Mangalore: Exceptional Mothers Hailed on Women's Day at St Agnes
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (KM/AF)
Pics: Dayananda Kukkaje
Mangalore, Mar 8: Organizing a lecture series is quite usual to mark days like International Women's Day (IWD), but here is a creative yet equally responsible approach to address serious issues like female infanticide and female foeticide. This was the agenda of the women's day programme organized by the alumni and women's cell of St Agnes College here on March 8.
What made the programme exceptional was its prime focus on what women have done rather than the usual objective of what can be done for women. Another added positive feature of the programme was that the panel discussion in the programme also raised issues of what can be done to avert the plight of women from getting worsened.
The speakers were neither experts nor social workers. They were either house makers or teachers or professionals, who had rich experience pertaining to the problems faced by the underprivileged section of the society. The organizers took all the measures to ensure that the sessions were informative and interactive, thereby intended to prompt audience to think seriously regarding the future of girl child.
Interestingly, all the speakers Maizy Rodrigues, Anita Aranha, Dr Saraswati Rao, Shailaja Chandrashekar and Prof Malini Hebbar are the proud mothers of three girl children and moreover none of them has any boy child. They spoke of their experiences in answer to various questions such as how one can resolve conflicts and differences of opinion among the family members especially in the household they enter as daughters in law.
Prof Hebbar, in a nostalgic tone, narrated the problems she had to confront when she gave birth to three girl children, with reiterated emphasis on the questions that she and her husband faced from many for not having a male child.
All the five speakers were felicitated on the occasion, for having brought up their daughters in a dignified, hnourable manner.
Sr Maria Krupa, local manager of St Agnes College inaugurated the programme and Dr Sr Marie Prem D'Souza delivered the presidential address.
Devi Prabha, coordinator of women's cell, Marina Pinto, alumni secretary and students of the college were present on the occasion.