GHMC Art Work Trivialises Women

Hyderabad: The GHMC’s city beautification effort has minimised and trivialised the role of women, or even made them disappear, in its newly painted murals and artworks. Of the transgender persons, there are none.

At Moosapet, in front of the GHMC Kukatpally zonal office, the exhibit features Covid warriors. The doctor and police officer are men, and the sanitation worker with a broom in hand is a woman.

At Shilparamam junction, the exhibit on sports does not feature a single woman. At the median near KBR Park, there is a sculpture of a man playing a guitar.

The walls of the underpasses near Kothaguda, LB Nagar and the flyovers at Narayanguda, LB Nagar and Khairatabad, feature freedom fighters. Most of them are male. At the Kothaguda underpass too, there were murals of soldiers on its walls, without any artwork celebrating the contribution of women.

The Filmnagar-Shaikpet stretch features replicas of sculptures in London’s Leicester Square and the cheeky boatman ‘De Vaartkapoen’ from Belgium. Again, few women.

The Chintalkunta checkpost features a sculpture of a man operating a camera. The sculpture at the Manchirevula junction near Outer Ring Road at Narsingi is of a man in deep thought, a la Rodin, the sculpture at the Nanakramguda junction shaped out of metal is also of a man.

This has drawn the ire of activists fighting for gender equality. Anil, also known as Savitri, a prominent trans and queer rights activist, told Deccan Chronicle: " There is no community representation, neither in the paintings nor in those who do the paintings. Disappointing since it is coming from the same government that is recruiting trans-traffic volunteers. This is selective inclusion."

Anil also added, "Equity is important, not just equality. Very important to address and acknowledge the existence of queer and trans painters and portray them in paintings as well.”

Other activists fighting for women’s rights also opined the same. Shravya Mandadi, founder of WE & SHE Foundation, said the artworks would impact the minds of the young generation. “Girls might assume their work will not get recognition due to their gender. There is already discrimination in all sectors including politics, sports and movies.” She noted that there was no dearth of prominent women personalities who participated in the freedom struggle as well as in the formation of Telangana. “They did not get recognition,” Mandadi said.

Kondaveeti Satyavati from Bhumika Women's Collective NGO, reacting to the issue noted: “Even the Hyderabad Book Fair committee doesn't have a women member.”

The beautification works are taken care of by various wings of the GHMC, HMDA and TSIIC. There is no separate committee that regulates them.

Asked about the exclusion, GHMC commissioner K. Ilambarithi said that there was no intent of gender discrimination. "If there are loopholes that give an impression of gender discrimination in the beautification project, it will be rectified,” the GHMC commissioner told Deccan Chronicle.

He said there was no committee that shortlisted the artworks. “The works are being executed at the zonal level. Our intention was to give artists liberty but if there are loopholes it will be rectified," he added.

There are six zones in GHMC and presently all of them are headed by men.