The Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation (KSWDC) is set to organise a four-day workshop beginning Thursday on ‘Gender inclusivity and professionalism in Malayalam cinema’ in connection with International Women’s Day that falls on March 8.
Minister for Women and Child Development Veena George will inaugurate the workshop at Harmony Hall, Mascot Hotel, on Thursday afternoon. Actor Amala Akkineni will be the chief guest. The offline inaugural will be followed by four online technical sessions of two hours each from Thursday to Sunday.
The workshop will be curated by human resource professionals, advocates, academics, researchers, legal and social activists, and representatives from the film industry and film associations such as WCC, AMMA, FEFKA, KFCC, MACTA, KFPA and so on.
It is aimed at raising awareness about challenges faced by women in the film industry and prevailing gender biases. It will derive recommendations on the proposed provisions for audio-visual workers in the draft State labour code. These will then be documented and forwarded to the State government for action.
Action plan
Another objective is to develop an action plan for effective implementation of the labour code provisions in the film industry to safeguard the rights of women at work. It will also discuss implementation of the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment Act, 2013 in the industry.
The technical sessions will feature presentations and discussions on ‘Labour code and provisions in the code for audio-visual workers’ on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, the discussion will revolve around skilling and upskilling of women in the audio-visual employment sector in order to attract more to the industry.
The sessions will be chaired by KSWDC chairperson K.C. Rosakutty, Labour Commissioner S. Chithra, Chalachitra Academy chairman Ranjith, and Kerala Women’s Commission chairperson P. Satheedevi. The panellists and discussants for the various sessions include Mini Sukumar, T.K. Anandi, Anjum Rajabali, Vidhu Vincent, Laya K., K.P.N. Amritha, Aparna Sreekumar, Suja Susan George, Bindhu Menon, Darshana Mini and Pushpa Kurup.
For participation, use the Zoom meeting ID: 843 4226 5359 with the passcode: 680024.
