The Hindu : New Delhi News : Girls get lessons on empowerment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 18, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Girls get lessons on empowerment

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MAY 17 . Giving young girls an opportunity to have a voice in their future, Child Relief and You (CRY) in collaboration with another non-government organisation, Nav Shristi, organised a workshop here today to make adolescent girls aware of their rights. An attempt to empower young girls, this intensive three-day workshop hopes to familiarise them with the choices available so that they become a force within their own families and the community.

The aim of the workshop is to start a chain so that young women are able to spread the message further and motivate their peers to take a step closer to empowerment. Apart from raising awareness among young girls, the workshop intends to facilitate the process of formation of a federation of adolescents. Once the federation is formed, these groups will be able to get their voices heard and press for their demands, feel the organisers.

While adolescents might be in the majority in the country, however, they lack a platform to express themselves, believe the organisers. "We hope to be able to work out the logistics of the federation in the afternoon tomorrow. We have about 100 participants and will elect the most capable girls to the federation,'' said the project director, Reena Banerjee.

The workshop also focussed on ways to make their lives easier. "There were sessions on legal rights for the girls. We brought in a legal expert so that girls could clarify issues that concerned them particularly about marriage,'' said Ms Banerjee.

Besides legal aspects, the workshop also concentrated on the history of gender bias. "Girls wanted to know why they were discriminated against. So we had a session on gender and why there is a gender bias and what they can do to change it,'' she added.

The workshop also hopes to be able to develop skills necessary for community facilitators and will therefore concentrate on issues of health, education as well as legal rights of women. Focussing on spreading awareness about the dreaded disease AIDS, the workshop will address problems of sexually transmitted diseases, which are becoming rampant among teenagers.

Sessions on distance learning, vocational training as well as inspirational stories of young girls who have managed to overcome major obstacles to become financially independent, will also be shared with the group.

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