The Women Of India Leadership Summit Launches New Campaign to Protect Our Girls

DELHI/NCR, India - June 18, 2014 - PRLog -- Looking at the impotent response to the gang-rapes in UP and noticing people are apathetic to taking a stand about this incident.May be because this happened so many times, far away in a village, or that its easier to just pretend it’s just another incident that will be forgotten and left to its inevitable oblivion. The summit has launched the campaign -#ActionsSpeakLouderThanWords-Protect Our girls,to get the appropriate response from the govt and citizens alike.
New York based teacher and author Christine Agro,
"Where we in the US are reeling from the misogynistic fueled mass killings in Santa Barbara last week, India is reeling from yet another gang-rape/murder, it is the same energy system; a belief that women are objects, they are possessions, they are to be had and they are disposable, expendable.
There is a spot light shining on misogyny in both India and the US (at the least) right now. I believe there is a call happening to truly ferret out all of the archaic thinking and ways of being whether it has to do with women, men, transgender, children, animals or the planet and put an end to it. I ask whoever feels compelled to stand-up, to stand-up and don't sit down until real change has happened. We cannot sink back into unconsciousness days later. We cannot stop talking and go back to sleep. We must continue to bang our fists and make noise and demand change. It is this conscious outrage that will finally break through the unconscious fog we have been living in. My heart and power is with you all as you stand up to create change in India.
While you stand-up here in the US and #yesallwomen Hold India in your heart so that every time you type or say or think #yesallwomen you energize #ActionsSpeakLouderThanWords too."

From Actor and Director Nandita Das
“We need every single citizen of this country to stand up and speak up. And make sure their voices are heard, till we see tangible actions from our govt. The safety and security of girls and women of every country should be treated as a non -negotiable priority. This staggering level of  continuing blatant violence against women is a violation of every law, every code of human rights. It is a national emergency and should be treated as such.

Sadly we dont make enough noise when women are abused, raped, killed in far of villages, but that is not acceptable. It is up to each one of us, to use any and every power of expression we have, to demand that ALL our girls are protected. We must demand to see the promises of safety and security fulfilled-  Actions speak louder than words!”

Emmy Award and Karamveer Chakra awardee Dr Kaizaad Kotwal “Our largest institutions - religion, corporations, government, and even education - see girls and women as commodities and expendable when in fact they are the very raisone d’être of the human experiment. Till we re-examine these institutions, which commodify and dispose off women with such casualness as sneezing, we will not see much change. Religion in particular has become the root cause of violence against women and we have to uproot that rot and begin again.”

From Designer Poonam Bhagat -“It's horrific and it's macabre. The men need to be lynched in public. That's the only deterrent. All else has failed. #ActionsSpeakLouderThanWords. And the UP government has to be held accountable. No more apathy, political vendettas or passing the buck on.”

From Mysore based Kalim expert, TedX Speaker and Author of Consent Culture
Ashwin Mohan-“As a man it’s up to me to realize that violent misogyny, rapes, acid attacks and killings of various macabre hues of women are the doing of men. Men with the same anatomy, the same culture, living in the same social environment as I.It’s time to come out of this apathy and state the problem plainly.Men are angry with women. Angry. So angry.
The reason seems to be their entitlement to sexual pleasure. On being denied, instead of wondering why they’re being denied, instead of dialogue, they kill. Incident after incident after incident, how much longer before someone you love is raped and killed?
Our society is sick, redemption will come only with the participation of men. Men like me, we need to dialogue on this, and solve the problem of our collective sexual frustrations. Not assign blame to women callously and cruelly. I see no redemption in protesting, in fighting, in hating and blaming and suppressing our sexual frustrations to the point of explosion.
I’m writing about this for men like me, I have started the conversations, men; it’s up to you to join in now, for your own mental health and for the safety of women on this planet. I have no more tears to shed, my eyes are dry as a bone, #ActionsSpeakLouderThanWords.
Bindu Sethi ,Brand strategist JWT
“Let's not ask to be valued. Let's not ask for equal rights. Let's not ask to be allowed. Let us just ask to be left alone. In any relationship to be able say what we think, to charter our own destiny, to not be compared, to protect ourselves.
There is no difference in any part of the world, there is no best place and worst place for women. We want just one place and one thing: To be in charge of ourselves. Any transgression on us will be punished by us and our supporters.
We want to restructure society in which we can decide what our value is ourselves. No borrowed moral judgments. No thrust upon reputations. We our no ones honor. Let us be in charge of ourselves.

Designer Aarti Kalro
“ How many more of these incidents till we start doing something? beyond candlelight vigils..Till we realize ‪#‎ActionsSpeakLouderThanWords‬ (https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/actionsspeaklouderthanwo...) . Maybe the next cover of Vogue should have this as it's cover rather than objectifying women and trying to fit them into neat little boxes. Do we call this Women's Empowerment? One set of women applauded in the media for being successful businesswomen, but their sisters end up in the media for being raped and murdered. And which one do we gloss over? We have a duty to our sisters, all around the world, to act for them, to show we give a damn, so the perpetrators of these crimes, feel fear. We have to turn the tables. We have to educate our sons , brothers, male friends, and even other women, that women are not objects, that they are to be treated respectfully and if not, we will fight back.”

Actor, Director and Founder of The Women of India Leadership Summit, Divya Chandra.“ There was so much talk about “Women” being top priority on our new government’s agenda. Less than month in power, “we the people” want to know what this govt will actually to protect our girls. What will they do for these families in Azamgarh, Badaun and Etawah? I don’t want to hear that these were 2 Dalit girls, they were “our girls” and that’s all that should matter.
I don’t care about Smiti Irani’s degree, I want to know what she and the other ministers will “do” for the safety of the women of this country.‪#‎ActionsSpeakLouderThanWords‬ (https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/actionsspeaklouderthanwords?source=feed_text&story_id=10154256780020341).”