A night for the ladies

By Tera Jayewardene

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The panel discussion

The Ladies VIP Night celebrating International Women’s Week on March 3 at the Shangri-La Ballroom started off with 17-year-old Secretary General of the Colombo Model United Nations Rika Goonetilleke talking of the focus of this Women’s Day ‘Each for Equal’. “I think that is a really important concept because contrary to popular belief equality should be everyone’s goal. Why? Because once you subjugate women to specific roles you minimize potential, you minimize my potential, you minimize the potential of society, the economy, politics and certainly everyone’s degree of thinking,” she said.

The all male panel discussion saw well known business leaders Ajay Amalean, Timothy Wright, Mano Sekaram, Nikhil Advani and Janek Jayasekara look at key issues impacting women such as how companies handle harassment in the workplace, how having flexible hours can increase the numbers of women in employment as well as how having a supportive family can make a big difference for women in the workforce. Unfortunately, the discussion taking place as dinner was served diluted the audience’s attention somewhat.

The fashion show featuring striking collections from Sonali Dharmawardena, Aslam Hussein, l’Atelier Touche, Ramona Oshini, Charini and Limak was notable as the three separate ramps saw the same model change her clothes before getting on to a new ramp –a novel concept.

The most interesting collection was by Ramona Oshini which saw the model in white saree entering the first ramp with four male models around her, one holding an umbrella over her. She then took off two pieces from her saree, giving them to two different guys. On the second ramp she wore a white batik red skirt and one of the models put a necklace on her, to background music that played ‘You don’t own me’. On the third ramp, she let her hair loose, wearing a dress with a large black and white bow and black gloves. Through each ramp a story of the different struggles that women go through was portrayed with the final one symbolizing a woman being comfortable in her own skin and embracing her own potential –a powerful message presented through fashion.

While there was great food, drinks and fun aplenty, the Women’s Day theme of equality and empowerment may have been overshadowed in the excitement of the evening.