By Purushottam Pawar | Donor Service officer
Dear Friends,
Greetings from IDEA!
As another wave of Feminism hits the world, it was time for us to discuss "The Gender Divide" with adolescent boys and girls from our educational sponsorship programme. Why are girls treated as secondary children? Why are public places gendered? In a country where where some women can become Presidents and Prime ministers, why there are many who still cannot even step out of their homes?
IDEA’s sponsorship programme helps needy and deserving students by providing reimbursement of school/college fees, study materials, life skills sessions, exposure visit and career counselling. Recently, a workshop on Gender Equality was organized at IDEA. The resource person had students discuss in groups - a) Where do they see male female discrimination? b) Does that make any impact? And c) How this can be fixed? Post this a member from each group presented their understanding on these scenarios from their respective group.
Later, gauging the students’ understanding, on these issues, through the group activity the resource person extended the talk and explained further what is gender, how gender roles, which are actually non-biological, are reinforced, right from the birth, by people for boys and girls leading to women being discriminated, being treated unequally, being expected to veil their bodies and how all these issues rob them off equal opportunities and finally how all this impact us socially, economically, politically and many other ways.
A few interesting questions were raised by students. A boy asked, “Why there is common room for girls at school and colleges but not for boys?” “Having said that gender inequality hampers the growth and prosperity of the society”, one more question was raised by yet another student, “How come some patriarchal societies are able to prosper economically?” All these questions were answered satisfactory.
These questions in themselves are proofs of how the workshop was effective in terms of making students to think critically on gender issues which made the whole effort a successful attempt into engaging students in the right direction to understand the problem of gender inequality.
Many students, especially boys, expressed that gender inequality does exist which is based on discrimination and injustice. Hence working towards establishment of gender equality is very much desirable for not just growth and progress but also for creating an inclusive society.
Friends, please donate to this project so that we can end the Gender Divide!
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By Geetanjali Deshmukh | Manager
By Geetanjali Deshmukh | Manager
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