International Women's Day

As part of my OCN qualification for Project Trust I have to write something called a Community Report, which is basically an assessment of one area of my community here in India and so I decided to look at the women here. I also have to create a programme at the school to mark one international day. So on the 8th of March I decided to combine the two and mark International Women's Day at Devnar.

Initially I got in touch with a local Women's Entrepreneurial group and asked them to speak to the older girls and also to my representative here in Hyderabad called Abilash who works to protect children in India with an amazing charity called Plan. Both agreed to come and give talks, and I thought it'd be more interesting for the group to hear from people working in women empowerment than just from me. However sadly it didn't work out.

I started my day by giving a talk at assembly to the school focusing on Indian female role models and the importance of education in empowering women. I know the younger kids didn't understand a word I was on about but some of the older girls came to find me after assembly and got me to explain a little bit more about what I'd been saying which was really nice to get that feedback.

The kids are all clearly very excited to hear Anna Madam talk

I spent my free time interviewing the female teachers about their lives and experiences of being women in India. In my investigation for my community report I'd been interviewing a lot of the students and some of what they said had really concerned me. According to two of my 9th class girls it is completely acceptable for a husband to beat his wife- when I quizzed her about it she said that 'she could adjust'. I chased  this question up with some of the staff and they agree with what the girls said, one teacher even said that she is currently looking for a husband for her daughter and she hoped 'he wouldn't beat and harrass her too much. ' Other staff agreed and said it taught the wife a lesson, that it was a form of teaching so she'd learn not to make the same mistake again. All of which I am struggling to come to grips with, especially as these are people I've come to care about.

For my first class session, Ogla teacher very kindly agreed to help me on a session about female ambition so she translated what I saying into the Telugu for the class. I spoke first about female role models and working women then we got the class to say what they wanted to be when they grew up and I asked them to hold signs so I could photograph them.

Shravante

David

Lacksman

Prakash

Akhil

Sesan

Sumia

I love how ambitious the children are! It was so lovely to hear them talking about what they want to achieve, especially my female and really quiet students. I have no doubt they'll go on to be so successful. 

LKG class was given to learning a short poem; thanking their mothers for the care they give. The kids who go home at the end of the day sang this for their parents when they came to collect them and it was such a lovely moment.

 

I had one more class in the afternoon- I requested that seeing as my guests were unable to talk to the 9th class students if I'd be able to hold a session with them instead and the headmistress agreed. I started out by asking the group their opinions on; domestic violence against women, whether women in India should perform a house-maker or a working role. All of the class agreed that beating women was unacceptable; however this group did include the two girls who strongly insisted it was okay when I interviewed them before so I can't guarantee how honest these responses were. Then we discussed the introduction of the Nirbheek weapon to Indian women; which I'm fascinated by and what their ideas were for protecting women against rape. If you're unfamiliar with this step there's some information about it here. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25727080

At the start of the session all of the class agreed the use of a gun against rapists was a good idea but when we discussed it futher; by the end of the session the class was pretty much split 50/50. I then asked the group to write me a page in braille on their views about everything we discussed. I wrote up some of the more interesting views and compiled them for my community report. 

The kids came up with some really interesting suggestions including using a fake gun or pepper spray instead of a weapon which I liked. The majority of the girls were for using the weapon while nearly all the boys were against by the end of the class which I found interesting. Also sadly I had the all of the class saying women should be working women if they choose bar two girls who wrote that a women's place is in the kitchen. One girl said she would have to work regardless of choice because she expected her husband to spend his income on drink instead of on his family.

I spoke to the headmistress after conducting this work with the children and staff and she was shocked at some of their responses. We are currently looking at collaborating on an educational programme with the older students about female empowerment and rights after the summer holiday so that's very exciting.