It was a humbling experience to listen to the winning journalists before the presentation of the Laadli Media awards for gender sensitivity. It was clear that real stories are happening in villages. there were almost 50 winners and each story was special, unique. Brilliant stories were being done in Indian languages along with in English, in this case Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati and Hindi.
Be it about sportswomen talking about menstrual cycle by Aarefa Johri, or a story about FGM by Mini Thomas. Mini wrote that super speciality hospitals in Mumbai regularly conducted FGM. Nidhi Jamwal won the award for her story about menstrual waste.
The Indian Girls' guide to science by Deepika Sharma for Grist Media or a FM radio show in which hundreds of women of all ages shared their stories of being harassed, by Devaki for Red FM.
Marianne Sharlene De Nazareth won it for her story about how solar energy had a great impact on the lives of women in remote villages in UP, Odisha and other states. (English) Sugitha won the award for the best feature, in which she focused upon social taboos vis a vis menstruation. (Tamil)
Sajaya Kakarla (Telugu) wrote a detailed feature of the family left behind by a farmer who committed suicide. Or Swati Korrapati's story about a woman who was rejected a sweeper's post but later became an IAS officer, it also talked about gender bias and bias towards the physically disabled.
Padma Vadde's story about Jayamma, who was betrayed by her husband into prostitution. Jayamma later started rehabilitation centre for women like her. Prasanna Rao Kadamandla's talk show on ETV about 498A won the award. Nandagiri Kistaiah's story was about a village that achieved 100% literacy. He won another award for his story about women demanding prohibition in their villages.
Kranthi Kumar Garidepalli's story for ABN Andhra Jyothy was perhaps the most dangerous. He exposed how a woman ST MLA was made into a pawn by a local goon who sidelined her and usurped all the powers of the MLA. She didn't even get her salary. Kranthi used sting operation for the story, which helped the MLA to claim her righs.
Padma Vangapalli's story was very inspiring. She writes about tribal women who have taken on the responsibility of a power project in the East Godavari district. Despite the poor financial situation, the women continue their struggle to keep the project going. Aruna Gali's blog about how the productive labour of women is undervalued. R Samban (Malayalam) writes about the tragic situation of rural anganwadi workers for Deshabhimani.
Rupsa Chakraborty won for her story about sexual abuse of boys for Ahmedabad Mirror. Roshni Nair won for her story Rape is genderless for DNA. Menaka Rao won the award for her story about how the PCPNDT was affecting legal abortions in Maharashtra. Babulal Naga wrote about safety and security concerns of women journalists.
Himmat Kataria's (gujarati) feature was an eyeopener. He wrote about how women are projected in comedy, satire and humour. he presented the opinions of sociologists, professors, authors and others. he concluded that these are used by the society to reinforce stereotypes and maintain gender power equations by undermining the intelligence and capabilities of women.
Adrish Khan (Hindi) won the award for his story in Rajasthan patrika about women being bought and sold for marriages. Geeta Sharma won it for her feature about acid attack victims in Meri Saheli.
Seema Savant Yadav (Marathi) won it for her story about humiliation and undermining of women's capabilities in workplace. Namita Deshpande (marathi) won it for her column in Prabhat. Namita said that in her weekly column, she never used the word 'woman' but she always mentioned 'person'. Ravi Gadekar (Marathi) won it for his investigative story about how an educated woman was being harassed by an MLA's secretary. Pragati jadhav patil (Marathi) wrote about how girls in a village in Satara were stopped from going to college because of sexual harassment. Her story helped the girls get a bus to go to college.
Madhurima, the weekly supplement that I edit, got the award for a special issue which talked about a number of fathers who witnessed the birth of their child and shared the wife's pain. I wonder if it could be a story for the rural journalists or even readers who probably see women giving birth in a farm and get back to work immediately? Of course, sharing the pain, being with her during the most difficult and the most beautiful moment does wonders to the couple's relationship and it is important. but i seriously started rethinking of the stories we will be doing in future.
A big THANK YOU to Population First for these awards. The first of its kind in the world.
