Script

Pass out pens and surveys.

Sorry if I sound like Himesh Reshemmiya. The allergy season is getting to me. Can everyone hear me? Before we start, I want everyone to write on the back of their “dolls” three choices they think every woman should have. Just hold on to the paper and pen. Alright.

Hello Everyone! My name is Bhagyashri Pandey, but I go by the name “Ruby.” Rarely does anyone call me Bhagyashri. Only like 4 people have got it completely right on their first try.

Anyways, I am a senior (12^th grader) at the School for the Talented and Gifted. Today, I present to you “It’s your turn.” I want you to be completely unbiased, listen to me talk for a while, and then speak. I believe that the best speeches are the ones with presentation, participation, and prizes. So watch out, and let’s get started!

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Gender Disparity and Women Empowerment and Me

OK. So, how am I here today? I have always been interested in Social Change. I do volunteering all around. Keep Irving Beautiful, Pratham, Vibha, Akshaya Patra, etc. I even co-founded a little group called “Kids’ Mission with these two.” So, when senior year arrived and I was told to choose a project to research on for a whole year, I chose to deal with women empowerment.

My thought process was “If people who live in the same space but constantly struggle for the same rights and resources because of their genders, how are we expected to make treaties with nations with different religions and ethnicities?” I found this “gender disparity” to be a root issue. Also, gender is a large audience. Bringing women together brings religions, castes, ethnicities, and races together. If 50% of the population feel “less than” their counterpart and we find a way to alleviate that stress, we will have a 100% working, empowered population. In the beginning, however, I looked at it a different way. I thought it is more important for a women to be safe and literally fight for herself. So I was planning on constructing self-defense workshops for these women. However, that is promoting more “feminism” than empowerment. That was not my goal. So, I joined “Omprakash,” a non-profit, to guide me. They led me to “People for Parity” in New Delhi, India, where I will be going this summer. I will be working on an app called “Pukar.” If anyone feels unsafe, they tap a button and the local guards hired by People for Parity all across New Delhi will be alerted. With all my research, I got a global perception. I decided maybe this is not my problem to fix. I am not the only woman who sees all this as a problem right? Maybe there are a few who want to help – man or woman. So, my solution to gender disparity is a forum called “Sheroes and Heroes Unite.” It is to close the gap without labeling. The more we talk about women growing, women rising, women fighting, we forget that we might be leaving the men out in important discussions and actually increasing this gap. We are going to try this forum out today. So, go home today and talk to your husbands or equivalent counterparts about what we discuss. Today is about knowing your voice counts. It is about connecting the women here and bring more people with your next time such an event happens.

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Today’s main theme is “How can we thrive?”

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I have a proposal. Like I said before. Presentation, participation, and prizes.

The first step is to Realize. Realize the problem. There’s a phrase in Hindi “jab tak ghar pe nahi aati, tab tak humari musibat nahi.” It means “until the problem isn’t on our door, ringing the bell to come in, it isn’t my problem.” Ok. We are going to play a game called “Nose Goes.” I pick these four people. On three, put your finger on your nose. Ah. What’s your name? OK. So, let’s relate this to the real world. The hand to the nose action represents “it’s not my problem.” Everyone says “It’s not my problem.” The last person, bechari ______, has to fix all of this now. She alone will have to empower women. This represents our government. BJP Party, Ahm Aadmi Party, democratic party, republican party. But you know what, since the group is so small and they didn’t exactly choose to solve this problem, they will get bored. The process will get slower. The problem will never get solved. I get it. We cannot empathize with something unless we know what it must be like. I don’t like dealing with problems that are not mine. This is why we have “My tax filer.” Taxes are their problem. We have “Apsara Skin care” because my skin’s problem is how the company thrives. But women’s problems? Their rights? Their ability to speak out loud without being punished? Their ability to thrive? That should at least be a women’s problem. OK. Let me show you how to make a matter personal. I live in USA. This incident happened 3 years ago in Delhi, India. A place I have never been. Her name is Jyoti Singh Pandey. I stopped. Jyoti is my rakhi bhai’s mom’s name. She lives less than 20 minutes away from me. Singh is her last name. She is probably the only person who knows everything about me. And Pandey. My last name is Pandey. Now her unrightful assault and her justice is my problem. See. You don’t get a math solution and you try to look for where the problem is. No. You get a math problem, then you look for the solution. That’s why it’s called “problem solving.” Same thing in the world. If you don’t even acknowledge the problem, you will never try for a solution. The solution comes after the problem. So today, I am asking you to realize the problem, make it your problem then only will you care, then go on to solve it.

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Identify

See. Realizing is the biggest step in my perspective. If you can make it across the first step, the rest is going to be easier. Now that you have acknowledged a problem, you want to look deeper like I did for a year in research. Look at the facts. Soon, you will see why women need to be empowered in the first place. For centuries, we have lived in a patriarchal society. Even in countries like USA, when women do get jobs, we are “stealing” a man’s job. That’s how it is looked as. So, it looks bad. Women get upset and there are pre-conceived notions that a woman cannot handle a manager position because she is probably not used to it. Here are some images. Here, we see India is high in gender disparity when compared to other nations. 

