Aunt

Jennifer’s
Tigers
English Project
(Term 2)

Group
Sumit Raj (12 H)
Ayush Mishra
4836
Shashwat Tyagi
Abhinav
12 B Tripathi
Divyam Sharma
Raghav Pathak
 Action Plan
The group met virtually on 6th and 9th January 2022 and
had detailed discussions regarding the assigned project
work. The topic selected was

“Changing role of women (reference Aunt Jennifer’s Tiger)”

The work distribution agreed upon is detailed below;

Name Work assigned

Raghav Pathak To write an essay on TED Talk

“ Radical women embracing
tradition”

Abhiinav Tripathi To write an Essay on TED talk “

Radical women embracing
tradition
Ayush Mishra To conduct a survey and prepare
a report on Girl Education

Divyam Sharma To conduct a survey and write an

essay on Female Foeticide

Shashwat Tyagi To conduct a survey and write an

essay on Gender Inequality
The same
gr oup has accordingly completed the respective
work and
has been compiled in a single report
EMPOWERING WOMEN THROUGH
TRADITION
liberia had been torn apart by civil strife for decades . Leymah, mother of
three, was worried for her children. She and other women deeply desired
peace, and safety for their children. They wanted their leaders to know that
they will not rest until there was peace. One of Leymah’s friends, a
policewoman promised to raise the issue within her community. Initially a
small group of women were determined to bring an end to the war, and they
chose to use their tradition to make a point. Liberian women usually wear
lots of jewellery and colourful clothing, but for this protest , they dressed in
white and no make-up.
They wore white saying they we were out for peace. They stood on the side
of the road on which Charles Taylor’s motorcade passed every day. They
stood there for weeks. Gradually hundreds of women wearing white, singing
, dancing joined. Eventually, opposing forces in Liberia were pushed to hold
peace talks in Ghana, but the peace talks dragged on. A small group of
women went down to the venue of the peace talks and surrounded the
building, with their arms linked, what we in India know as gherao.
As a senior Police officer approached the women with a baton, Leymah
stood up and began to untie her head dress that covers her hair. The
policeman looked embarrassed and backed away and disappeared. It was a
taboo in West Africa that if an older woman undresses in front of a man
because she wants to, then the man’s family is cursed. Leymah did not
know whether the policemen backed off because he believed in it but he
knew the women weren’t going to leave until the peace accord was signed.
Finally the peace accord was signed. With the support of women of Liberia,
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf becoming the first elected woman head of state. The
women first defied tradition by wearing white without any make up for
peaceful protest and then effectively used a widely believed taboo to defy
the Police, ultimately leading to signing of pace accord
 How radical women are advocating for
reform by embracing tradition and
religion
The Ted Talk by Kavita Ramdas, brought to light the instances of
many women who defied all norms and broke away from the
restrictive barriers of to promote literacy and rights among females.
Sakena Yacoobi, a devout Muslim from Afghanistan and head of the
organization, “Afghan Institute of Learning”, is one such determined
advocate of women’s rights. She, along with volunteers has been
teaching through underground schools in her community and also
started a school in Pakistan. In her words, “The first thing, anyone
who is a Muslim knows that the Quran requires and strongly sreligion
upports literacy; that the Prophet wanted every believer to be able to
read the Quran for themselves.” Now, it is pretty unusual for a
women’s right activist to be invoking religion, that too for a country
whose women are undergoing such turmoil. But, Sakena defies
labels. She is a single, feisty, and financially independent woman in a
country where girls are married off at the age of twelve.
Sakena is a teacher, at a time when to educate women is a dangerous
business in Afghanistan. She is also on the Taliban’s hit list and yet
she shrugs indifferently everytime, when asked about her safety.
Many others like Sakena use their own traditions and practices,
turning them into instruments of opposition and opportunity. The path
is their own and it looks towards an Afghanistan that will be different.

