The first edition of The Bridge – Conversations on gender empowerment in India, will be held on October 8 in New Delhi. The event will provide a one of its kind platform for critical ideas, debates and discourse, and aims to bridge deep seated biases which are present in today’s society.

Patriarchy is not only challenging for women, but also binds men, as well as LGBTQ individuals to stereotypical conventions of masculinity and femininity. With technology engendering the conversation even further, and young people questioning the existing truths on oppression, discrimination and prejudices, The Bridge will therefore, engage with these questions, trials, tribulations and solutions to gender empowerment in varying social, cultural, economic and political contexts. The conclave will bring together eminent speakers, including politicians, leaders, entrepreneurs, academicians, filmmakers and activists, all of whom embody change and are in a position to affect it.

The conversation has been carefully designed to generate actionable dialogue, and includes Ms. VasundharaRaje, Ms. Maneka Gandhi, Ms. RohiniNilekani, Ms. Farah Khan, Ms. Sharmila Tagore, Ms. Ankhi Das, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Ms. Mona Eltahawy, Ms. Nivedita Menon, Ms. Sara Pilot, Mr. Nikhil Dey and many more luminaries.

One of the highlights of this festival is also the inclusion of a unique panel of women from the largest self-help group in India, who have surmounted incredible odds to assume leadership roles and transform rural India.

In the words of AnantNath Editor of The Caravan, and one of the Festival Directors:

“We are at that juncture of life when people of all genders must come together and work for what is overdue. It is our responsibility to bring together those voices of the nation who will project reality as is.”