Workshop on Gender Equality and Violence against women.

Held on 12 February, 2015 at 8.30 am in the School auditorium for class 8, this workshop was an initiative of the Citizenship Programme.

One Billion Rising is a global campaign for justice for women suffering violence as well as for gender equality. The Billion refers to UN statistics that one in 3 women is either raped or beaten once in her lifetime. This was an interactive session with a few video clips in which gender stereotypes were discussed. The children were also taught a short catchy song/dance with some slogans to join hands in the Rising revolution.

The discussion revolved around sensitive topics such as eve-teasing, stereotyping men and women, patriarchy, domestic violence and fundamental rights. Students were given a chance to voice an opinion and a discussion followed on adjectives most commonly used to describe men and women. At the end of the discussion, it was proven that words used to describe men and women could easily be interchanged, proving that stereotyping does not quite work nowadays.

At the end of the session, the students were given ribbons and bookmarks with slogans promoting gender equality and they danced to the new song they learnt with the words ANYAYA KE KHILAAF JAGO!

Filed by Ms. Sangeeta Aswani, Citizenship Coordinator.