School organizes Gender Sensitization session
The school organized an informative, interactive and motivational session on gender sensitization for the students of Class IX on 13th November, 2018. The session was conducted by Ms Surabhi Jamal, visiting faculty from R.N Podar School, Mumbai.
She began the session with an interaction with the children. She focused on various topics that kept the students interested throughout the session and set the tone for an interactive session. The following topics were discussed in the session:
- What is Gender?
- What is the difference between sex and gender?
- How do gendered stereotyping lead girls to accept themselves as inferior sex?
- Boys consider themselves the stronger sex which leads them to dismiss and disrespect the opposite sex.
- Girls are prevented from opting for career choices of their own as stereotypical thinking leads the parents to set crippling limitations.
- Girls are not safe, exploited sexually and humiliated by masculinity.
Ms Jamal further impressed upon the children about the operation of different stereotypes prevalent in our society, where women are regarded as dependent, weak, incompetent, less important, emotional, housekeepers, fearful, submissive etc. whereas a men are considered dependent, powerful, competent, logical, breadwinners, leaders, brave etc.
Ms Surabhi also insisted upon the fact that there is a pressing need to insist on ‘GENDER EQUITY’ which doesn’t simply assert the lack of difference between women and men. Rather it implies that the needs and rights of women are different but not inferior to men, and that they should not depend on whether they are born male or female.
Moreover, she made it clear that ‘Gender’ is a social construction i.e. determination of responsibilities of women and men is a function of a specific culture or location. Gender lies in the brain not between the legs.
The students expressed their curiosity by asking a number of follow-up questions which were answered in an informative manner by the resource person. Overall, the session was quite inspiring and informative.
