal complaint committee in colleges and work places where women could lodge a complaint regarding sexual violence.
The 16 days of activism against gender violence is an international campaign that started on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and will end on December 10, the Human Rights Day. The campaign hopes to raise awareness of gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international levels.
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This year’s theme is: “Let’s challenge militarism and end violence against women.”
Launching the signature campaign, Suganda Ramamoorthi, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, spoke on various forms of violence such as acid attacks, molestation and so on.