Ending gender violence begins at home

Chennai

When Gulika Reddy began practising at the Madras High Court as a young advocate, she was appalled to see how women were still being subjected to the age-old societal norms. She decided to start an organisation and programme to change social attitude at a young age. Gulika, who is now Founder and Director of Schools of Equality, says, “Deeply entrenched social norms and attitudes about gender roles remains a serious challenge. Recognising that gender socialisation starts early, I set up Schools of Equality, an organisation that runs activity-based programs in schools with the aim to shift social attitudes that perpetuate this form of violence and other forms of social injustice.” Today, the programme covers more than 1,400 students in private and government schools, addressing a range of topics pertaining to gender violence. Saranya Manoharan, Programme Associate, Schools of Equality adds, “Through activities conducted over an academic year, students also learn about related terms like privilege and discrimination.”

Catch them young
K Santhakumari, advocate and president of Tamil Nadu Federation of Women Lawyers points out that the issue of violence has only been increasing despite several measures. “After the Nirbhaya gang rape case in 2012, several measures were taken towards curbing violence. However, we have seen an increase in such cases. Many cases in family courts and divorce proceedings are related to domestic violence. The root cause for this is the patriarchal mindset. The older generation will not change. We have to work on the young minds,” she says. Centre for Women’s Development and Research has been working with adolescent boys from across slums to change their attitude towards girls. “These boys tell us they think it is natural to look at women as sex objects. We try to change that. Many of them take active part in household chores and even stand up against abusive fathers now,” says K.R.Renuka, Executive Director of the organisation.

Respect for women begins at home
In recent times, a number of campaigns against gender violence have gone viral. Boys Don’t Cry, a film featuring actress Madhuri Dixit, aimed to put an end to the notion that it is unmanly on a man’s part to cry and emphasised that boys should rather be taught at home that it was wrong on their part to make girls cry. And, a recent 1-minute commercial on sexual harassment shows a mother’s advice to her son about sexual harassment.