Ek Saath National Campaign Training 4000 Samanta Saathis as Changemakers
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In early March this year, Ramesh, 38, returned excitedly to Piperahi from his work as a daily wager in an area nearby and was among the first to sit next to a bright red audio speaker under a tree in the village. Soon about 20 other men joined him and as music and voices broadcast from the speaker, were lost in listening to the story ‘Ulta Pulta’ (Upside Down) of Deenu Kaka upbraiding Rama Kaki for sitting idle at home all day while he worked hard. As the story progressed the men, who were nodding in agreement with Deenu Kaka earlier, ended up agreeing with Rama Kaki as she related her daily household work and the amount of time Deenu had free for himself as compared to her. Most of the group went home that day uneasy at their lack of involvement in domestic work and the burden on their partners.
Over the next few months Ramesh listened to the audio of a tract about the impact of gendered work divisions, heard the real-life story of Khushi Ram Gujjar in Rajasthan’s Bundi overcoming societal ridicule to break gender stereotypes, and answered quizzes that made him reflect and give his opinion to questions like – ‘Girls in cities are the ones who face sexual harassment.’ |
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Madan Mohan, the mentor from Gramya Sansthan in Uttar Pradesh’s Chandauli district who has been interacting with Ramesh every month in these training meetings, says Ramesh is one of the most regular group members and has undergone remarkable personal change. In Ramesh’s own words, “I would get angry with my wife earlier and I also never helped out at home. After listening to the episodes and having discussions in the group I have slowly started changing my behaviour. I have reduced getting angry at my wife, we both take decisions together and I have started doing domestic work along with her. Our affection for each other is increasing. I am particular about informing her now when I go out of the house, and I no longer put restrictions on her coming and going. ”
Like Ramesh, 4000 other men in seven states across the country have started meeting in their communities in small groups of 25 every month to undergo training on gender and masculinities with the aim of become gender champions or Samanta Saathis (Partners for Equality). They are part of the Ek Saath national campaign on engaging men and boys in changing discriminatory gender social norms and their training was launched on International Women’s Day on March 8. Over 100 trained Mentors from 75 partner organisations of the campaign in 58 districts in UP, Odisha, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, West Bengal, MP and Uttarakhand are facilitating the meetings.
The group members listen to short episodes of the audio-based curriculum ‘Mobile Vani – Gender Ki Baat Purushon Ke Saath’ or ‘Mobile Conversations – Talking Gender with Men.’ This is followed by discussions with their mentors. The interactions are further guided by the Handbook ‘Man Ek Darpan’ (Mirror of the Mind) which closely follows the audio episodes with explanatory notes, exercises and quizzes. Giving a glimpse of the interactions, Madan says, “The group held lot of discussions on each quiz question and they all agreed there was lot of burden of work on women which needed to be shared by the men. However, many of them are challenging the notion of women’s mobility and right to wear anything they want, opposing it by saying that if women have complete freedom then they will get ‘corrupted’ and out of hand.”
Following their one-year long capacity building, the Samanta Saathis are expected to network in community action groups to identify issues that need to be addressed and launch collective change plans for gender norm change.
Like Ramesh, 4000 other men in seven states across the country have started meeting in their communities in small groups of 25 every month to undergo training on gender and masculinities with the aim of become gender champions or Samanta Saathis (Partners for Equality). They are part of the Ek Saath national campaign on engaging men and boys in changing discriminatory gender social norms and their training was launched on International Women’s Day on March 8. Over 100 trained Mentors from 75 partner organisations of the campaign in 58 districts in UP, Odisha, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, West Bengal, MP and Uttarakhand are facilitating the meetings.
The group members listen to short episodes of the audio-based curriculum ‘Mobile Vani – Gender Ki Baat Purushon Ke Saath’ or ‘Mobile Conversations – Talking Gender with Men.’ This is followed by discussions with their mentors. The interactions are further guided by the Handbook ‘Man Ek Darpan’ (Mirror of the Mind) which closely follows the audio episodes with explanatory notes, exercises and quizzes. Giving a glimpse of the interactions, Madan says, “The group held lot of discussions on each quiz question and they all agreed there was lot of burden of work on women which needed to be shared by the men. However, many of them are challenging the notion of women’s mobility and right to wear anything they want, opposing it by saying that if women have complete freedom then they will get ‘corrupted’ and out of hand.”
Following their one-year long capacity building, the Samanta Saathis are expected to network in community action groups to identify issues that need to be addressed and launch collective change plans for gender norm change.