The Communication Cell was set up to reach constituencies not accessible through training and to propel women’s rights into the popular discourse. In mainstreaming women’s rights our attempt is to affirm women’s creativity and other endeavors that promote their personhood. 

Towards this we use different media to reach out to larger sections of the society, through articles in newspapers, radio plays, TV shows, music concerts, dance performances and films. It also offers spaces for women to speak out and explore. 

Our initiatives in mainstreaming women’s lives and rights include:
  

• HHS organises public meetings in response to contemporary issues that affect women's lives such as the 172nd Review of Rape Laws, death penalty for rapists, etc., where we feel the need for a public debate. The attempt is to bring together various perspectives and facilitate a process of dialogue and public awareness.

• The effort of the primers in Kannada has been to simplify concepts like democracy, equality, gender, gender and law, human rights, etc. 
   

• We have brought out easy to use and understand brochures in Kannada and English on 'Sexual harassment at the workplace', 'Do's and Don'ts for sexual harassment complaints committees', 'Right to violence free life'.

• Khoriya, Wider than echoes - a collaborative effort with STEM dance theatre in 2001 exploring the manifold facets of feminism and sexuality through a synthesis of traditional and contemporary dance motifs.
  

• Moh - our next collaboration with STEM in 2002 came from a need to reiterate positive experiences of women and celebrate love and passion. 
  

• Women Composers in India - a musical programme in Dec 2003 featuring compositions by women during the Bhakti period in 8 Indian languages. The compositions were selected from a rich corpus of musical heritage of women composers, geographically spanning the length and breadth of India. Shakuntala Narasimhan rendered these compositions along with glimpses into the lives and times of the women who created these songs. The composers included: Vagambhrini (Sanskrit), Akka Mahadevi (Kannada), Meerabai (Brijbhasa), Andal (Tamil), Bahinabai (Marathi), Lal Ded (Kashmiri), Thimmakka (Telugu), and Gauhar Jan (Urdu).
  

• A musical rendition of sufi songs by Sumathi N expressing our deep felt need for peace and justice in an increasingly communalised political climate on the International Women's Day in 2003.
  

• Thumri and its women practitioners - In Jan 2004 Sumathi N and Fayaz Khan sang selected Thumris, which originated in the Tawaif culture of the later half of the 18th century and were predominantly performed by women. Based on an exploratory study, this presentation was a collaborative effort of HHS and Sumathi N, looking at Thumri’s history and raising questions about the form and narratives surrounding it and the lives of its women performers. 
  

• Wrote and published articles in leading newspapers and journals.
  

• Radio plays - a series of thirteen plays dealing with rights of women pertaining to: marriage, domestic violence, sexual harassment, health, education, property, mobility and equality and allied issues of collective strength, differences between right and interest, women's movement, functions of law, and indivisibility of Human Rights.
  

• Radio Information Series - A twelve-part legal information series dealing with the concept of rights, function and role of courts & police, marriage, divorce and maintenance, custody of children, bigamy, health issues, sexual harassment at the workplace, human rights, etc.
  

• We utilise opportunities on television to represent issues relevant to women, law and rights.
  

• Gamini- an audio cassette of women's songs and poetry in Kannada composed by Sumathi. 
  

• A music video filmed on Hole Bagilu, a song from Gamini. 

We also create and distribute materials such as badges, pens, greeting cards, T-shirts, stickers, note pads, bags and bookmarks, often with feminist messages. 

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