GIRL EDUCATION IN INDA

India's rate of female education is extremely low. The figures are
disturbing in a society where women are worshipped as
goddesses. In ancient India, women were not allowed to leave
their homes, but times are changing. People's mentality is
changing in tandem with the changing times. They want their
daughters to be educated and successful in life. However, in rural
India, where more than 60% of the population lives, this is not the
case. To develop solutions, we must first identify the variables
that contribute to the low rates of girl education.
Even though education is now free, sending females to school is
still an expensive proposition. As a result, low-income families
are unable to cover their children's educational costs. The poverty
rate, for starters is extremely high.
Aside from that, social factors such as child marriage and
underage labour obstruct the girl's education. Parents force their
daughters to drop out of school so they can marry young.
Furthermore, when girls work as children, they have less time to
learn.
If we wish to see India progress and develop, we need to educate
our girl child. This is because they will not have to be dependent
on others for their livelihood. furthermore, women who are
educated can take proper care of their children. This will
strengthen the future as lesser kids will die due to a lack of
vaccination or a similar reason.
Most importantly, educated women can help to reduce social
concerns such as corruption, underage marriage, domestic abuse,
and other forms of maltreatment. They'll get greater self-
assurance and be able to effectively manage their family in all
areas. As a result, we can see how one educated lady may affect
so many lives.

Accept life; Ban Female Foeticide!

Female foeticide is a practice in which a female foetus is
terminated in the womb of a pregnant woman after an ultrasound
identifies the gender of the foetus. In India, this is a crime. It is a
societal problem that leads to discrimination between men and
women in society.
The dowry system in our society is the primary cause of female
foeticide. People feel that their they would be forced to give
dowry at the time of their daughter’s marriage, which is
something that impoverished families cannot afford. Another
important element that contributes to female foeticide is
inflation. Parents ponder a hundred times before having a female
kid because of rising expenditures. They are concerned about
their daughter's education and marriage prospects. The birth of a
son is viewed as a gateway to paradise in Hindu mythology as
the parents feel that their sons are the ones who would continue
the family name.
Families that force female foeticide on their daughters-in-law
should face consequences. Young women and girls should be
given the tools they need to fight for their rights. They should be
made self-sufficient and capable of making their own decisions.
We can bring about a transformation in our views and
perceptions of
society to allow the female child equal room through raising
awareness, consideration, and understanding. Furthermore,
without a woman, there
is no history, present, or future, hence female infanticide or
female
foeticide should be deemed as suicide. If we do not act now to
guarantee the future of these young women, the repercussions
will be dire, and there will be no way out of this misery. So, all it
takes is a small shift in our perspective and attitude to welcome
girls into our hearts and into this world.
Gender equality can only be achieved when both male
and female individuals are treated equally. But
discrimination is a social menace that creates division.
Gender inequality is obviously an severe problem not
only in india but in the entire world. Gender inequality, or
in other words, gender discrimination refers to unfair
disturbution of rights between male and female based
on different gender roles decided by the society, which
leads to unequal treatment in life. The concept: gender
inequality has been widely known in human history but
not until the beginning the 20th century, has the
transformation of gender relations become “one of the
most rapid, profound social changes”.
Every individual of society dreams for equal rights and
access to resources available at their disposal, but
there is a lot of discrimination. This discrimination is
based on the gender roles alloted to different genders
by our society. It is because of the prevalence of
various stereotypes in our patriarchal society.
And there are many reasons leading to gender
discrimination which cannot be solved easily. However,
with education and progressive thoughts of people,
there are also reasons to trust that in future both the
genders will be treated equally without any bias. Then,
hopefully, people can live in fairness no matter what
gender they are.

Conclusion
Women like Sakeena, Leymah have humbled me and
changed me and made me realise that we shouldn't be so
quick to jump to assumptions.
To paraphrase Marx :Women make change, but not in
circumstances of their own choosing. They have to
negotiate, they have to subvert tradition that once silenced
them in order to give voice to new aspirations and they
need allies from their community

This maybe because the struggle is not against a distinct

oppressor or the ruling class, the occupiers or the
colonisers, its against a deeply held set of beliefs and
assumptions about women that is held even by women
themselves.

What Eleanor Roosevelt once said of human rights is true

of gender equality also- that it starts in small places,
close to home.

It can therefore be concluded that women need to be

aware of their inner strengths and not let others or other
factors inhibit their freedom.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

TED talk by Kavita Ramdas :

https://www.ted.com/talks/kavita_ramdas_radical_women_embr
aci ng_tradition