{"id":712,"date":"2018-05-21T03:36:03","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T03:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/prakriye\/?p=712"},"modified":"2018-05-21T03:36:03","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T03:36:03","slug":"towards-a-new-feminist-consciousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/prakriye\/2018\/05\/21\/towards-a-new-feminist-consciousness\/","title":{"rendered":"Towards a new feminist consciousness.."},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m a feminist. I\u2019ve been a female for a long time now. It\u2019d be stupid not to be<\/i> on my own side.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2013<\/i><\/span> Maya Angelou<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

One of the aims of the Dhwanigalu programme was to enable the participants to critically examine the gender roles.<\/span><\/span> Activities and sessions aimed at visibilising<\/span><\/span> the quantum of unpaid labour done by women as well as visualising the possibilities of gender role reversal were designed to achieve this aim. These activities significantly bolstered the standing of their gender in the eyes<\/span><\/span> of the<\/span><\/span> participants.<\/span><\/span> Also, activities such as<\/span><\/span><\/span> a \u2018power game\u2019 opened their eyes to the structural nature of gender based oppression.<\/span><\/span><\/span> This understanding of the structural marginalisation<\/span><\/span><\/span> and its impacts,<\/span><\/span><\/span> along with a rise in the valuation of the self,<\/span><\/span><\/span> have enabled the girls<\/span><\/span><\/span> to better<\/span><\/span><\/span> negotiate gender roles<\/span><\/span><\/span> in public and private spheres.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However, imparting a feminist pedagogy to adolescent girls while situated in a deeply conservative society can result in patriarchal backlash if the parents and general community are not sensitised simultaneously. Prakriye has always worked to address this by marshalling support from the community by reaching out to the parents as well as the larger general community through community screenings, exhibitions and regular interactions. Students are also encouraged to share the videos, audio resources and the snippets of discussion with their families, thus making incremental changes in their attitudes.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The strategy of sharing resources with families and initiating discussions with them, turned out to be<\/span><\/span><\/span> particularly effective. According to o<\/span>ne of the<\/span><\/span> participants, after sharing<\/span><\/span> the resources and<\/span><\/span> her reflections from the training on a regular basis, her brother has started helping out with<\/span><\/span> household chores such as<\/span><\/span> fetching<\/span><\/span> water.<\/span><\/span> The girls also reported that at<\/span><\/span><\/span> homes,<\/span><\/span> their male relatives have started sharing the domestic labour albeit at a small level.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The training has also positively influenced the life aspirations of<\/span><\/span> the girls.<\/span><\/span> The realisation that their<\/span><\/span> aspirations need not be<\/span><\/span> set by<\/span><\/span> the social norms but can be freely<\/span><\/span> imagined has enabled at least some of them to visualise and voice new career aspirations. For example,<\/span><\/span> during the discussion in Kattemanuganahalli, the girls<\/span><\/span><\/span> observed<\/span><\/span><\/span> that there are no female lawyers<\/span><\/span><\/span> or drivers in their village.<\/span><\/span><\/span> They<\/span><\/span><\/span> also<\/span><\/span><\/span> shared their plans<\/span><\/span><\/span> to<\/span><\/span><\/span> enter these professions<\/span><\/span><\/span> by acquiring necessary skills.<\/span><\/span><\/span> Also, in the villages,<\/span><\/span><\/span> while it is usual for men to migrate to cities in search of employment,<\/span><\/span><\/span> women are discouraged from<\/span><\/span><\/span> doing so. The girls in the group mentioned this<\/span><\/span><\/span> as well<\/span><\/span><\/span> and<\/span><\/span><\/span> said that they<\/span><\/span><\/span> are determined to<\/span><\/span><\/span> be<\/span><\/span><\/span> gainfully employed even if<\/span><\/span><\/span> it meant commuting outside the village.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The<\/span><\/span> training<\/span><\/span> has also helped in improving the mobility and social standing of the<\/span><\/span> Kishoris. In this regard, creation of<\/span><\/span> digital stories<\/span><\/span> have<\/span><\/span> turned out to be quite effective as<\/span><\/span> they have opened the doors<\/span><\/span> to hitherto<\/span><\/span> unventured areas of the locality. They were able to go to public spaces that<\/span><\/span> were typically considered<\/span><\/span> as<\/span><\/span> the exclusive domain of<\/span><\/span> upper caste<\/span><\/span> males,<\/span><\/span> such as the<\/span><\/span> Peepul tree in the village centre. One of the girls<\/span><\/span> was so enthralled by the mobility<\/span><\/span> that photography<\/span><\/span> offered that she<\/span><\/span> expressed a desire to take up photography as a profession<\/span><\/span> in the future.