The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Tokenism `won't ensure gender equality'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 10, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Tokenism `won't ensure gender equality'

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, MARCH 9. Token representation and reservation for women alone will not ensure gender equality, according to B. Regina Papa, Communication Strategist for the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TNSACS).

Sexual exploitation in every form must be discussed openly and psychosocial care should be stressed, as women's lives revolved round relationships, she said.

Inaugurating a three-day gender-training workshop organised by the Positive Women Network here today, Dr. Papa advocated that AIDS policy should define sexuality to demystify gender bias when the policy was translated into programmes.

Gender was scripted by society based on biological differences, she pointed out. Men exercised power over women, which society accepted as natural but it was unnatural when a woman "can take the lead," she said.

While AIDS policy had made anti-retroviral treatment accessible, women often had to walk five km to get to the nearest Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre.

Though biologically vulnerable, women who understood their strength would make better negotiators and convince men of the need for safe sex.

"Until the Eighth (Five Year) Plan it was woman and development, then it was women in development; now it is gender and development, where women are viewed as agents of change," Dr. Papa said.

K. Manivasan, Project Director of the Chennai AIDS Prevention and Control Society, called for a multi-sectoral response to women with HIV/AIDS.

Manoj Pardesi, Vice-President of the Indian Network for People living with HIV/AIDS, Chennai, said women's empowerment did not mean sewing and dress-making as this stereotyped women.

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