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They prove that the gender gap is big enough to laugh about (talk about slide).

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Last one.  Like I said preconceived notions that girls aren’t good at math because people think a woman isn’t use to doing math problems. Even a woman may start believing this. It’s the 21^st century. By now, we would expect there to be no gap. From 1876 to today, we have from no technology to light bulbs, iPhones, GPS, you name it. Women and men have lived together since Adam and Eve, Ram and Sita. Edison was alone and had to find materials to make that lightbulb. Men and women are everywhere and just have to turn around and sincerely talk and respect each other.  That is why this is a huge problem. Even if there is progress, it is happening way too slow.

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Speak

Ok. This is the fun part. Also, this is what women do best. However, sometimes we become quiet when we are most needed. Let’s not do that today. Keep in mind of everything I said, all the disparities and differences. They do exist. All your information is worth nothing if you just keep it to yourself.

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Now….”It’s your turn” Today is about feeling empowered. You will “thrive” when you have control over your life and a few other things. You will thrive when things are not routine and when you learn something new. Now, we are going to watch a video. Keep in mind, anyone who goes on YouTube and searches for this link can see this video. Old people, young people, etc. Pay attention to the details. Now, I am going to let you hear someone else talking.

Play Video (Edited one) After video is done, change slides.

Wow. Do any of your three choices you wrote in the beginning match up with Deepika’s? That is something to think about. Debate Time. Let’s Split this room in half. We are about to talk. This is the definition of “empower: “to make (someone) stronger and more confident.” The debate is “is that video empowering?” This side is “yes this is empowering.” This side is “No, this is not empowering.” My friends have a large sheet of paper and some markers. You have 5 minutes to discuss among your group and come up with points that support your “yes” or your “no.” I want everyone to participate. My friends will write down your points. When time’s up, markers down. No talking.

Start timer.

I will start with the “Yes, this is empowering”’s side. You can look at your points, pick one, and explain it and support your argument. Once your point is over, the other side can argue your point or present a new point to defend their side. This goes on and on for 12 minutes. If you have a point that is not on the paper, you can still express it and then write it down later. I cannot stress enough that you have to participate. You made it this far. You can do it. It’s not the time to be shy. If it gets dry before time’s up, my friends can help. If it is getting really good and time’s up, we can extend it for 8 more minutes. Keep in mind, the winning side is the side with the most points on their paper and the most participation. Only one person shouldn’t be speaking. After you say the point, talk about how you believe it. Explain it. Don’t stop after reading a short sentence. There are no wrong or right answers. Remember to smile and sound confident. You are being recorded. Your time starts now. Starting with “yes.”

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Execute

OK. So. The winner is _______. Here are some chocolates. Thank god for post-easter sales J Now that you have all this discussion, take it home. You know it. Share it with your kids and relatives like you did here. Kids are grassroots. They will share it with others, and this forum will be continuous. I am going to let two brave participants answer the next question and then answer it myself. I have another proposal. What if we did this same forum on the radio? Let’s say we call the show “Sheroes and Heroes Unite” or “IANT Thrive.” We let speakers like you and many others call in and share their stories and debate. We keep the forum alive. We can do other issues as well. It will keep the conversation alive. It will get people thinking. It will be like a Satyamev Jayate but with prevalent issues here. Also, it will get everyone to participate and probably more people to come to these events. Some people want to help and contribute and do not know how. This show can represent a different organizations different days. If we’re talking about gender disparity, at the end of the show I can say “check out People for Parity.” If we are talking about food distribution, I can say “if you want to contribute more, check out akshaya patra” etc. so not only is there a place to realize, identify, and speak, people have a way to execute their beliefs by going through organizations that have already made it their goal to solve this issue. That’s my idea of getting people in this community involved. Next question. I will let two other brave participants take this one.

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Overview

Realize, Identify, Speak, and Execute stands for “RISE.” I hope you all had a great experience through these simple steps today. Thank you for coming in with compassion, debating with passion and I hope I humored you a little and presented a style that could work for you wherever you go with whatever problem you are presented with.

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Sorry. Last slide. I promise. I have given out some surveys. Please look at the corresponding numbers and circle “Y” or “N” appropriately. This is for further improvement in my method and for this kind of event. I might be posting the video that I took of you guys somewhere online. If you do not want that, just let me know. After you are done with the survey, give it to one of my friends. Raise your hands. Please get to know them too. They are just like me with social change and they have helped a lot today. Also, you can speak using social media. I am about to create a Facebook group online called “Sheroes and Heroes Unite” where anyone can talk about anything. Just message me or email me, and I can add you. I appreciate all feedback.

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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I enjoyed this a lot. I hope all of you did too. It means a lot to take time out of a Sunday afternoon and thrive for a bit. Thank you to all of the IANT ladies, especially Ms.Sneha for giving me this opportunity. I hope to see every one of you again. Since I have been asking all of the questions, I am giving you an opportunity to ask me some too.