Gender Equality India Project #21891

Support A Young Girls Leadership Academy in India

by CREA

Support A Young Girls Leadership Academy in India

Project Report | Mar 26, 2019
Rupam uses football to challenge gender norms in her village

By Anuradha Chatterji | Director, Resource Development

Rupam attended the SELF Academy organized by CREA between 24^thSeptember-8^thOctober, 2018 in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand (India). She was among 38 young women who participated in the training that was spread over 15 days. The Academy focused on building perspective (on gender-based discrimination and violence, sexuality, consent and power and patriarchy) and skills (sports, digital literacy, English and storytelling) of these young women to challenge gender-based injustices and violence, prevalent in their context.

SELF Academy played a crucial role in Rupam’s life by strengthening her understanding on gender norms that are followed in the communities and how these norms discriminate against young women. At the same time, the academy motivated Rupam to take an initiative, collectivize young women and use the medium of football to access public spaces. Rupam, even before participating in the SELF Academy, was interested in football and was pursuing it at a personal level. Before SELF, she played football under the It’s My Body program (that is implemented by CREA in partnership with Lok Prerna Kendra) and participated in ‘Goal for Girls’ (an initiative which brought together young women who were interested in the sports) to further strengthen her football skills. At the community level she played with boys (from her community) and worked towards learning football under a male coach. But before attending SELF, all her efforts were directed towards learning football for herself.

During the SELF Academy, she got in touch with two female football coaches and got inspired to take an initiative to collectivize young women (from her community) and coach them on football. Rigid gender norms exist in the community where she comes from which limits the interaction between girls and boys. Often, absence of female football coaches is given as an excuse and young women are therefore not allowed to step out of their home and learn football. Given this context, she decided to share learning from the SELF Academy, specially around football, with other girls by collectivizing them, training them and forming a female football team. She also used this platform to engage girls on discussion around different ways in which the existing norms discriminate against girls.

Rupam, further challenged restrictive gender norms (that are reinforced in her community) by organizing a football match between young women and men. It not only brought young men and women together and gave them an opportunity and space to engage with each other but at the same time, it challenged the community’s perception around the abilities of young women. The football match was organized under a larger campaign that was run by young women who participated in the SELF Academy. It aimed at challenging the existing discriminatory norms that are reinforced by the society. It also worked towards creating a space to engage community members in a dialogue and advocate for rights of young women.

Public spaces in India, are highly gendered and are dominated by men. This domination reflects in a stark manner when we look at sports. It (sports) is one of the ways which brings out people in public spaces. And if we closely look at different sports activity, it reinforces gender stereotypes and perpetuates discrimination. Focusing on the Indian context, outdoor activities like football, cricket, hockey etc. are considered sports for boys/men. Contrary to this, girls are largely restricted to indoor play activities like playing with dolls and other games that are popular at the local level. Such activities legitimize the dominance of men in public spaces and restricts women/girls from accessing such spaces. Focusing on the current times, even when young women try to access such spaces, they have to struggle with patriarchal structures (both at the family/community level and inside the sports world).

Given this context, the SELF Academy, considered it important to include sports (football) and at the same time bring in female football coaches to train young women. The football session was planned everyday during the Academy and it helped in not only building the technical skills of young women around football, but at the same time, had set a good example (through female football coaches) for young girls to look up to and follow. Personal interactions with these female football coaches helped bring out struggles that these coaches went through to reach that stage in their career. Young female participants could easily identify with the struggles which led them to form an empathetic relationship that went beyond the football coaching. It helped them (young female participants) draw parallels with respect to their own struggles and at the same time understand different ways that can be negotiated to counter gender-based norms and discrimination.

Rupam, specifically benefitted from the football sessions. Given her interest in football, she not only learnt the technical skills related to the sport, but at the same time, she brought together learning from other sessions and used it to collectivize young women (from her community). Close and personal interactions with the female football coaches motivated her to take a lead and start coaching other young women in her community. By doing this, she challenged the gender norms that exists around mobility. At the same time, she also organized a football match (as a part of the larger campaign) which brought together young men and women. This not only challenged the general perception around the ability of girls to play football and be in a public space but at the same time it also challenged the restrictions placed on boys and girls specially in regards to interacting with each other.

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Dec 26, 2018
Program update (October - December 2018)

By Anuradha Chatterji | Director, Resource Development

CREA conducted its fourth SELF academy in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand from September 24 to October 8, 2018. A total of 42 girls including four female coaches and 4 trainers from partner organisations* from Jharkhand participated in the 15 day long residential SELF academy. The participants were of the age 17-21 years.

Over the fifteen days of the academy, different sessions using sports, arts, media and technology were conducted for learning, playing, bonding, leading and deciding together. During the SELF academy, girls were engaged into reflective and thought provoking discussions to explore their lives and communities – together they explored choice and consent, love and relationships; technology from a feminist lens; and access to public spaces and idea of fear and learnt skills like computers, social media, comics, arts, football and campaigns.

