On Gender Equality Day, ITC’s Vivel launches the ‘Voice of Art’ initiative
With an aim to bring to light gender-based disparities, ITC’s Vivel kicks off a unique initiative to bring together young artists to weave a narrative around equality through art.
Gender equality is all about meting out fair treatment to both men and women, whether in terms of rights, benefits, obligations, or opportunities. However, this is still a distant dream in today’s times. Globally, women are known to put up with more discrimination.
Only 17 percent of women in India contribute to the GDP as compared to the global average of 37 percent. Every one in three women deal with some form of violence or the other since the age of 15. The literacy rate among women is a meagre 65 percent while the percentage is much higher in the case of men.
A representation of ITC Vivel's 'Voice of Art' initiative.
With a view to bring to light some of these disparities and commemorate Gender Equality Day on August 26, ITC’s Vivel has launched a unique initiative called Voice of Art. The brand is inspiring women to say the words – ‘Ab Samjhauta Nahin’, by bringing together young artists to weave a narrative around equality through art.
The launch of the initiative has already received a tremendous response with more than 400 entries from across India – all of whom are set to paint their canvas with their interpretations of equality and a progressive community.
According to the company, the ‘V’ in Vivel stands for voice of woman, intended to motivate individuals to challenge the status quo on gender-based stereotypes and the prescriptive behavioural norms that they need to conform to.
Sameer Satpathy, Divisional Chief Executive, Personal Care Products Business, ITC Limited, reiterated this,
“Equality is a fundamental right, yet, at times it has been violated by individuals. With Voice of Art, Vivel seeks to inspire a collective of young people to express their independent voices against patriarchy. It is very encouraging to see the phenomenal response and we believe this emerging expression will help reframe mindsets, as artists imagine a more equal world.”
The initiative is intended to promote gender equality.
This is not the first time the company is standing up and promoting equality.
In 2019, Vivel kicked off the ‘Know Your Rights’ initiative to spread better awareness about gender equality among young minds through workshops. Co-created with legal expert Karuna Nundy, the educational sessions managed to engage over one lakh students across 700 colleges last year.
Two years ago, Vivel also collaborated with Azad Foundation India to launch a leadership programme ‘Parvaz’ aimed at empowering women. The project which is in its third year now has positively impacted the lives of more than 60,000 women.
Edited by Javed Gaihlot
