Day 7: Inclusive Equality: A Workshop | @ecfindia #ProjectRaise

    On the 7th Day of the 2020 Prajnya 16 Days Campaign Against Gender Violence, we had trainers from the Equal Community Foundation share insights from their work and offer strategies for including men and boys in the journey towards gender equality and a violence-free world.

    The workshop began with an ice-breaker on the participants discussing what they have learnt from the pandemic. From the mention of the kind of resilience folks facing caste atrocities have shown to the need to express gratitude visually, a wide array of responses were given. Antika, the facilitator, from Equal Community Foundation, then, took the participants through a session on Inclusive Equality, where she highlighted that one needs to believe that men and boys are capable of change. This, she pointed out, can occur through facilitation, skill-building, and visual aids, to put together a participatory session that makes men and boys reflect on their experiences.

    She began by conducting an "Island Activity", where the participants were advised to close their eyes and imagine being stranded on an island. Antika then proceeded to ask what one would need in order to survive. Initially, the responses centred around shelter, food, clothes and companionship. Towards the end, the focus was laid on the need for an administrative setup, legislation, political awareness and freedom of speech, to name a few. All these points, she mentioned, are necessary for an individual to live with dignity in a society.

    Antika said, "When we talk about gender discrimination, it is a human rights issue. When we talk of masculinity, it is a human rights issue. Anything we see must be viewed through a human rights perspective. So, when one comes from the point of privilege, it is difficult for them to understand why they should let go of their privilege. To understand the need to give up one's privilege and uphold human rights is why these rights need to be talked about and inculcated in every issue."

    The discussion, then, steered towards actioning a meaningful dialogue. This was raised by a participant who mentioned how individuals who realise their privilege stop interacting entirely. Antika responded by saying, "it is necessary for us to have the right attitude. One's privilege has to be acknowledged and has to be given away. And, it is the most difficult thing to do. It is not an easy process. The society doesn't help either. What we can do is build safe spaces around that person. This accelerates our change and helps us give away our privilege bit by bit [without feeling guilty] by knowing that one has changed, reflected and reinvented themselves."

    She also emphasised on the need for inclusivity as facilitators. She said, "what we need as facilitators are to be more inclusive - in our language, sessions and presentations. We can begin by talking about gender. We can then move to sex. Through this, we get into the conversation that the topic isn't limited to men and women." She also mentioned that there is a lot of secrecy and mystery concerning topics like the body, bodily autonomy, sexual and reproductive health or sexual orientation, and a repeated mention of the same in various discussions with men and boys is necessary to break the taboos.

    The webinar ended with a participant quoting Dr B.R. Ambedkar's views on human rights: "as experience proves, rights are protected not by law but by social and moral conscience of the society. If social conscience is such that it is prepared to recognise the rights which law proposes to enact, rights will be safe and secure. But if the fundamental rights are opposed by the community, no Law, no Parliament, no Judiciary can guarantee them in the real sense of the world."

(Screenshots by Pozhil SG)