Ending Violence Against Women & Girls - Oxfam Workshop

Ending Violence Against Women & Girls – Oxfam Workshop

The workshop, held on Dec 12th 2014 at IHC, was attended by Ms. Prajaktha Neelkath and Ms. Rajini. R. Menon from Centre for Social research.

Oxfam-Workshop

The Oxfam workshop opened up with a welcome note by Ms. Nisha Aggarwal (Oxfam), followed by keynote speech by Smt. Nandita Chatterjee from NCW who spoke about the forms of gender based violence, and the constitutional and legal provisions existing in India. Smt. Nandita also brought forward ideas for actions that could help preventing violence against women, such as:

  • Gender sensitization integrated in the curriculum from secondary classes
  • Special gender sensitisation programmes for auto drivers, taxi drivers etc.
  • Advertisement in public spaces of the penalties for violence against women and girls
  • Self-defense training in schools for girls
  • Women only buses after 8pm

The research report ‘Underlying Determinants – A study on Masculinity and Childhood Experiences’ was discussed by Ms. Priya Nanda from ICRW, who also shed the light on the high rate of violence by intimate partner & family in the states of Orissa, Rajasthan and UP.

Ms. Dora Gusti (UNICEF) discussed her study report ‘Violence in Adolescence: Emphasizing Girls in Our Work’. Appalling stats have also been shared:

  • India ranks third in child homicide (WHO, 2014)
  • About 21 cent of adolescent girls experience physical violence
  • 4.5 percent of girls experience sexual violence.

The following session introduced the audience to ‘We Can’, a campaign on VAWG which involves the youth in Jharkhand; Girls Count, aiming at sensitising MBBS graduates in 6 medical colleges, and Must Bol, an online and community campaign with youth groups in colleges.

Further exciting projects have been shared at the event: Ms. Gayathri Sharma from Lawyer’s Collective introduced the unpublished Staying Alive Report on Unmarried women; Ms. Mandira Kalra shared the story of the Doordarshan serial ‘Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon’; Ms. Prabhleen spoke on the Safe City Campaign in Jagori aiming at providing preventive measures for building a safe city for women; and Ms. Devyani Borkataki (North East Network) spoke on the campaign he ran with community support with special focus on Nagaland.

In conclusion of the event, Mr. Dhruv Arora (Got started.at) shared the story of a group of volunteers who worked for the cause of harassment against women through an online platform, while Ms. Aparna Moitra (Gram Vani) and Ms. Smitha (Manas Fondation) discussed the training programme the NGO delivered for the auto drivers on a pilot basis.

Ms. Megna (Selfie4school and Bell Bajao, Gurjeet Kaur (Action Aid India) shared their views and experiences on violence against women and girls. Ms. Neeta Mishra from Oxfam delivered a note of thanks to the speakers and the guests.

‘Sharing successful stories of campaigns on violence against women and girls was the highlight of the workshop. It inspired us to plan workable strategies for the future’ Dr. Rajini Menon, Programme Coordinator, GTI.