CHENNAI: The only way to really assure the safety of women in an increasingly unsafe world is to make a concerted effort to shift societal attitudes. This was the message that came out of the women safety workshop conducted in Chennai here on Saturday.
Organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Indian Women Network, the Women Safety workshop saw several lectures and demonstrations, including self-defence workshops, on how women could ensure their own safety. But the most striking message came from Human Rights Lawyer and founder of the Schools of Equality Gulika Reddy who said that the most important thing that would ensure women’s safety was to shift societal attitudes toward women in general.
“It is important that we change one of the primary drivers of this issue. Societal attitudes that perpetuate this issue are what needs to be addressed effectively and shifted from their positions now,” she said while talking about how there were different rules that society placed upon the two genders, right from childhood.
Other sessions included safety tips from the police on what women could do to best assure their own safety.