9. Seminar 28 February 2017

I was invited to deliver a talk on ‘Bridging Gender and Social Gaps’ at the  National Seminar on Brighten Minds Through Quality Education Across India –AMSES 2017 organized by Mar Severios College of Teacher Education, Chengaroor  on 28 February 2017.

Around 80 gender related visuals I had collected were displayed.

Here is the handout I had distributed  prior to my  multimedia-based presentation:

Bridging Gender and Social Gaps

On quality

Examined within context, education quality apparently may refer to inputs, (numbers of teachers, amount of teacher training, number of textbooks), processes (amount of direct instructional time, extent of active learning), outputs (test scores, graduation rates), and outcomes (performance in subsequent employment)-(Adams 1998)

Quality in the Indian context

The Public Report on Basic Education which investigated the schooling situation in over 200 villages of north India in 1996, says, “quality education”, however defined, involves certain minimal requirements such as adequate facilities, responsible teachers, an active class room and an engaging curriculum.

Gender and social gaps …the Indian reality

*According to  the World Economic Forum, India ranks 87 in WEF gender gap report.

* A study conducted recently  found that Indian society suffers from substantial inequalities in education, employment, and income based on caste and ethnicity.-Desai and Kulkarni

Strategies for reducing Gender and social gaps

*Transport facilities to centres of learning and home.

*Setting up of training centres for competitive exams.

*Guidance camp for providing information of various governmental schemes.

*Provide  financial assistance, free tuition,  free boarding and lodging facility.

*Community based collective learning, particularly for girls  to become entrepreneurs.

*Ensure security, hostel and  scholarship for  girls interested in pursuing  technical education.

*Create awareness among  deprived classes who tend to show a lack of interest in Higher education.

*Provide training for employment- Fibre arts, different heritage food, wood carving, etc.

*Bridge gender and social gap, by employing specially trained teachers who  through community awareness programme can  help  transform  the community and bring about an attitudinal change among men.

Strategies proposed to tackle  inequality in India

*Introduce land reforms and raise taxation for the wealthy.

      - Jayati Ghosh, Professor of economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.

*Give a voice to oppressed groups.

*Improve the balance of mass media.

         -Rikke Nöhrlind, executive director, International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN),

                                  Copenhagen, Denmark. @idsnupdates

*Eliminate caste discrimination.

       -Arun Kumar, state team leader, Futures Group International, Bhubaneswar, India.

*Harness the power of technology.

     -Avinash Kumar, director of policy, research and campaigns, Oxfam India, New Delhi, 

                        India. @Avinashkoomar 

*Widen access to quality basic services.

*Make women more visible in public life and institutions.

      -Akhil Paul, director, Sense International India, Ahmedabad, India. @SenseInternatl

*Ensure that India's growth is for the benefit of the many, not the few.

*Make development inclusive of those with disabilities.

     -Asha Kowtal, general secretary, All India Dalit Women Rights Forum (Aidmam), New Delhi,                            India. @ashazech

Exit remark

Priority should be given to socially disadvantaged groups. Investments in women and gender equality will deliver higher growth rates, faster poverty reduction, and better education and health outcomes for household members.  It is not the responsibility of the government alone…Teachers can chip in too and play a significant role in reducing gender and social gaps in the country.

References

Adams, D. 1998. Defining Educational Quality: Educational Planning. Educational Planning 11(2):3-18

Desai, Sonalde and  Kulkarni, Veena. Changing Educational Inequalities in India in the Context of Affirmative Action.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2474466/

Public Report on Basic Education in India, 1999, [R.N21.604]

World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2016.

-Live Mint e-paper 24 February 2017    http://www.livemint.com

13 ways to tackle inequality in India

 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/apr/22/india-elections-tackling-inequality-advice

8. Gender and Media

[Lecture notes  prepared by  Ms. Sheena Jose A, Asst. Professor, IASE, Trissur.]

Overview

*In this presentation, we will deal with what is gender, gender inequality and representation of women in media as a manifestation of gender based inequality

Some preliminary observations regarding gender

*Gender issues are one among many issues of injustice we see around us and is an integral part of the socio-economic, political and cultural system and not to be seen in isolation

*Media is one of the important pillar of this system.

*Women’s subordination is a systemic problem  and therefore it is not a question of men versus women. Men are not in the opposite camp in this search for justice.

*Men and women are not homogeneous – issues of diversity and multiple identities exist

What we mean by gender

*Gender refers to the roles that men and women play and the relations that arise out of these roles, which are socially constructed not biologically determined

*It is different from Sex which is the biological differences between men and women

*It is a social concept

*It is a system

*It is about relationships

*It is about POWER

*It is institutionalized

*Men and women learn different behaviour, roles, expectations and responsibilities in the context of their own societies

*Gender  roles and relations are unequal and   hierarchical (differential access to resources such as money, information, power and influence) and power is involved.

*Gender relations are institutional.  They form a social system that is  supported by values,  routine activities and  divisions of resources  in all forms of social  organizations,  including families/ households, communities markets, religions and  states .

Gender DIFFERENCE is  NOT the problem …..the problem is gender INEQUALITY

*Gender difference is made the reason for assigning different rights and entitlements to men and women  Gender inequality puts women in a disadvantaged position vis-à-vis men.

