Public Events: Let’s talk about gender norms

Action Events are public gatherings which our graduates facilitate with an objective of raising awareness about gender norms and its impact on our lives; putting forward practical ways in which each individual can take the responsibility to make our communities gender equitable.

Why are Action events important? Programme Coordinator Pravin Katke says, “These events are an opportunity for boys to talk about gender issues in a public space and open up a community dialogue. They get to practise  the skills they’ve learnt in the programme such as mobilization and communication. The preparation for this event is an initiation for them to actually take ownership about issues and take lead to address gender based violence and discrimination.”

This time around, the event’s central theme was  ‘Human Rights and Gender Norms’. 116 participants took lead in mobilizing community members such as their mothers, sisters, other family members and neighbours. They interacted with over 565 community members. To spark off a dialogue, the participants gathered audiences and involved them in a ‘Power Walk’. This exercise asked questions about power over resources that men hold vs what women hold. Then they probed about why there exist such stark discrepancies in the realities for men and women. After a collective brainstorming about patriarchy, human rights and male privileges, the participants invited the community members to join them for a rally. Together, they shouted slogans against gender based violence and discrimination and raised awareness among more community members to join them.

In the coming months, we hope that events like these act like a ripple effect to promote more community-led action towards making the communities more gender equitable.

To see more pictures from the Action Events click here