Fourth Young Feminist Meet-up discussing feminism

22nd January, 2016, Castro Café, Jamia Campus, 10:30 am, Dilli ki sardi and two brave souls battling the cold with the warmth of the discussion and a hot cup of chai. The love of the puppies surrounding us reflected in their attachment to our our mufflers and coats.

The discussion started with a reflection on previous young feminist meet ups. In every meet we end up discussing and deliberating on the ‘crammed up’ definition(s) and concepts of feminism and fail to push the envelope to encompass the growing changes around us. The disconnect between the theory and the practical world lead us to the topic- ‘employability of women’ and how we haven’t focused on the unorganised sector and the problems attached to it. Maternity leaves and its extension is largely limited to organised sector and, there has been no initiatives to reach out to women working in other sector. The state can at least arrange these women in a community or a collective which would enable them to seek benefits and redress their rights.

The discussion then moved towards the lack of intersectionality in our approach towards legal provisions with sociological/economical/psychological factors. There exists a lacuna between the need and implementation of the law . Like for example we wish to abolish child labour completely, but how will we be able to help the child to sustain himself/herself and those dependent on him/her in the absence of any viable opportunity tendered to him/her by the state. Also, the child who is out to work is psychologically more developed as compared to other children of the same age. Thus will we be able to call him/her/ze a child?

We tend to provide solutions to problems within society in an isolated manner which only caters to peripheral solutions and fail to knock-out issues at hand. Hence, not only legality but, social factors are also to be taken on board considering the fact we are dealing with social concepts and social problems.

As a backdrop of our talk:
Pictures from the Art Exhibition that was put up in Zakhir Hussain Art Gallery.

Article Courtesy: Aakash Chandran
Photo Courtesy: Pallavi