Be it about sportswomen talking about menstrual cycle by Aarefa Johri, or a story about FGM by Mini Thomas. Mini wrote that super speciality hospitals in Mumbai regularly conducted FGM. Nidhi Jamwal won the award for her story about menstrual waste.
The Indian Girls' guide to science by Deepika Sharma for Grist Media or a FM radio show in which hundreds of women of all ages shared their stories of being harassed, by Devaki for Red FM.
Marianne Sharlene De Nazareth won it for her story about how solar energy had a great impact on the lives of women in remote villages in UP, Odisha and other states. (English) Sugitha won the award for the best feature, in which she focused upon social taboos vis a vis menstruation. (Tamil)
Sajaya Kakarla (Telugu) wrote a detailed feature of the family left behind by a farmer who committed suicide. Or Swati Korrapati's story about a woman who was rejected a sweeper's post but later became an IAS officer, it also talked about gender bias and bias towards the physically disabled.
Padma Vadde's story about Jayamma, who was betrayed by her husband into prostitution. Jayamma later started rehabilitation centre for women like her. Prasanna Rao Kadamandla's talk show on ETV about 498A won the award. Nandagiri Kistaiah's story was about a village that achieved 100% literacy. He won another award for his story about women demanding prohibition in their villages.
Kranthi Kumar Garidepalli's story for ABN Andhra Jyothy was perhaps the most dangerous. He exposed how a woman ST MLA was made into a pawn by a local goon who sidelined her and usurped all the powers of the MLA. She didn't even get her salary. Kranthi used sting operation for the story, which helped the MLA to claim her righs.
Padma Vangapalli's story was very inspiring. She writes about tribal women who have taken on the responsibility of a power project in the East Godavari district. Despite the poor financial situation, the women continue their struggle to keep the project going. Aruna Gali's blog about how the productive labour of women is undervalued. R Samban (Malayalam) writes about the tragic situation of rural anganwadi workers for Deshabhimani.
Rupsa Chakraborty won for her story about sexual abuse of boys for Ahmedabad Mirror. Roshni Nair won for her story Rape is genderless for DNA. Menaka Rao won the award for her story about how the PCPNDT was affecting legal abortions in Maharashtra. Babulal Naga wrote about safety and security concerns of women journalists.
Himmat Kataria's (gujarati) feature was an eyeopener. He wrote about how women are projected in comedy, satire and humour. he presented the opinions of sociologists, professors, authors and others. he concluded that these are used by the society to reinforce stereotypes and maintain gender power equations by undermining the intelligence and capabilities of women.
Adrish Khan (Hindi) won the award for his story in Rajasthan patrika about women being bought and sold for marriages. Geeta Sharma won it for her feature about acid attack victims in Meri Saheli.
Seema Savant Yadav (Marathi) won it for her story about humiliation and undermining of women's capabilities in workplace. Namita Deshpande (marathi) won it for her column in Prabhat. Namita said that in her weekly column, she never used the word 'woman' but she always mentioned 'person'. Ravi Gadekar (Marathi) won it for his investigative story about how an educated woman was being harassed by an MLA's secretary. Pragati jadhav patil (Marathi) wrote about how girls in a village in Satara were stopped from going to college because of sexual harassment. Her story helped the girls get a bus to go to college.
Madhurima, the weekly supplement that I edit, got the award for a special issue which talked about a number of fathers who witnessed the birth of their child and shared the wife's pain. I wonder if it could be a story for the rural journalists or even readers who probably see women giving birth in a farm and get back to work immediately? Of course, sharing the pain, being with her during the most difficult and the most beautiful moment does wonders to the couple's relationship and it is important. but i seriously started rethinking of the stories we will be doing in future.
A big THANK YOU to Population First for these awards. The first of its kind in the world.
Lovely post. Very commendable work by all the awardees. I hope that all this work and efforts don't just get noticed around women's day celebrations alone but get rewarded whenever someone does the right thing concerning such issues.
ReplyDeletethanks Pradnya. getting to know these spirited persons was a big bonus for me.
ReplyDelete