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Camera Training<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During their interaction with teachers<\/span><\/span> and<\/span><\/span> parents, facilitators<\/span><\/span> got the feedback that the training<\/span><\/span> has improved<\/span><\/span> the<\/span><\/span> analytical and decision-making skills<\/span><\/span> of the girls.<\/span><\/span> Some parents gave the feedback that<\/span><\/span> behaviour of the girls has become more mature.<\/span><\/span> Due to these<\/span><\/span> positive impressions,<\/span><\/span> the Prakriye<\/span><\/span> team, has been able to earn the trust of<\/span><\/span> the<\/span><\/span> parents and developed good rapport with them.<\/span><\/span> For example,<\/span><\/span> the team was able to successfully discourage the mother of a 17-year-old girl from fixing her marriage to an older relative. She also agreed to their request to let her<\/span><\/span> daughter<\/span><\/span> continue the studies.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The trainings also provided<\/span><\/span> a<\/span><\/span> safe<\/span><\/span> pace for those<\/span><\/span> girls<\/span><\/span> who<\/span><\/span> were<\/span><\/span> marginalised<\/span><\/span> due to physical disabilities. For example, S, a<\/span><\/span> girl with<\/span><\/span> a speech disorder was<\/span><\/span> largely<\/span><\/span> neglected<\/span><\/span> by her family and<\/span><\/span> the community. Initially,<\/span><\/span> her parents were<\/span><\/span> reluctant to let their daughters join the program. When<\/span><\/span> Prakriye team persisted, they allowed<\/span><\/span> S to join<\/span><\/span> the programme but forbade her younger sister from joining,<\/span><\/span> as<\/span><\/span> their<\/span><\/span> expectations<\/span><\/span> from<\/span><\/span> the program<\/span><\/span> were low<\/span><\/span> at that<\/span><\/span> point.<\/span><\/span> S\u2019 parents<\/span><\/span> were<\/span><\/span> sceptical as to what<\/span><\/span> she<\/span><\/span> could<\/span><\/span> contribute to the program<\/span><\/span> as well.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At Prakriye, team listened to S and encouraged her to talk. As a result, she felt recognised and her confidence level increased.<\/span><\/span> Subsequently,<\/span><\/span> S,<\/span><\/span> who used to<\/span><\/span> choose seats in the last row, now prefers to sit in the very front row and<\/span><\/span> actively participates in all the activities and games.<\/span><\/span> She has also started speaking<\/span><\/span> up more.<\/span><\/span> Convinced by the<\/span><\/span> positive<\/span><\/span> strides that S made, her<\/span><\/span> parents agreed to send<\/span><\/span> her younger sister to the training<\/span><\/span> as well.<\/span><\/span> The<\/span><\/span> Prakriye<\/span><\/span> team also spoke with her parents regarding the importance of actively listening to her and encouraging her<\/span><\/span> to talk. Similarly, P, who has<\/span><\/span> a physical disability,<\/span><\/span> is an eager participant in the sessions.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While the strides that Prakriye made have been small and gradual, they have been influential in enabling the participants to make empowered choices in their education and career. For example, In geographies where higher education of the adolescent girls is not deemed a priority, all but four participants of the Dhwanigalu phase one programme, proceeded to enrol for further studies.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Prakriye also hopes that the participants of the Dhwanigalu, in addition to be able to take charge of their lives, will also be able to take feminist politics forward in the region especially in the context of continuing neglect of the critical education for women empowerment in the neo liberal regime.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m a feminist. I\u2019ve been a female for a long time now. It\u2019d be stupid not to be on my… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/prakriye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/prakriye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/prakriye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/prakriye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/prakriye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/prakriye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":780,"href":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/prakriye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712\/revisions\/780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/prakriye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/prakriye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.itforchange.net\/prakriye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}