InSPIRE #ChooseToChallenge!

Every woman yearns for a world devoid of discrimination, prejudice, stigma, violence and a future abounded with equal rights and opportunities. This International Women’s Day, individuals, organizations, different movements and communities from around the world stood in solidarity with women and girls to challenge stereotypes, gender bias, inequalities that restrict women from being bolder and stronger.

The InSPIRE project too launched a 7-day campaign, from 2nd to 8th March to celebrate and recognize achievements of several young women from our network, and challenge obstacles that hold women back, parallelly joining the official International Women’s Day 2021 campaign set around the theme “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world,” and  #Choosetochallenge. The campaign which was launched via the Hashtag Inspire facebook page involved the project team of the InSPIRE project from HELVETAS and Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF), young leaders and media and communication students from the universities of Jayewardenepura, Peradeniya, Jaffna and the South Eastern University, who are a part of our network.

Members from the InSPIRE network taking the pledge

The InSPIRE team recognized 4 females from the InSPIRE network; Fathima Husniya, Madara Gunawardana, Prarthana Maduwanthi and Sadunika Rathnayake who have challenged stereotypical perspectives such as being athletic, taking up a position in media, expressing one’s opinions freely and openly and being employed full-time to be no more limited to men. They were featured in the inspire facebook page for their accomplishments and efforts in life. Around 20 students representing all 4 universities pledged to raise their voice against discrimination and harassment to help forge women’s equality, while 4 others were vocal about the challenges women encounter in their day to day lives. Saduni Wanasinghe from the University of Peradeniya mentioned “the biggest challenge that I recognise that women have to face is: accepting certain rules laid down by the society.” and Kunthavi Sivapalan from the university of Jaffna stated “Ragging within the university and women not prioritised for leadership positions are some I could give thought to”. In fact, the honest sentiments raised by the female students were captured in a video produced for the campaign. Further, the project staff of both SDJF and HELVETAS pledged to forge positive visibility of women and maintain a gender equal mindset for a gender equal world.

The InSPIRE team taking the pledge

The campaign picked up great momentum and by the end of the 8th day, managed to involve a wider audience which resulted in 25, 305 posts reach, 2844 engagements, 1799 reactions, 232 comments and 45 Shares. Through this initiative, the Inspire project created another opportunity for youth to express themselves freely and to uphold gender sensitive freedom of expression. This indefinitely would empower more young girls to stand up, take action and speak up for themselves and others in their journey to become aspiring future leaders.

As the world witnesses the end to another International Women’s Day, the problems, scars and fears that women in general across the globe encounter persist and remain largely to be addressed. During the Covid-19 pandemic too, we observed women at the forefront battling the Covid 19, risking their lives to make lives better for all. At the same time during the same period, we witnessed a sharp increase cases of violence against women in the domestic sphere around the world. It is now more than ever that everyone should rally to shape a more equal future for all women, since the full, effective participation and leadership of women in all areas of life drives progress for everyone.

I raise up my voice - not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard... we cannot succeed when half of us are held back - Malala Yousafzai