The organisation will be working in close collaboration with the School and the

Campaign’s pupil heads to promote the HeForShe cause around the country. The Doon School, in collaboration with the UN Women Offices in Delhi hosted the launch of the HeForShe Campaign in Doon yesterday. The dosco’s who had brought the Campaign to the school were Arnaav Bhavanani, Siddhant Gupta and Soumya Pandey.

The event began with a warm welcome speech by Arnaav Bhavanani, who highlighted the importance of gender equality in today’s world. Nishtha Satyam, a representative of the HeForShe Campaign, then spoke to the School about gender inequality and how it must be addressed by men as well as women. Ms. Satyam talked about her personal experiences and how she was discriminated against on the basis of her sex. She also gave a clear distinction between sex and gender, and also clarified some other important queries. Furthermore, she discussed the stereotypes prevalent in our society, which leads to unequal distribution of power which in turn has various consequences like domestic violence, marital rape, dowry and women earning less than their male counterparts for the same work. In addition to this, she enlightened the dosco’s with the concept of feminism, and how it does not intend to place women on a pedestal but aims for equal rights for men and women. To highlight the importance of the Campaign, she gave various examples of people like Sania Mirza and Farhan Akhtar, two people who have worked very hard towards the upliftment of women. She also talked about the success of the HeForShe campaign abroad, and the fact that 100,000 people pledged within the first three days of its worldwide launch.

She encouraged the dosco’s to work on this issue on an individual level as well as in a group to make sure that they made a difference in their society along with spreading awareness. She concluded by showing the audience a video of Emma Watson talking about this initiative and how this initiative will predominantly change the world for the better and raise awareness among men to stand for the women.

In conclusion, the launch of the HeForShe Campaign is the first of its kind in a School, and the UN Women Office of India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka will be working in close collaboration with the School and the Campaign’s student heads to promote the HeForShe cause around the country.