The Hindu : New Delhi News : Sensitising men for women's progress

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Wednesday, Mar 10, 2010
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Sensitising men for women's progress

Staff Reporter

ICPRD working on changing men's perceptions

NEW DELHI: Eight young men, some of them sari-clad , present a striking portrayal of the ills that plague society with regard to women such as wife-beating, discrimination and eve teasing.

These men are part of the youth forums against gender-based violence facilitated by the Independent Commission for People's Rights and Development (ICPRD) operating in rural Karnataka and Rajasthan since 2005.

“The social conditioning which has caused patriarchal mindsets and the feudal element has prevented men from encouraging the progress of women,” said ICPRD member-secretary Dr. Nandini Azad here on Tuesday.

“The aim of these forums is to re-socialise men who can become vanguards of women's rights and help change perceptions with the help of teachers and local self help groups,” she added.

Dr. Azad said: “Young men from low-income communities in the age group of 14-26 are trained to change their perceptions regarding women which are deeply entrenched as a result of social conditioning. ”

A modicum of training is through image fusion, wherein members enact multiple situations in which women are harassed. At crucial moments in scenes, where the woman is being victimised, audiences are asked to step in and mould the image to remedy the situation. The image fusion relies more on actions and expression rather than dialogue, enabling people to understand without prior knowledge of the language.

Some youth forum members by their own admission had no grounding in gender issues and were not concerned about women's issues prior to their involvement with ICPRD. Some of them were also eve-teasers.

Shivraj, a youth forum member said: “I never respected my mother, sister, or other female acquaintances. Then I joined the youth forum along with friends and we were trained in gender issues. We disseminated what we learnt in our village and got support from the village “sarpanch” as well.” Shivraj tried to prevent his sister from getting married when she was in her teens. “Angered, my parents banished me from home. Now I stay in Bangalore and am an ICPRD worker.”

Others like Shivraj try to identify violence against women in their families and communities, attempt to stop harassment of women in public places, counsel their friends against eve teasing, promote girls' education, work with women's self help groups, take pledges not to demand dowry on marriage and spread awareness against discrimination.

ICPRD encourages the youth to enrol in the youth forums through its various rallies, street theatre, cricket matches and other activities.

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