More than 800 women, including working professionals and homemakers, took to the streets for women’s empowerment, at an all-women rally organised in the city on Wednesday.

Dressed in maroon saris, placard-carrying participants raised slogans relating to women empowerment. The participants included members from 43 clubs in Tiruchi and surrounding areas.

The rally was jointly organised by women’s associations and Shrimathi Indira Gandhi College to instil in women the importance of health, education, self respect and protection. The rally is a forerunner to the World Women’s Day celebrations to be organised on March 8 in the city.

Before the commencement of the rally, the women took an oath to contribute to the economy, help girl children pursue higher education, fight for rights, face challenges bravely, and protect themselves from danger.

K.Meena, former vice chancellor, Bharathidasan University, flagged off the rally in the presence of chief guest R.Jayanthi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Traffic). S. Vidyalakshmi, principal, Srimathi Indira Gandhi College, was present.

The rally which began from the college travelled through Chatram bus stand, Kamaraj statue, Anna statue, Chintamani bazaar, Kaliamman Koil Street, and concluded at the college.

Ms. Meena said that the rally aimed at promoting self confidence in women to help them overcome everyday challenges. Jambaga Ramakrishnan, coordinator of all women’s clubs in Tiruchi, said that this year marks the silver jubilee year of women’s day celebration by the clubs in Tiruchi. As part of the celebrations, a unique ‘health is wealth’ questionnaire was recently given to women to test their awareness on various aspects of health and nutrition.

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