Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Employees Association of State Bank of India celebrated International Women’s Day on 17th March 2024 at SVM Palace, Kothi, Hyderabad. Ms. Yashoda, Retired Officer of RBI was the Chief Guest of the function, while Ms. Jhansi Geddam, National Convener of DSS was invited as Key Note Speaker. President and General Secretary of the Association Mr. Suryam and Mr. Bhargava Kumar, also attended as guests. Ms. Salomi, Manager of Union Bank also was one of the speakers. Large number of women employees of SBI participated in the meeting.
Ms. Jhansi Geddam:
I am happy to see that the SC, ST Women employees have gathered here to celebrate International Women’s Day. I understand that your association is following the ideology of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. It was Dr.B.R. Ambedkar who first advocated and toiled for the rights of women. He was very vehement in granting equal rights to women and modernize the marriage laws. He spent number of days in meticulously drafting Hindu Code bill to abolish the age-old marriage and inheritance system which was discriminatory to women. He sacrificed his minister’s post to protest against the conservative and fundamentalist forces who thwarted his bill. He paid lot of attention to women’s freedom and emancipation. He organized gatherings of women and educated them on how to acquire knowledge, how to behave, how to dress and achieve equality in respects.
He inspired the women to get educated and progress and he emphasized that women’s progress is nation’s progress. We in DSS follow the ideology of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and educate the dalit women of villages and slums. Knowledge and participation in social, economic and political activities is important. Dalit women are suppressed by caste system, patriarchy and men of our own castes in the form of domestic violence. In addition to the all-round suppression, dalit women suffer due to ignorance. Dalit women, due to ignorance, unconsciously implement and reinforce the patriarchal ideology. Another factor contributing to the oppression of dalit women is lack of unity. We, in DSS are continuously engaged in facilitating the empowerment of dalit women by uniting them in villages and slums as Dalit Women Collectives and conducting trainings on Ambedkar ideology, human rights, Constitution and special laws. We regularly address the atrocities committed on dalit women in the States of A.P. and Telangana. Through our interventions we were able to break the impunity that the dominant castes have been enjoying in committing atrocities.
It is necessary for all dalit women to play the role of responsible mothers in rearing their children. We should be conscious of gender roles and bring up our boys and girl children without discrimination. We should educate the girl children in the same way as we educate our male children. We should socialize the children without gender discrimination. We should teach responsibilities. The organizers very grandly felicitated Jhansi Geddam and garlanded her. They also presented mementos and gifts on behalf of the SC, ST employees association. Jhansi Geddam distributed Telugu booklets on POCSO Act, SC, ST Act and Domestic Violence Act to the office bearers.
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