Building gender sensitive classrooms in Rural Uttar Pradesh

 ‘I want to become Engineer’

‘I can’t leave home even for urgent work without Permission’

One can easily guess who would have said statement 1 and statement 2. These quotes are from the students of Public school in Kakrari Gaon where we facilitated workshop on ‘Understanding Gender’.  The workshop began with a quirky introduction where in the facilitator said, ‘Today we will understand why the boys and girls in this classroom are sitting separately despite being a co-ed school.’ This was followed by intention setting and agreements so that all the participants can share and listen without judgments and with respect.

Through chit activity, we engaged on ‘gender norms or behavior’ we see in the society and around us and how the basic difference between men and women is basically biological or the sexual/reproductive organs they are born with. It was wonderful to see how the participants especially girls didn’t shy away from using the words pregnancy, breast feeding or periods. There were quite many things like driver, make up, lifting heavy things, agriculture and others that required discussion as to whether both men and women can do it or not.

In the next part of the activity the participants were invited to share ‘3 key messages that they have received because they are boy or a girl’. Some of those messages were –

‘Girls are not allowed to go outside most of the times’

‘Girls are told not to wear short dresses’

‘Girls should listen to and abide by things told to them by their parents’

‘Girls should reach home early’

‘Girls should know cooking, they should remain in home’

‘Boys should study hard; they need to look after their homes’

‘Boys must touch the feet of elders as greetings while the girls should only say Namaste. They should never touch anyone’s feet.’

‘Girls are told not to stay out late in evening, shouldn’t wear jeans and shirt’

‘You can never be equal to boys. The girls should never compete against boys’

‘Stay away from the boys’

‘You don’t have right to roam in the village’

‘Because I am girl, I should know how to cook and do household chores. We can’t wear different types of clothes, can’t make a choice about it. We can’t go outside at any time. If I have to leave home, I can’t go alone; somebody will accompany me.’

‘If the girls want to do something in their life, move forward with their dreams, people around them keep taunting and pulling them down stopping them from going ahead. If someone’s daughter is doing well, the neighbors become jealous and spread rumors’

‘The parents always discipline girls and keep them under their control. Some girls are really intelligent ’

‘We can’t pray while we are on periods’

‘We are not even allowed to laugh. It’s such a waste to laugh’

‘The boys don’t have to cook, they don’t have the need to even learn cooking. They can roam around anytime they want to’

We then ideated a story to bring in the current social context where household work, education and all domains of life are gendered. What makes it crucial to bring the gender conversations into the classrooms is to understand that these gender barriers gradually become roadblocks for girls' aspirations for education, work and life ahead. So, it becomes all the more important to challenge these gender barriers that come up very early in school whether it is seating arrangement, sports and subject choices.