Training Module I: Understanding Gender Roles

1. Discussion Activity

A discussion of the photo and video homework assignments were given to the girls to begin a discussion on gender roles.

For 12-14 years: can girls do everything that boys do? Why/why not?

For 15-17 years: can women do men’s work? Can men do women’s work? Why/why not?

Revisiting the video clip on ‘gendered division of labour’ to begin a discussion on whether women’s work is acknowledged – within the home and outside, and whether women have the same opportunities for work and employment that men have. Here the facilitator introduced the constitutional provisions Article 39(a): Equal right to livelihood and Article 39(d): Equal pay for equal work, at a suitable point in the discussion.

Resource produced by: CCID Mysore

3. Posters from the women’s farmers’ collective Mahila Kissan Adhikar Manch were shared, and a discussion was initiated on

  • Are women working on land are ‘farmers’?
  • Can women inherit land?

Equal pay for women agricultural labourers (Facilitator introduces the concept of minimal wage and the right to employment guaranteed by the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).

Resource used from: Makaam

2. Group Activity

For 12-14 years: Participants were divided into 2 groups – members of one group were told that they are boys and the members of the other group are told that they are girls. All participants were asked to stand in a line and then asked to take one step forward, if their answer  was ‘yes’ to the following statements that the facilitator reads out.

  • Those who had lunch, come forward.
  • All men come forward.
  • Those who are part of local decision-making processes and active in the Panchayat (local government) come forward.
  • Those who can sit at the village platform where events are held, come forward.
  • Those who can go to colleges in Mysore, come forward.
  • Those who make more money from daily wage work, come forward.
  • Those who go to other places for school and college, come forward.
  • Those who go around the village even after puberty, come forward.
  • Those who sit and chat in the petty shops and public places, come forward.
  • Those who travel outside the taluk (district), come forward.
  • Those who get the preference to demand food of their choice in the family, come forward.
  • Those who wear the dresses of their choice, come forward.
  • Those who can give their opinion in the family, come forward.
  • Those who can take decisions about their marriage, come forward.

Here the facilitator introduced the idea of equality in access to education and employment and participation in public life for women and men – when debriefing the group after the exercise.

For 15-17 years: Participants were divided into 2 groups. One group was handed the picture of a boy, and another the picture of a girl. Then each group was told to imagine that the picture is that of a boy/girl in their family, and that they had to make plans for raising the child to adulthood and what their priorities would be.

Issues to facilitate: college education and marriage and how these choices are differently constructed for girls and boys, attention given to employment by parents of boys and parents of girls, subtle discrimination within and outside the home that girls negotiate. Facilitator lead a larger discussion on formal and substantive equality. At appropriate junctures, s/he introduced the concept of right to education and constitutional articles 16(1) and 16(2) that guarantee equality to women and men in matters of public employment.

3. Take Home Assignment

For 12-14 years: Write about the daily life of the women in your family. Are they contributing as much as the men? Whose life is harder?

For 15-17 years: A set of proverbs about women’s ways were given to the students and they were asked to reflect upon whether they agreed/disagreed with them. Broadly, the proverbs could be divided into those emphasizing women’s role as guardians of family honor, those denigrating women as home-breakers, and those commenting on women’s lack of intellect.

4. Body Mapping

1. Exercises relating to body mapping can be undertaken to explain to the kishoris the physical changes that take place in the body during their age. Using a visual aid/their body, the girls can be asked to point to and talk about various bodily changes noticed by them, for example, change in breast size, body hair, change in shape of waist etc. In the same vein, the changing physicality of boys can also be discussed, for example, change in voice, growth of body hair, development of muscle etc.

2. The film ‘Namma Akkandira Nodi’ (‘See our sisters’) can be shown. Discussions based on the video can be initiated amongst the participants.

Issues to facilitate : Facilitator can help in debunking myths about restrictions on the type of work that can or cannot be done by women. Discussions can also be initiated on issues relating to how work that is done by women is regarded to be as unproductive because it does not yield any economic benefit.