Kerala Hosts ‘ Girls’ Night Out’ To Encourage Women To Step Out After Dark
The MLA of Muvattupuzha town in Kerala, Mathew Kuzhalnadan launched ‘Girls Night Out’, a four-day long campaign encouraging young girls and women to step out freely after dark. Food stalls, festive lighting, live music performance, Zumba dance and training and a women’s marathon were some of the many activities organised as part of the ‘Girls Night Out’ campaign.
Besides building confidence in women to enjoy the nightlife, the initiative also aimed to develop the streets of this town in Ernakulam district into a more animated version of itself.
As the campaign reached its last day on Sunday, the MLA, in a Facebook post said, “Girls Night Out is receiving an extraordinary response. Many people and prominent personalities, including women, from the constituency and other places called to congratulate and express their support.”
“This shows that the people of Kerala want a nightlife that women can also be a part of. The 4-day programme concludes today. Hope everyone can come. Thank you very much for your support and cooperation,” he said in his post.
Earlier, this town saw everyone calling it a day by 8-8.30 PM, the streets would be dark and for those returning late from work, there was nothing to do except remain indoors. To change all this and to show women that they can step out into the streets late in the night without having to worry about their safety, the ‘Girls Night Out’ initiative was initially implemented in a half-a-kilometre stretch of the M C Road, an arterial State highway which connects several towns from Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam in Kerala, a source in Kuzhalnadan’s office said.
Not only the girls and young women, who came out in hundreds to enjoy what the campaign offered, but also their parents welcomed the initiative and were happy about it.
Kuzhalnadan told a channel that the campaign would demonstrate the capabilities of girls and women.
“They are not to be caged. When we discourage young people from nightlife in the belief that it’s something wrong, they move towards the use of drugs and intoxicants behind closed doors to get some excitement in life. So let’s open up a bit. Let’s be a bit liberal. We want all of Kerala to be like this,” he said.
Credits: The Indian Express
