By Amitabh Kumar, Head of Media and Communication at Centre for Social Research and one of CSR’s gender trainers.

When my colleague asked me to write about ‘what it feels like to be a man working towards gender justice’ I didn’t know where to begin. I thought to myself, I could write a series of books on this subject and yet so much would still be left out. For the past three years I have been working for this cause and it’s been extremely challenging. The prevalence of gender justice across most of India derives from a misinterpretation of the patriarchal structures in our country, and being an only child and a boy, I have grown up enjoying the luxuries such a patriarchal society provides for the male sex.

In the beginning when I first started running gender training workshops, I struggled with my own internal conflicts. I realised that although I had been brought up in an extremely socially aware, gender-just household, there was nonetheless room for gender sensitisation in my own life. I believe that external influences of modern society, media and culture have a tendency to programme us in such a manner that we pick up unnatural behavioural traits. I’d say that as a child and young adult growing up in an age of globalisation, I was greatly influenced by pop culture of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Like most other teenagers around me, the social stigma of being ‘cool’ was the primary objective of life, and looking back on it, we did the most irrational, unexplainable and primitive things just to be cool. Coming from a hip-hop inspired ‘gotta-be-macho’ mindset, the idea of breaking away from that scene and the notion that ‘girls are fancy accessories’ was really hard.

Barring this internal challenge to being a man who works toward gender equality, there is also an external challenge. A frequent remark and one that still remains the hardest to respond to is, ‘You are a man, you can never fully understand what women go through’. It’s very true: I cannot. But on the other hand, injustice, discrimination, fear and pain are all human feelings. Men can probably never fully imagine the extent of gender discrimination in this country, but we sure can do a lot about it.

Many of the presentations, discussions and trainings I have been party to during my job in this sector tend to spiral off into a direction where men are regarded as the ‘enemy’. Trust me, it’s no easy task to reroute such a discussion back onto a more positive, less accusatory track. I must say, at times I feel I almost need to be a punching bag, to take one for the team. But that’s also where my motivation comes from. So many gender issues arise from miscommunication and misinterpretation, and the only way we can ever achieve a gender-just society is by working together to iron out these faults.

Despite the great work has been done by women and feminist groups in the past 40 years, I seriously think that while focusing so intently on the victim, they forgot all about the perpetrator and his role in making India a safer, fairer place to live. Providing justice is undoubtedly important, but an even more important task is to prevent injustice from materialising in the first place. The only way we to achieve that vision is by including men in the process.

Needless to say, faced by so many challenges, a normal day at work for me is pretty adventurous, and as there are very few men working for this cause, I consider it a privilege to be amongst the select few.

Ever wondered who is updating the CSR Facebook page, searching for the latest statistics on crimes against women, or assisting our core team in envisioning, coordinating and facilitating our projects and programs?

We are always very proud of our enthusiastic young interns in the CSR office. Over the years we’ve had interns join us from both across the country and across the world – from Punjab, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra in India to Scotland, Germany, Canada and Georgia. They’ve worked on a variety of projects such as Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, the I Stand for Safe Delhi campaign, Human Rights Defenders training workshops and numerous research projects. We’d like to introduce you to some of our current hard working interns!

Meet Prerna Dharni, Gender Training Institute Intern at Centre for Social Research, from Chandigarh, India.

GTI Intern Prerna Dharni taking part in the I Stand for Safe Delhi campaign 2011

What led to you joining the Centre for Social Research team?

I’m a single child and grew up hearing people tell my parents it was important to have a boy to “complete” the family. It unsettled me that people still thought like that. I’ve been interested in women and gender studies since an early age but it was really during my student life that my level of interest intensified. I graduated with a Masters in International Politics from JNU in 2010.

What does your role at CSR include?

I work in the Gender Training Institute (GTI). I mainly plan and execute workshops on gender sensitisation with college students, police, teachers and government officials. I am also the intern coordinator, which involves responding to applications and interviewing prospective interns. I also write articles for the CSR blog, work on awareness campaigns, and assist with our ‘Women in Democracy’ project.

What is the most interesting thing you have learned during your internship about women in politics?

I’m interested in the role reservation has played at the Panchayat level to empower women politically. These women exhibit confidence and provide hope for a more gender-inclusive political system in India.

What do you like most about living in Delhi?

I am a foodie and a history freak so Delhi is a perfect place for me to fulfill both of those passions! I love visiting old monuments and places of historical relevance, and trying all of the food that the city has to offer.

