Taking action: strengthening community support for Gender Justice

Every participant of the Action for Equality is a part of a community-level public event at the conclusion of every 15 week programme cycle. The event is an opportunity for the boys to initiate a dialogue within their communities about gender based violence and discrimination. At these events, boys attempt to create awareness on a particular topic within the broader issue of gender based violence and discrimination or they take a small action to tackle a part of the problem in their community.
At the end of 16th programme cycle in October 2016, we conducted public events in 20 communities in Pune. Men and women assembled in their neighbourhoods as participants shared learnings about the central theme- ‘Challenging gender norms at home’ through a picture story. Additionally, they conducted a quiz which urged the audience to think about gendered distribution of housework.We raised questions such as : ‘Who fills water at home? Who is allowed to play outside? Who usually cooks at home? and most importantly Why?’. This sparked off a dialogue about gender equality and discrimination. As dialogue is the first step to change, we believe this exchange of ideas brought us closer to communities which supports a gender equal world.
“I have seen positive change in boys who attend AfE’s sessions – they are respectful to women and girls, and stand up for their rights. That is why, I am always keen to be a part of ECF’s activities,” said Sunanda Shinde, an aanganwadi sevika and a member of the audience at Kashewadi Public Event.
To see more photos of Public Events, click here