On Women's Day Panjab University's girl students want to break biased hostel rules

This year the International Women's Day celebrations were a breed apart from previous events at Panjab University's Chandigarh campus where girls were found struggling for #BekhaufAzadi (fearless freedom).

On top of their agenda was a gender bias in hostel reporting timings. The hostel girls openly voiced their concern against gender discrimination and said if boys were allowed to roam free why they were being denied the freedom.

The university campus on Wednesday was dotted with posters like "Say No to different rules for men and women" , "Break the Hostel Rules" , "Aise Dastur Ko, Raten benur ko mai nahi manti (I do not accept this tradition which makes the nights colourless)" and "You Can Pamper and Protect Us but a Cage is Still a Cage".

All these likes had one thing in common i.e. a hashtag #BekhaufAzadi.

Some posters also tried to explain the real meaning of International Women's Day that it was neither about greeting cards, spa discounts, beauty products, motherhood and feminity but was about the history of struggle against injustice.

After speaking to a section of girls at the campus we found that they were not happy with hostel reporting timings which were different for boys and girls.

"I think so because a girl is asked to report back at hostel at 9 PM. There is no restriction on the boys who return to hostels at their will. There should be no gender discrimination in the hostel rules," says Yamini who is a final year law student.

However, for Himanshi, the 'restrictions on girls' are imbeded in the culture. The gender bias starts at the home when parents discriminate between a son and a daughter.

"I personally did not go through any restriction at home but the girls are restricted due to security reasons. Yes there is a gender bias and the boys should also be restricted," Himanshi said.

"There should not be any gender bias in terms of rules. If they are making rules for us there should be same rule for the boys," says Anup, a final year law student.

Irene, also a final year law student said the life at Panjab University Campus was far better than other universities like Punjabi University where the girls are asked to return to hostels at 7 PM. Harmandeep feels that if the university authorities cannot amend hostel rules they should at least allow the girls to roam within the campus.

Saumya who hails from Haryana is also against the gender bias as boys continue to benefit from the bias.

"I am from Haryana. Though I do not stay in hostel but the restrictions are only slapped on girls. There are no restrictions on boys which speak a lot about the discrimination. The time has come to end the restrictions," Saumya said.

Also watch| International Women's Day: What happens when the 'male gaze' turns feminine?