UNITED NATIONS, Mar 12: Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women Farhan Akhtar has sought society’s cooperation to eliminate violence against the fair sex.
During a panel discussion here yesterday, Akhtar, Bollywood singer and filmmaker, opined that there is a perceptible change in society where the fair sex has begun speaking up. “I think things have changed,” he said, adding that “A lot of women have a lot more courage to speak about what’s happening with them.”
The Bollywood actor was also interviewed by UN Radio. When the moderator of the discussion titled “how to end violence against women” looked a little disappointed at her nearly all-female audience, she asked: “Where are the men? Where are the men?” Only a sprinkling of men could be found in the room where the discussion was held.
Akhtar was among the few men present at the event on behalf of the Men Against Rape and Discrimination (MARD), a social campaign he launched two years ago in India “to make people think more positively” and work towards women’s empowerment in India and the need to end gender inequality.
He spoke about the inspiration for the initiative that came when someone he knew was sexually assaulted and then killed by a security guard in her own home. MARD, he explained to the audience, is an acronym for his initiative but “mard” also means “man” in Hindi and Urdu.
Recognised by the UN for his commitment to end violence against women and girls, Akhtar was appointed last year as a Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women, the entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women.
And as the first man to take on such a role for UN Women, which was created in 2010 under the leadership of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Bollywood celebrity also took on the role to serve as an advocate for the agency’s “HeForShe” campaign that encourages men and boys to be leaders in the gender equality movement, and commit to ending violence and discrimination against women.
Describing a “clash of civilisations” being experienced in India, the luminary noted that on one side you had the “patriarchal mindset” of people growing up with value systems that changed as the world changed “but their thinking did not,” and on the other side, “in stark contrast,” Indians under 25 years of age “mainly liberal,” who want “to import liberal values from other parts of the world.” The “most heartening thing,” according to the actor, is the “level of volume on the discourse.”
“There was a time where you didn’t hear about what was going on in people’s homes,” he said in the interview. “Women were afraid to talk about if they were the victims of rape. More often than not stigma of rape attached to the victim than to the perpetrator.”
Akhtar said he was encouraged by the support the MARD campaign was receiving from a wide range of people like sports celebrities back home, and not just his fans. “What we hope to do with the initiative is to make people think more positively about these things,” he pointed out.
(UNI)
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