Anagha Shivaprakash is a proud feminist and a recent aerospace graduate navigating through her career of being one of the few women in STEM. Through her university, she was exposed to the importance of gender equity and representation. Dealing with the glaring gender gap in STEM colleges, only aggravated by lack of safe spaces, led her to join Durga. It empowered her to spread the message of gender equity to people of her age. She believes that it's each and everyone’s duty to create safe spaces for those around us. These safe spaces can help break the systems of biases that push women and people of colour out of STEM careers. She has had the opportunity to work with fellow students and juniors in trying to create a space where individuals feel safe to talk about ideas and express their views. These safe spaces go beyond the regular peer dynamics and have helped contribute to addressing grievance at an emotional level.
Durga as a citizen sector organisation wants to build power and resilience in youth to act against sexual harassment in public spaces and also work towards a Gender Just society. Towards this, we do various strategic activities around engaging with youth in various places like colleges, schools, events, online forums, and also through active campaigning. Some of our efforts include VOICE (Gender Justice) labs in educational institutions, DAREs (Real Heroes who will be active bystanders) on streets, Unlikely Allies (with men, BMTC drivers, and Paurakarmika women) as well as social audits of public spaces that women should rightfully occupy.
To continue with this and show support to the Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, Durga launched the India Gender Equity Week leading to the first-ever virtual forum named NGAGE to bring youth and others together to create awareness on the women’s movement, the issues of intersectionality, and also solutions aligned with the constitutional rights bestowed on citizens. The Fireside Chat is a continuation of the NGAGE forum. Through the Fireside Chats, Priya from DURGA speaks to Gender Justice activists across the country on their activism and inspiration to youth to further the movement.
Do you want to know what drives a true Activist? Listen to our Fireside conversations with some of the best Gender Justice Advocates, curated only for you - to question and dissent in your own way!
