Training sessions by SAUHARD on

gender sensitivity.

SHE + HE + EQUALITY = SHEquality is what we believe

in. Though, HERO is what we tend to admire for life.
SAUHARD team had made an attempt to make us all
practise the tittle that we carry as a member of SHEquality
club, in its true sense. It was four day/8 hour training that
enhanced one of the most important view point for today's
generation, in the very beginning of a decade.

Our first session was conducted on 2nd of January 2020.

Harshita didi and Janki didi talked about the importance of
the Indian Constitution, fundamental rights, fundamental
duties, reservations and how these inherent yet ignorant
rulebook complement our moral values. Their Idea was to
preach us in a fun fashion. All of us were told to interrogate
and answer following questions to each other :
1. What is your name?
2. What rights facilitate you at your home?
3. What duties do you perform at your home?
4. What moral values do you get from these rights and
duties?
We were given 15 seconds to answer them. The main theme
we came up with was "FREEDOM WITH
RESPONSIBILITIES". This theme took us towards framing
the Constitution of our own college that had duties, rights
and values as it's contents. The duties and right were all
around values like freedom, Justice, adventure, creativity,
love, equality, knowledge, enthusiasm, money, motivation,
success, passion, happiness, fame and fraternity. We were
then told to eliminate the least important value and
corresponding duties and rights. By doing so, we were
reminded that none of these mentioned values can be
ignored. We shared our dilemma in the post activity
discussion which led to a healthy conversation about
reservations. We got to know the other considerable reasons
behind reservations which were not thought by us earlier.
The most important part of the session was to link the
Indian Constitution with gender inequality in India. Right
from its framing to its application had something to do with
gender equality, which was, as usual, ignored. The last
activity for the session was to think and write down that one
right we urge for, in our home. The session ended with a
strong message that encouraged us to gather all possible
resources and use them to enjoy that right we really urge
for.
3rd January, 2020. The day that taught us the real meaning
of sexual Harassment. Janki didi and Rajvi didi made us
understand, what sexual harassment actually is! Again, a
sensitive information was delivered such that we could
understand it from its origin to its core. Ravi di and janki di
took us to the corridor and asked us to arrange ourselves in
a circle. They gave us freedom to react however we wanted,
to their questions. They one by one, chose random person
among us 20 and asked certain questions like; if they could
touch his or her knee/ head/ shoulder/thigh/arm/ feet/ear and
few questions like if they could give him or her a side hug/
Pat on the back. Some of them agreed, some of them
awkwardly agreed and few of them denied; according to
their comfort areas. Both the mentors made us realize that
our comfort zone need not be so entertaining to the other
one. We often become apathetic towards the one we are
communicating with, which might make them feel
uncomfortable. Mentors taught us that anything that makes
the other one feel discomfort or cramped is an act of sexual
Harassment, be it physical; be it mental. We then discussed
personal experiences and incidents of discomfort and listed
all kinds of feeling that we felt at that time. Few of us could
manage to share those sorrowful incidents and many of us
couldn't but all of us wrote it down. While the first activity
reminded us of the practical aspects of sexual Harassment,
second activity was to frame rules for the same. We were
divided into groups of five and asked to frame a UGC'S
sexual Harassment cell policy. Almost all the corners were
covered in that policy. Following are the commonly
mentioned points:
1.The committee should have a counsellor/psychologist as a
member.
2. The maximum time to reach on to any decision should be
15 days.
3. The committee should disclose the case with victim's
consent.
4. Everyone should be aware of committee members so that
they can reach out to them in need.
5. Committee must have 3-4 students as its members.
6. Except few, members must be changed after a certain
time.
7. One or two members must be secretive so that they can
detect peculiarities.
The session ended after an intense discussion covering both
depth and types of sexual Harassment, its prevention
measures and how to deal with them.
The third session took place on 7th of January, 2020.
Gaurang bhaiya's introduction said almost everything about
his personality. He initiated by asking us the reason for
attending these sessions. The third session was all about
domestic actions. Since the first and second sessions built up
understanding towards gender inequality and sexual
harassment, third session was all about digging ourselves
deep down into different ideologies and perspectives that
aids gender inequality. We talked about certain words that
were used to refer a women, which clearly showed that
women are not valued. For example: (a)BAIRU- an object
(b) MARDAANI- a women who is strong. These two
examples clearly shows the patriarchy. A women is
considered as an object and a strong women is
complimented by a man orientated adjective. The discussion
on verbal harassment gradually turned into a very intense
and almost fierce talk about rapes and it's causes. The time
flew by unexpectedly and everyone of us came out of the
room, dismayed and with a compulsion to find the solutions
to prevent sexual assaults and rapes.
Our three day training was pulled to four day training
because the previous session had created enough impulses to
pull it on. Fourth day ( 9th January ) got us to share and
discuss the prevention measures for rapes and sexual
assaults. The main reason we considered was grooming and
sex education. As a solution, we took up a task to educate
our younger siblings accordingly.Their was a brief talk
about religion linked gender inequality issues as well. Lastly
SAUHARD team offered us to take up a 2 month project
that could change mentalities atleast upto some extent.
While explaining us the idea of the project, Gaurang bhaiya
talked about two small yet effective project by two different
girls. One of those projects was named "Pink Chaddi". A 17
year old girl from Delhi had took up this step against a
leader of shreeraam sena from Mangalore. He used to speak
rubbish for women and had ridiculously bitten up girls in
night clubs and pubs. She had sent a pink coloured
underwear to him to show her aggression towards him. She
made this viral and people sent him pink underwears in
courier to show their opposition towards him and to
undermine him. More than 3000 couriers were sent. In no
time, he was eroded and was never again seen since then. So,
the fourth session ended on a very good note and a lot of
encouragement.
These sessions were very much helpful. It did not only focus
on gender sensitivity but also did it amplify our thought
process. Our preserverance got stronger. Our outlook for
gender based crimes got clear. The aggression that we all
had will be carried constructively and for the betterment of
our country.