Gjesteforeleser fra India: Women Public …

Gjesteforeleser fra India:

Women Public Hearings — Governance at the Door Step

By Professor Dr. Pawan Surana Professor Emeritus in German Rajasthan University, Jaipur, India

Thursday, 18. May 2006 11.15 – 12.45 o’clock Seminar Room 706 Niels Treschow's building University of Oslo

We are witnessing an emerging New India that will play a major role in the world in this century. Nevertheless, India continues to struggle with well known problems that strike particularly the vulnerable: the poor, children, and women. Dowry deaths of women, child marriages, forced prostitution, high illiteracy among women and the poor are just some examples.

In fighting these evils India can exploit its strong and old tradition of public argument. Recently, the Rajasthan State Commission for Women, headed by Pawan Surana, conducted public sessions to bridge the gap between government and civil society. With back-up support from UNICEF, a forum was created where rural women presented their grievances, and directives were issued on the spot.

Pawan Surana will report on her experiences with these public hearings and illustrate this with clips from a film made by UNICEF. She will put the results into the larger context of the problems faced by rural women in North India.

Pawan Surana has written many articles and given lectures on the subject of Indian women today. She has also worked in an enquête-commission of the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany on the effects of globalisation on human trafficking and forced prostitution in India. For her unique work, the Government of Germany has awarded her the Federal Cross of Merit.