Hot on the heels of our recent gender sensitisation training at telecom company Aircel, Centre for Social Research’s Gender Training Institute (GTI) also recently conducted a training entitled “Gender Sensitisation and Sexual Harassment at Workplace” at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Attended by RBI’s Grade 1 and Grade 2 officers, the training aimed to sensitise participants on gender-related concepts in order to bring about increased levels of awareness, knowledge and skills about gender relations in the workplace, especially focusing on sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment in the workplace first rose to national attention in 1992, when Bhanwari Devi, a Rajasthan state government employee, was fighting against child marriage and polygamy. After Bhanwari decided to openly discuss the matter with a local Panchayat (village council), she was brutally gang-raped. When Bhanwari’s rapists were acquitted in court, several women’s groups filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India under a collective platform named “Vishakha.” The court case (Vishakha and others vs. State of Rajasthan and others, 1997) demanded justice for Bhanwari Devi and included a plea for the court to address the sexual harassment that women face in the workplace. Eventually, the Supreme Court issued a judgment now known as the “Vishakha Guidelines.”

Our own anti-sexual harassment training at RBI was a two-way learning process for our GTI trainers and staff members, as we believe that sharing experiences can bring about changes in everyone’s attitudes and behaviours.  The training had three major objectives: understanding the concept of gender, understanding the importance of taking gender into consideration when making decisions, and promoting gender-friendly workplaces. Regarding sexual harassment, participants were exposed to the “three Rs” of handling unwelcome sexual advances, passes or comments: respond, record and report. GTI representatives also recommended adjustments to RBI’s current sexual harassment policies, including the organisation of a committed, made up of at least 50 percent women, which can handle cases of sexual harassment confidentially and swiftly.

Hostile or uncomfortable work environments often lead to emotional, psychological and physical problems on an individual level, as well as poor efficiency on an organisational level. CSR hopes to work with more organisations in the future to ensure that as few companies and employees as possible suffer the consequences of sexual harassment. For more information on booking a gender training anywhere in India, visit our website or call us at +91 (0)11 26899998.

While our Gender Training Institute (GTI) has been providing gender sensitisation trainings since the late 1990s, most of our trainings have targeted government agencies, police officers, international and national institutions and NGOs. This March 8, International Women’s Day, Centre for Social Research was proud to provide gender sensitisation training to telecom company Aircel here in New Delhi.

Niharika Puri, GTI’s programme coordinator, led the training. Nearly 30 Aircel employees, both men and women, participated in discussions and interactive presentations. To introduce the training, Niharika demonstrated just how common gender stereotypes really are: Asked to provide common names for doctors and farmers, participants overwhelmingly named men as farmers and women as doctors. However, the vast majority of Indian farmers are in fact women, and gender stereotypes cause all of us to make generalisations that are not always true.

Vikram Sheoran, CSR’s web manager and all around technology guru, showed off his acting skills in a series of role plays with Niharika demonstrating how women can react in situations where she she’s made to feel uncomfortable by the behaviour of a male colleague. Leela Khanna, an intern in our Media and Communication department, opened up a question and answer round by comparing gender portrayals within and across different countries.

GTI provides tailor-made training programs through close collaboration with each of our clients. Our trainings address designated issues within the context of gender, from deconstructing the basic concept of gender itself, to exploring how gender can be mainstreamed in organizational planning.  For more information on booking a gender training anywhere in India, visit our website or call us at +91 (0)11 26899998.

As part of our continuing efforts to address Violence against Women, we engaged with students and community members last week during an awareness generating and capacity building workshop in Delhi College of Arts and Commerce. During the workshop, CSR staff members discussed various types of violence and shared some of the lessons we’ve learned training Delhi Police in gender sensitisation throughout this year. Students also contributed to debates on increasing crime rates, harassment of women and the difficulties faced by lower class women in particular. One student argued that women are essentially treated like minors everywhere they go. We also discussed some examples of complicated cases involving Violence Against Women, helping students understand some of the difficulties and problems that arise with fighting abuse and harassment against women.

View more photos from this and other Delhi-area college workshops at Centre for Social Research’s Flickr account.

Yesterday CSR hosted an in-office program to sensitise women from our grassroots communities in Delhi on gender-related issues in the recent news. Participants included members of the CSR office team, counsellors from each Crisis Intervention Centre, their assistant counsellors and girls and women from several different communities spread across the Delhi area. We designed the program to increase participants’ confidence and provide them with a comfortable and safe forum for sharing their experiences.

The program was divided into a morning and afternoon session. Activities included an ice breaking session, a discussion among the women regarding the violence faced at home and communities, a movie screening (Impossible Dream, which attracted lots of cheers from the group!) and finally a collage-making arts project on the topic of Chuppi Todho (breaking the silence).

View the full photo gallery from this event at Centre for Social Research’s Flickr account.