Arya Kanade presented her workshop, Ladies First, to not only a female audience, but also male students and guests as a way to explain that feminism does not have one of its definitions as specific to females, and much more. Neha Varadharajan interviewed her:
- How did you find out about the Global Summit?
-I found out about the Global Summit from MUN Impact’s Instagram profile.
- How are you associated with MUN Impact?
– I am currently serving as the Diplomat to the MENA region, and I am also serving as the Debates Mentor Officer of E4J with OMUN
3.What was the brainchild of your workshop?
– I was scrolling through Instagram (which is something i have been doing with increasing frequency)
There, i came across a video of a boy talking about why he was not a feminist. That intrigued me, and got me thinking about the reason I am a feminist. That made me decide to present my workshop at the Global Summit on modern day implications of feminism.
4. Why did you find it relevant to present at the Global Summit?
-I found it to be rather relevant because gender equality or SDG 5 has major importance in today’s world for two reasons:
A) even though patriarchy isn’t blatantly seen in our society, its subtle signs are still very prevalent. Female politicians still have to care more about their appearance, and female workers still have to fight for equal pay
B) in LEDCs, even basic rights like the right to bodily autonomy, the right to education and many others aren’t available for girls and women.
Hence, i found the issue of gender inequality to be all the more pressing, because people think it has been solved; but that couldn’t be farther away from the true implications of gender inequality in our society.
5. How far do you think we are from associating equality between men and women?
-I have hope, of course, that we aren’t very far away. I imagine that we all will soon realize how ridiculous it is to ostracize people just because of something that’s not even in their control.
If people start taking gender inequality seriously, then we can achieve the SDG 5 within the next 10 years. But the slight, nuanced implications that are very subtle, will take a lot longer to get rid of.
6. Would you like to describe feminism in a few sentences of your own?
Feminism is an ideology that predominantly focuses on maintaining equality between different genders across the board. That’s it. According to me, feminism is a rather simple concept that has been complicated beyond requirement, which is what makes the whole concept sound complicated, which it truly is not. Even though everyone’s definition of what feminism means may vary, at the end of the day, the goal of the movement is common; equality between all genders.
7. Who are some of the women you admire?
There are so many women who inspire me, mostly because they were pioneers in their respective fields, even if they were predominantly male-dominated
For example; Frida Kahlo, Malala Yousufzai, Olympe de gouges, Marie curie and the list can go on and on for miles
8. What inspiring quote (of your own/favorite) would you tell ladies first?
My favourite quote has to be “Ladies first. Not because ladies are more important. But because ladies are equally important.”
This is my own quote, and i genuinely think it states the difference between equity and equality pretty well, which was one of the goals of my workshop!