‘I don’t think every human being is equal because there is lot of discrimination between boys and girls. People discriminate on the basis of caste; they look down upon those who are supposedly lower in caste. Some people get opportunity just because they have money while poor people don’t have access to them.’
We have been working with adolescents since the
inception of Sahas on the issues of gender, sexuality and challenging gender
based violence, over time we worked with different sections of society to build
gender equitable ecosystem and that led us to our roots – our village
Khushipura located more than 50 kms from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.
Deeply disturbed by violation of Human rights at international
level, growing apathy and lack of global leadership in combating crisis and
growing discriminatory narrative at national level, we at Sahas decided to take
responsibility and do our part. In these times, it becomes even more crucial to
understand what are Human rights, what our constitution says and how do we
navigate Fundamental rights in day to day lives? We need to move from the
definition and content given to us and redefine it for ourselves – Are we the
mere spectators or are we the once who would take action against discrimination,
violence and this growing indifference. With this objective in mind, we decided
to conduct workshop with Sahasi girls, and three schools in the nearby villages
in Aligarh district. The idea of engaging on Human rights, constitution and
fundamental rights was welcomed by everyone and considered as need of the hour.
Before understanding the meaning of Human rights and
how important it is – we thought to engage on what it means to be a Human
being, what all qualities they possess and what do they need to live a life of
dignity and feel alive.
‘Human is someone who can distinguish between right
and wrong, who inspires and gets inspired, who mentors the younger people,
hardworking, who doesn’t discriminate between people, the one who respect
others, find joy in small things, intelligent, who knows how to live life fully
with fun and entertainment.’
On asking what all do we need to live life fully and
have these qualities, it took some time for participants to respond. In most of
the cases, there was silence – why? Because no one has ever asked them what do
they need? In Indian households especially in the villages where life isn’t easy
as urban spaces, the children pick up from their surroundings – they live a
life where they follow what is told to them verbally or non verbally. They work
hard in fields, help in household chores, refrain from asking for something
expensive and many a times drop out due to poor economic situation. The
conditions are invariably tough for girls.
Few words that came out frequently were being patriot
(deshbhakt), cultured or having good manners (acche sanskar),
good and bad people (acche aur bure log). There are many reasons why
these words are said again and again but do the students really understand the
meaning behind it? For past few years patriotism has been synonymous with
following a specific line of thought propagated by current political
environment that demands not asking questions, blind following without
reasoning and not having a critical lens to what is happening. That’s not
patriotism and we don’t want the younger generation to have this mindset. The
same applies to be being cultured – it is imperative for adolescents, young
people to be able to understand, question and have a mindset that sees things
for what they are instead of labeling good and bad based on what they are being
instructed. The consequence of this discussion was seen immediately in all the
group where they stopped using this good and bad language rather explained what
according to them is right or wrong and simultaneously built conversation on
that.
Moving forward to the needs for living a life of
dignity, the participants shared – ‘parental support, a guide/mentor, right to
education, sound financial situation, time to study, respect, right to live
with one’s choice, self confidence, experience, right to information and so on.’
One of the conversations was about academic
excellence – getting good marks or achieving first rank in the class. Some of
the girls said that if you work hard or have good brains, may be pay more
attention in the class will lead to having good marks. On probing further as to
who generally gets good marks, the discussion shifted to need for time!
‘We girls have to do household chores, help our
mother at home after we come back from school. Many a times we have to take a
day off as well so we don’t get enough time to study at home as much as boys
get. While we work at home, they either study or loiter around. If both of us
were to do chores, then get equal time for studies – the results will obviously
be different.’
‘At School,
we get equal opportunity to study but not at home. There are still people who
don’t believe that girls should be educated.’
The responses
clearly brought out the intersection of academic excellence, gender and human
rights which neither government, educational institutions take in account.
In the group activity, where the different groups
were given two different questions – many interesting, thoughtful and
compelling answers came up. For the first question on what does it mean to
be fully human and whether there is any difference between being alive and
merely surviving?
‘A human must know how to navigate a life full of
struggle and challenge because whenever someone tries to walk ahead, people
around tried to pull them down. They should have rights’
‘A human gets happiness from their family. If you
don’t have parents, life is full of sadness, because there is no one to support
them. We are happy when we are children but when we grow up we have to face
sadness and lot of challenges’
‘To live a life of happiness, one must have food,
clothes, adequate finances and a comfortable house. A human is someone who understands
problem of people and support them. To live a difficult life means no access to
education, food and house.’
‘Leading a good life means a life that has less problems
and challenges. People respect us, happiness filled life is a blessing while in
surviving – life is full of difficulties with no way out and we fail to fulfill
our wishes’
‘To live a life fully means there is no discrimination
between boys and girls. Life where girls get love, respect and opportunities equivalent
to boys is the life they truly desire.’
On the second question – Are all humans equal? And
if all humans should be respected, the answers given by different groups
led directly to the conversation on rights.
‘I don’t think all humans are equal because some are rich and some are
poor. Rich people exploit and disrespects poor people. We need to respect
everyone and try to show the right way to the people making wrong choices.’
‘Not everyone is equal because they have different
perspectives, lifestyles, some people are egoistic while some people believe in
supporting each other. We should respect each other however I believe in
treating the people same way as they treat me’
‘I don’t think everyone is equal some people have
good nature while others don’t. There are people close to you who don’t think
well about you.’
‘We should respect everyone irrespective of their
caste, class or religion and must not discriminate at any cost. We all have the
right to equality.’
One of the groups said, ‘We should respect everyone
irrespective of their behavior. Even if they indulge in disrespectful behavior,
because if we behave as they do then what is difference? They will find the
right way.’ This conversation led to the discussion on discrimination and
gender based violence. Many a times people close to us in family, friends
even someone who doesn’t know misbehaves, raises hand or abuses – many a times
people let them because why respond to someone who is violent? Many time people
don’t know how to fight back because they never thought that they can respond
back. People who use violence – verbal, non verbal or violate your boundaries are
making a choice to do so. They use the silence of victim as a tool for their
benefit. It’s no point behaving nicely, because waiting for them to take responsibility
of their behavior doesn’t happen, you need to stand for yourself to challenge
the violence/misbehavior.
In the next part of the session, the participants
deciphered the meaning of rights – mainly what does rights mean to them
personally – ‘Girls must get equal right as boys, right to play sports,
access to technology and phone, right to education, to freely go outside,
respect irrespective of caste and religion, right to speak their minds, live a
life on our own terms, right to make decisions for their own life, to raise
voice against injustice.’
250 young girls and boys from 4 different workshops
in schools and village then engaged on creating their own definition of HUMAN
RIGHTS. For them, human rights are those
rights that should be and must be made accessible to each and every human being
irrespective of their gender, economic background, caste, religion or where
they are borne. These must include right to equality, right to education,
right to free speech, right to equal opportunity to higher education and jobs.
Among many conversations, one that stuck with me was
shared by a girl participant from Sahasi Girls program. She said, “Bad people
are those people in the village who spread rumors about the program and stop us
from coming to the sessions making numerous excuses.”
On asking, why do you think people spread these
rumors? She elaborated, “These people are jealous because they know that
we are learning new things, understanding ourselves better. They are wary of
you and us, because we become aware of our rights then we will demand for them
and that is something that are society doesn’t want. We will excel better than
boys!”
When we conceptualized this program, designed the
sessions, we never thought that so many things will come out. Building a
discourse on human rights led to the learnings, conversations and discussions
while engaging in the intersection of gender, social class, caste, academic
achievement and societal apathy. These sessions bring new hope, energy and enthusiasm
to keep working on these issues in the rural India.
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