PREJUDICE

Judging by the results of a recent survey of school children across the country, India’s future looks bleak - a high proportion of children and teens show clear signs of gender biases as well as cultural and religious intolerance. A total of 23,000 students from 4th, 6th and 8th grade participated in the study, which focused on attitudes and values. The results were dismaying.

- Gender inequality

Around 40-43% of the students thought that education for a girl is not as important as her responsibility towards her family. If a choice has to be made between educating a boy or a girl, the former is a clear preference. Some felt that in the long run, educating a girl was a waste of resources. Around 15% of 8th graders believed that girls were more likely to be burdensome to their parents. However, 35% of 4th graders and 47% of 8th graders felt that both boys and girls are equally capable, but 15-20% of the students in these grades believe that abilities are determined by gender.

The results point to a deep-rooted bias against the girl child, even among students from educated families and those belonging to higher socio-economic strata.

- Immigrants

Nearly 60% of the students were unwilling to accept immigrants from other states, as they felt that ‘outsiders’ take away jobs from locals and are a source of communal disagreements. Only 29% believe that Indians can live and work freely in any state.

Although nearly half of the students surveyed believed that people come closer to each other due to mutual respect and understanding, the other half had preconceived beliefs about people from other religions, and thought that religious differences matter and need to be defended through violence, if necessary.

- Lack of empathy for the differently-abled

A large majority of the students (70-80%) think of differently-abled people as burdensome, unhappy or not good in studies. However, older students fare slightly better, with 21% in 4th grade and 29% in 8th grade being more willing to accept ‘special’ students.

Around 60% of the students are not sensitive about HIV-affected people and lack information about HIV. This could be because awareness programs are not effectively reaching children, according to the experts.

Again, it is educators –parents and teachers- who hold the key to a change in the way the nation’s young regard and treat girls and minorities. Without the understanding and subsequent instilling of different, more just values, age-old discriminatory attitudes are bound to continue.

Source: Pune Mirror

ABUSE AND TRADITION

According to the last National Family Health Survey, more than a third of Indian women have experienced some form of abuse by their husbands - pushing, slapping, punching, kicking, choking or burning. Activists say the actual figures are much higher, but in spite of there being more awareness and gender-sensitive laws, few women are willing to talk openly about the violence they endure at the hands of those who purport to love them.

Although physical and sexual violence against women exist throughout the world, the degree to which it is acceptable in India is unfathomable. The Health Survey found that 51% of Indian men and 54% of Indian women find it justifiable for a man to beat his wife. Moreover, the silence that surrounds this abuse helps perpetuate its acceptability - not the understandable silence of women who are afraid, but the silence of family, friends, neighbours and even passers-by who choose to turn a blind eye.

So-called "honour killings" and "stove burnings" are often rooted in a culture where a woman's worth is linked to her family's reputation and a tradition of hefty dowries. In 1995, Time Magazine reported that dowry deaths in India increased from around 400 a year in the early 1980s to around 5,800 a year by the middle of the 1990s. Setting fire to a wife who has failed to pay her full dowry and then blaming her death to “a kitchen fire” has been recognized as an important public health problem in India.

The high levels of gender violence which persist in India are thought to be mainly due to deeply-rooted, age-old discriminatory beliefs. Despite the country's impressive economic growth and exposure to "Western liberalism", women are still largely seen as objects. Most of the victims are uneducated women from disadvantaged social backgrounds - reinforcing the general perception that domestic violence is more pervasive in groups of lower socio-economic status.

Yet professional women in India also face such abuse, but rarely speak of it. Some married women are afraid of being accused of "breaking up the family" and are expected to put up with the abuse and maintain their silence, while single women worry about being seen as "weak" as they strive to break through in male-dominated professions.

On one hand, tradition, poverty, illiteracy, lack of enforcement of gender-sensitive laws, and few opportunities for women to empower themselves have allowed violence against them to go unchecked. On the other, lack of proper education implicitly condones and perpetuates these crimes. It is therefore apparent that the deep transformation of cultural beliefs that will give women their own voice and dignity can only be brought about by persistent and innovative education processes that start with children, and that such processes should be accessible to all children, regardless of their social status.

