Gender discrimination and violence against women and girls continue to be an enormous problem in Indian society despite high rates of economic growth. While India has been progressing on the economic and technological front, on the social front it finds no change in social norms which result in women's secondary status within the household and at workplaces compared to men. The patriarchal mindsets which put restrictions on women's agency and burden them with social boundaries have not changed.
There have been several programmes for improving women's situation which is significant for securing and promoting their rights and providing them with the safe spaces necessary for their empowerment, such programmatic interventions are neither enough nor sufficient to do so. The deeply ingrained secondary social status of women also needs to be addressed and social norms related to gender roles and relationships at the level of the community and within families also need to change substantially
Using creative, playful storytelling methods Centre for Health and Social Justice, India will educate 500 men and boys to identify, prevent and face gender-based violence deconstructing sexist imaginary of men and women and accessing gender equality perspectives to rebuild their self-perception and develop new ways of relating to their peers, family, and community free of gender-based violence, sexist perceptions, and gender inequity.
The project's ultimate goal is to empower 500 women and girls by helping to create new social norms that will reduce discrimination and violence in every sphere of their life. The project aims to achieve the full equality of women and girls by setting up of new gender social norms at the individual/community level and removing the silence around reproductive sexual health rights issues. The community will recognise themselves as subject of rights with dignity, autonomy and citizenship.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
