Senior Nurse Mary Vas Felicitated on ‘Women’s Day’ by St Aloysius PUC
Senior Nurse/Nursing Superintendent at Yenepoya Specialty Hospital-Kodialbail-Mangaluru- Mary Vas was Honored on ‘Women’s Day by St Aloysius Pre-University College, Mangaluru at a function held at Loyola Hall on 8 March 2018.
Mangaluru: If White House-Washington, USA had “Super Power”, locally St Aloysius Pre-University college-Mangaluru, India has “Super Women?” – who simply outnumber the men faculty.There are 99 women lectures, compared to only 31 men lecturers- that’s what you call “Women Empowerment”. Period. International Women’s Day, celebrated each year on March 8, is a day honouring the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women around the world. Women’s Day is also an opportunity to promote gender parity. Today, International Women’s Day belongs to all women – and their allies – everywhere and is acknowledged around the world. This year’s International Women’s Day global theme is #PressForProgress. To help you honour all the incredible women in your life, we’ve compiled a list of inspiring and empowering quotes by women and for women. Happy International Women’s Day!
“Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights. Let us not forget that among those rights are the right to speak freely – and the right to be heard.” had said Hillary Clinton, former US Secretary of State; and how about this quote :”Behind every successful man, there is a woman. She is always there when he needs her. She becomes his pillar of strength, his umbrella when it rains trouble, she is the provider, the creator. Woman, you are at the leader. Cheers to the strength of womanhood, the destroyer of evil and the creator. Happy Women’s Day! A thoughtful and sentimental programme was organized by st Aloysius PUC, where they felicitated Ms Mary Vas- the Nursing Superintendent at Yenepoya Specialty Hospital-Mangaluru- and who is also a great friend of St Aloysius PUC, being a close-by neighbour?
The programme began with invoking God’s blessings rendered by the female lecturers of St Aloysius PUC, followed by welcome address by Ms Reena Monteiro- President of Women’s Forum/Coordinator of today’s programme. The chief guest of the occasion, Ms Mary Vas was felicitated by Fr Dionysius Vaz-Rector of St Aloysius Institutions with a shawl, flower bouquet and memento, along with other dignitaries on the dais namely- Fr Melwin Mendonca- Principal, St Aloysius PUC; Ms charlotte Dsouza- Vice principal; Ma Reena Monteiro- Dept of English-SAPUC; and Fr Bosco Lang-Finance Officer, SAPUC. Ms Mary was also joined during the felicitation by her husband Ram, and her colleague at work, Ms Sowmya.
After felicitation, addressing the audience, Ms Mary Vas speaking on the role of nurses said, ” Nursing is a dynamic and challenging profession, it plays an important role in providing care to humanity. Health is a right of every human being. Science and technology is playing an important role in the present times and we have to upgrade to the modern times. There is no recession in nursing jobs, we should be thankful to all the parents for supporting the children to take up nursing as profession and also novices for taking the challenging profession. There is a high demand for nursing in the world now. Nurses follow in the footsteps of Florence Nightingale, because this profession of caring is passed from generation to generation, and Nurses have to make sure that they are vibrant, vigilant and more knowledgeable.”
“Just like discrimination against women, but one sad part is that nurses dedication and service to humanity is never recognized, only doctors get the credit for all the service that nurses do. But nurses should never give up, because there’s is a very professional and caring job in the world, and they should be proud of it. Remember that Nurses are the most best trusted people. Nurses are also the future leaders in the healthcare industry, and they should utilize their talents and experience when they go out into the world serving the sick and suffering. While commemorating ‘Women’s Day’, it is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. We should fight for Women’s rights, and see that women also get priority like men. Let’s stand united and seek justice” added Ms Vas.
Also speaking during the occasion, Fr Melwin Mendonca Sj said, “Today we honor women who have played an vital role in the society, and we feel proud to felicitate Ms Mary Vas who has served as a nurse for 45 years, and now being a Nursing Superintendent at Yenepoya Hospital, which is closer to our college. She is always ready to oblige us when we seek medical assistance, and we are grateful to her for her for her kind gesture and service. We need to respect women like we respect others. These days women are fairing much better than men-just look at our college faculty strength- we have 99 women lecturers compared to 31 men lecturers. Empowering women in India is very necessary to bring gender equality or we can say that gender equality is very necessary to empower women. Our country is still a developing country and economic status of our country is very bad because it is a male dominated country. “
“It is very necessary for all Indian men to understand the power of women and let them go ahead to make themselves independent and power of the family and country. Gender equality is the first step to bring women empowerment in India. Men should not understand that women are made only to handle household chores or take responsibility of home and family. It is not the responsibility of our government only, it is the responsibility of each and every Indian. Every Indian need to change their mind towards women and strictly follow all the rules made for women empowerment. And while we mark ‘Women’s Day’ today, let us start respecting women, right from our mothers, sisters, grandmas, teachers and other women in the society. Happy Women’s Day” added Fr Mendonca Sj.
Rector Fr Dionysius Vaz addressing the audience said,”As men we need to ask one question-What are the qualities of women that we admire most?. Among many qualities, it is their capacity of resilience; Capacity of empowerment; Capacity of management; they are the women of values, Capacity of caring and loving; among many others. Women are a great family member. They are a good friend, sister, mother, wife and amazing person overall. Almost all women in our lives have either inspired and motivated us someway or the another. Hard work, patience and zest for perfection in small things of women also needs to be appreciated. Our institution is blessed to have many women who are contributing to this institution in various capacities, after the institution went co-ed. It’s nice to know that women empowerment is taking a bold step forward”
“Women need to be given full freedom, it is their birth rights. Women empowerment is the vital tool for advancing development in the country. It also would help in reducing poverty by improving health and productivity within families and communities as well as providing better chance to the next generation. There are many social issues making women backward in India such as gender based violence, reproductive health inequities, economic discrimination, harmful traditional practices, other pervasive and persistent forms of inequality. Men too with women need to engage in all social and cultural norms to encourage combined participation as well as create equitable environment in home, office and community. Let us start respecting women, and feel that they should also get the freedom rights like rest of us” said Rector.
As part of the cultural programme, the women lecturers performed an ABBA song “I Have a Dream”, followed by a Konkani solo song “Seli” (Lady) by Ms Jennifer Pinto, lecturer at SAPUC. The function was professionally compered by Ms Anita Pinto- Lecturer in Commerce.