Source: BBC News / Wikipedia

ADOLESCENT EDUCATION

India is the country with the largest teen population in the world: 243 million boys and girls. According to UNICEF’s Report on the World's Children 2011, this figure makes up 20% of all teenagers in the world. For a nation undergoing clear economic growth, these data would be encouraging, were it not for the fact that India also has one of the lowest standards of living for this population sector both in the health and education realms - 56% of girls between 11 and 19 and 30% of boys in the same age group suffer from anemia, 47% are malnourished and almost 40% do not attend school.

It is obvious that, in India, actions directed to this population group are particularly necessary and urgent. Through the project Community Development in Hadapsar, Asha-Kiran has the opportunity to reach 70 teens of both sexes directly. The Teenage Education program was dreamed up for them - a series of sessions led by Deepti, our Social Worker, with the aim of giving this group of boys and girls the necessary tools to appraise their circumstances (within their community and in society at large) and to have an effect on them by modifying them when they impinge upon their basic needs and their physical and moral integrity.

Teens in India have to deal with problems such as malnutrition and anemia, teen pregnancy (and all the complications associated with it such as increased maternal and infant mortality), sexually transmitted diseases including HIV, drug abuse , dropping out of school, illiteracy, depression, suicide, physical battering and sexual violence. Therefore, for the eight sessions scheduled for 2011-2012, Asha-Kiran chose to focus on the most pressing issues one by one. First, we talked together (boys and girls sharing their points of view) issues related to health, hygiene and nutrition.


Although the project Community Development in Hadapsar does not provide health and food services directly, it focused on best practices for home nutrition and the steps to take in order to access curative and preventive care at public health clinics. In addition, we conducted workshops on healthy habits and environmental hygiene to prevent diseases. Unlike the health education activities aimed at the youngest members of the community, in the sessions with teens we emphasized the responsibility that comes with maturity and the need to consider how certain behaviors and habits that can be changed by the teens themselves (such as what foods to eat, proper grooming or how to care for the community environment) can have a positive impact on the lifestyle of individuals, families and the community.

To address more intimate issues, we worked with girls and boys separately. It is almost impossible to discuss issues related to the physical, emotional and psychological changes of adolescence in a mixed group; to the shyness and complexes proper of this age must be added that "being a woman in India" entails a latent inferiority complex that hampers peer-to-peer interaction in a mixed-genders group.

In these separate groups, Deepti worked with dynamic creative thinking and detection of behavior patterns. The goal was for both girls and boys to pinpoint in their usual reactions, the misinformation, prejudices and fears that determine their usual behavior. Only by knowing and thinking about their own behavioral patterns and thought mechanisms, can they attempt to control their reactions when these may harm them or those around them. With this type of dynamics, we intend for them to spot peer or group pressure and to be able to respond to it with autonomy, particularly in relation to sexual practices or drug abuse. It must be kept in mind that in India, approximately 35% of new HIV infections occur in the 15 to 24 age group.

But, in Deepti’s own words, "we also raised awareness on gender equality in the mixed group because they can only learn to respect one another if they consider one another”. Teen marriage was also discussed in depth with the girls in an atmosphere of complete trust. In the country, 43% of girls are married before 18, and 13% of them become teenage mothers. Only by reminding them (girls and boys), again and again, that marriage, the onset of sexual intercourse and pregnancy are decisions that they themselves must take, will they begin to have the necessary courage to fight for their autonomy within their family and their community.

"We will not notice a change overnight after these sessions, but at least we are sure that the thought processes of these boys and girls are beginning to change because they have had an opportunity – that does not exist in their immediate surroundings – to start thinking for themselves. They were able to discuss and share their experiences, fears and expectations. Now we have to accompany them and address individual concerns and insecurities that will surely arise from their new outlook and the way they regard themselves, brought about by the Adolescent Education program. Gradually, they will begin to make new decisions and we will be there to support them."