“My name is Neha (name changed), I am 19 years old and study in college. I want to know if there is any biological reason for having short height and how can I cure it? People from my village mock me and make fun of my height. They say that nobody will marry me because of my height. They also question the clothes I wear and ask me to wear typical ‘girl suit’. I don’t like wearing those clothes. I have stopped interacting with people, I do not have friends and to avoid questions and teasing, I stay alone.” – A participant from Hazaribagh district

This academy helped them to explore and understand the idea of ‘space’ which included exploring public, private, online and digital spaces where the discriminatory norms operate to control lives of women and girls. To build understanding on these aspects and their intersections with gender, sexuality, caste, religion etc.

"I never thought that I was being discriminated against my brother in my family..but after coming to SELF I realised that my brother owns a smartphone and has access to internet, but I am not even allowed to TOUCH his phone.. I felt so happy when I used a computer for the first time in my life, here at SELF." – A participant from Jamshedpur. She even made a comic titled ‘Discrimination’ to share her story with others.

* Lok Prerna Kendra, Mahila Mukti Sansthan, Srijan Foundation and Nurture Trust

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Sep 24, 2018
Project update (July - September 2018)

By Anuradha Chatterji | Director, Resource Development

It is September 2018 and we are ready to conduct CREA’s Fourth SELF Academy in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand! Starting on 24 September 2018, the revised version of the SELF Academy will bring together 48 young women from Jharkhand, over a period of fifteen days to learn, play, lead and decide!

From 24 September – 8 October 2018, the SELF academy (Self-confidence, Expression, Leadership and Freedom), using sports, arts and media and technology, will work with girls to build their understanding on issues of gender, leadership, consent and gender-based violence; strengthen their self-confidence and leadership capacities; and equip them with skills and tools to reflect, express and articulate their issues, opinions and aspirations. The academy aims to build capacities of girls for having greater control over their bodies and lives, challenge discriminatory norms and practices and negotiate for equal rights.

The lead up to this academy, in the last three months has included – alumni meetings with girls from the SELF Academy 2015, 2016 and 2017 and internal review meetings at CREA to assess the value and impact of its current design, course content and methodology.

Based on this process, the model of the upcoming academy has been revised in the following ways:

Age-group: In order to ensure that all girls attending the SELF Academy are able to pursue higher education, training and employment opportunities as per their interest and background – girls 18 years and above have been only invited to attend the fourth academy. Building capacities of girls in this age-group, enables them to take on leadership roles in their families and communities, strengthens their ability to negotiate, assert and make decisions over their bodies and lives. CREA along with its partner organisations* has conducted meetings with the girls and their families before the academy.

15 Days at the academy: the first academy was designed as a 15 day long intervention which later on based on feedback from the girls and their families was reduced to ten days. However, during the alumni meetings, many girls and faculty of the academy shared that ten days were not enough to ensure that the content is effectively and comprehensively shared.

Comprehensive learning: equal time and weightage has been given to perspective building and skills building at the academy. Girls participating in this academy, are part of CREA’s ongoing program –It’s My Body : Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Girls through Sports (IMB program).The program over a period of 10-12 months works with the girls at the village level using football as a strategy, medium and pathway to increase their awareness and build their understanding on issues of gender, sexuality, bodily autonomy, health and rights. Keeping this in mind, the SELF Academy has been designed as the next step for a select cohort of girls from the IMB program, where they are exposed to knowledge and skills of sports, arts, media and technology to enhance their potential for education, training, leadership and employability. However, during the alumni and review meetings, it was assessed that the SELF Academy by itself must revisit and refocus issues of consent, autonomy, leadership, gender, sexuality, violence and rights to be able to provide a more complete and unique learning experience during those 15 days.

The fourth SELF Academy will particularly strengthen and build knowledge, understanding and skills on the idea of ‘space’ and the interface and interaction young girls and women have with its various aspects and forms - Public spaces, personal spaces, online and digital spaces etc. through a feminist lens. What does mobility, accessibility and visibility mean to young girls and women in rural areas? In what ways and forms is this controlled, monitored and supervised through norms, deep seated beliefs, customs and practices in families, schools, workplace and communities? How can this be challenged without a threat to their lives? How can we collectively support each other to resist this? How does this impact the decisions I make about my education, work, health and life? SELF Academy will explore the myriad ways in which these intersect with gender, caste, sexuality, religion and more in lives of young girls through courses designed by CREA, in collaboration with Agents of Ishq, Blank Noise, Point of View, Soccer Foundation, CEQUIN, Digital Empowerment Foundation. Classes on computers, social media, leadership and campaigning, spoken English, football, arts etc. will further sharpen their skills. Girls at the SELF Academy will also work towards creating messages, campaigns and interventions they could initiate, share and lead with other girls and women in their community during the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender Based Violence from 25 November – 10 December 2018.

All of us at CREA and our partner organisations are extremely excited to be at the upcoming SELF Academy! Do follow us on Instagram, Facebbok and Twitter.

*Community- based partner organisation in Jharkhand:

Lok Prerana Kendra, Chatra, Jharkhand

Mahila Mukti Sansthan, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand

Srijan Foundation, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand

Nurture Trust, East Singhbhum, Jharkhand

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