Time to break the silence

Innovative ideas are being used to change society’s apathy towards gender violence. Though an uphill task, it does’nt seem impossible anymore, reckons Gunjeet Sra.

Sarang Gupta, all of 18, was disturbed by violent deaths of women in the country. He longed to do his bit to change the status quo. That was when he, with the help of eight friends and 60 volunteers, organised Shakti, a run for women’s safety in Noida, to create awareness and raise funds. Over 300 people, including local residents, students and professionals, participated in the event. Today, Sarang is influencing his contemporaries to take a stand for women and their rights through the group, Students for Change, that he has formed. At the same time, this committed teen is a staunch supporter of the Safe City initiative, launched by the Delhi-based women’s resource centre Jagori.

Reports of crimes against women in India have been on the rise. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures indicate that gender crimes have increased by 26.7 percent in the current year – there were 309,546 reported crimes as compared with 244,270 the previous year. Alarmingly, the number of rapes has risen by 35.2 percent, and when it comes to domestic violence, one case is brought before the authorities every five minutes.

Of course, rising crime numbers don’t necessarily indicate an actual increase in incidents; it can also mean that a larger number of cases that were being ignored earlier are now being reported. Women are slowly gaining the confidence to speak up for their rights and this is because, for the first time in their lives, they are being backed by their communities. Over the last few years, people have galvanised in large numbers to deal with violence against women.

Madhu Bala, senior manager at Jagori, believes that community organisation is the key to preventing gender violence and improving public safety. “Reaching out to the local community is necessary because this is where people come from. Their involvement is imperative because it exemplifies that one can move forward and combat such issues with collective effort. Change is indeed possible, once we stand for it together,” she asserts.

Case studies have proven that in many cases, bystander intervention has, in fact, saved people. “We definitely need that kind of an involvement in our society because a lot of young women who face violence do not retaliate for the fear that no one will come forward and back them,” observes Manak Matiyani of ComMutiny - The Youth Collective, which motivates young people to bring about social change. “We try to tell people about the safest ways to intervene when they witness violence,” he elaborates. Manak has been consistently mobilising the community through his Must Bol Campaign as well as through The Youth Collective, which he now heads in Delhi. Under Must Bol, he had trained 30 students to make short films against gender violence.

Art for social sake

Theatre is one of the oldest and most powerful means of sensitising people and Arvind Gaur, who heads the Delhi-based theatre group Asmita, knows that. He has written and staged many meaningful plays on gender violence and safety for women to rouse communities in remote locations as well as urban spaces to respond to violence.

Another gender champion, who has spent the last year talking about girls’ safety, is Jessie Hodges. She manages Kid Powered Media, an NGO that uses interactive media programmes to educate children on key issues like access to education, governance and child rights.

Jesse and her team of budding activists have come to the conclusion that it is the strict gender roles followed by society that actually gives rise to violence. “In the neighbourhoods where our children live, gender roles are so defined and separate that
neither boys nor girls really have access to members of the opposite sex. So there is no insight or understanding of the kind of pressures the opposite sex is under. Instead, every interaction between boys and girls involves an element of harassment,” she points out.

If individuals have been working hard to herald change, then institutions, too, have played their part in initiating greater community engagement. Just like the
Centre for Health and Social Justice (CHSJ) that has been hosting regular meetings and using interactive games to engage with urban middle-class men and boys. “Recently, we have started taking unique and bold steps to reach out to men in middle-class homes. In particular, we are using games to generate awareness and talk about the ideas of masculinity and gender,” informs Lavanya Mehra of CHSJ.

To draw the attention of the general public to women’s safety and to break the stereotype that only men can ride a bike, SpinLife and Jagori organised a hugely
successful cycling event on International Women’s Day in Delhi this year. “We made ‘cycling for women’s safety’ our agenda and used that to bring about change. We wanted to endorse the idea of freedom and mobility, and boost women and girls’ confidence by encouraging them to get on to a bicycle,” states Gaurav Verma of SpinLife.

Whether through theatre, poster campaigns, sports or short films, inventive ideas have been used over the last few years to encourage the community to shed its
apathetic attitude and stand up for women. It’s yet an uphill task, but one that does not seem impossible anymore.