Civil servant and folklorist, the late Gurusaday Dutt, founded Saroj Nalini Dutt Memorial (SNDM), in 1925, in memory of his philanthropist wife. To mark the centenary celebrations of SNDM, which has been working tirelessly to empower and enable socially and economically backward women for 100 years, Alka Jalan Foundation and Saroj Nalini Dutt Memorial Association organised a panel discussion titled ‘Still the second sex?’ on the beautiful lawn of Daga Nikunj on February 23.

The panelists included Ruchira Gupta, Anuradha Lohia, Amita Prasad, Rita Bhimani, Sharmila Biswas and Pradeep Gooptu. Oindrilla Dutt moderated the session. The discussion took off from the likes of de Beauvoir, Steinhem and Faludi and the first and second waves of feminism, to examine education and social transformation as the most effective tools for empowering women. The discussion also explored the acute problem of human trafficking in India, the changing perceptions of women’s sexuality, the role once played by devadasis and tawaifs, the unkindness of any kind of religious fundamentalism towards women, the UN campaign ‘He For She’, balancing multiple roles and the role both parents play in shaping the attitudes of children, to mention a few.