Gender difference creates gender inequality - some examples

*Because men are the owners of property, women cannot get credit from banks even if they meet all other criteria.

*Because domestic tasks are seen as “women’s work”, women with jobs usually have to work twice as hard as men with jobs, and have less time for leisure. 

*Because public spaces are dominated by men, women have less access to public discussion, information-sharing and political education.

*Because marriage is seen as women’s destiny, single women are seen as deviants.

*Because women are under the guardianship of their husband, they are expected to stay with him even if he is violent/ unsupportive/ uncaring.

*Because women are seen as caregivers, they are expected to neglect their own health and well-being in favour of others

Gender inequality results in…

*It violates basic principles of equality and social justice.

*It puts women at risk of exploitation, oppression, deprivation and violence

*It prevents women from participating in and benefiting from development interventions.

*It prevents society from benefiting from the contributions of women.

PRINT MEDIA

*The number (37%)of women working in Print Media is still small compared to men.

*The number of women reporters are still in small numbers. Their responsibility usually is to cover lifestyle, entertainment, health, women’s issues, etc. Politics, technology, sports etc are not given to them.

*Most of the women are working at the sub editor level at the desk.

*There are hardly any one as editor in any of the newspapers in India.

“Women journalists have to work twice as hard as male colleagues and have to constantly battle suggestions or perceptions that we are using sexuality to get ahead in our careers. We are more vulnerable than male colleagues to gossip, to promotion prospects; and age too is a factor for discrimination

          - Alka Kshirsagar from Pune

*The amount print space allotted for news regarding women is less than 30%

*Most of the time reports on women are sensational,  biased, derogatory or prying into her privacy.

*Reports  on achievements of women are treated as curiosity items.

Television

*Women are employed as reporters and anchors since it is appealing to have women in front of camera.

*Women mostly produce soft progammes except few talk shows of political nature.

*Almost all the senior positions of power and decision making are occupied by men.

*The presence of women is token in serious news based programmes.

*In entertainment channels, women are portrayed in stereotypes as in the society.

   *in family

  * in work place

   *in relationships

Serials

***

Cinema

*Male dominated industry

*Very women few directors and producers

*Unequal remuneration

*Mostly male centric themes

*Sustains and reproduces values of male dominated society.

*Many a time heroines are just appendages of the heroes

Advertisements

*Uses women and her body to sell anything even then it is not used by them.

*The ads reflected stereotypical roles like “women’s place is in the home, women don’t make important decisions or do important things, and women are dependent and need men’s protection, men regard women as sex objects and are not interested in women as people”.

                       -Courtney and Lockeretz (1971)

New Media

*In the news portals, more women (42%) are working.

*Women are treated same way as in any other media.

         - work environment

         - Pay scale

         - Content – themes and amount

-          FaceBook – abuses/ stalking/ threats….

7.Education of the Girl Child

[Lecture notes  prepared by  Ms. Sheena Jose A, Asst. Professor, IASE, Trissur.]

Literacy

*The number of literate women among the female population of India was between 2–6% from the British Raj onwards to the formation of the Republic of India in 1947.

*Concerted efforts led to improvement from 15.3% in 1961 to 28.5% in 1981.

*By 2001 literacy for women had exceeded 50% of the overall female population, though these statistics were still very low compared to world standards and even male literacy within India

*The current literacy rate of India is 74.04% (2011 Census)

*There is a wide gender disparity in the literacy rate in India: effective literacy rates (age 7 and above) in 2011 were 82.14% for men and 65.46% for women.

*The youth literacy rate, measured within the age group of 15 to 24, is 81.1% (84.4% among males and 74.4% among females), while 86% of boys and 72% of girls are literate in the 10-19 age group.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (elementary education)

National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL)

Principle:

*Gender concern, implying not only an effort to enable girls to keep pace with boys but to view education in the perspective spelt out in the National Policy on Education 1986 /92; i.e. a decisive intervention to bring about a basic change in the status of women.

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya

*Provide educational facilities for girls belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, minority communities and families below the poverty line in Educationally Backward Blocks.

Objective: Gender disparities still persist in rural areas and among disadvantaged communities. Looking at enrollment trends, there remain significant gaps in the enrollment of girls at the elementary level as compared to boys, especially at the upper primary levels. The objective of KGBV is to ensure that quality education is feasible and accessible to the girls of disadvantaged groups of society by setting up residential schools with boarding facilities at elementary level.

National Scheme of Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education

*To promote enrolment of girl child in the age group of 14-18 at secondary stage, especially those who passed Class VIII and to encourage the secondary education of such girls, the Centrally Sponsored Scheme. National Scheme of Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education was launched in May, 2008.

*A sum of Rs. 3,000/- is deposited in the name of eligible girls as fixed deposit. The girls are entitled to withdraw the sum along with interest thereon on reaching 18 years of age and on passing 10th class examination.

Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (Integrated)

*RMSA is a major scheme launched in March, 2009 with the vision of making secondary education of good quality available, accessible and affordable to all young persons in the age group 15-16 years.

*Girls hostels

Mahila Samakhya Programme

*The National Policy on Education, 1986 recognised that the empowerment of women is possibly the most critical pre-condition for the participation of girls and women in the educational process. The Mahila Samakhya programme was launched in 1988 to pursue the objectives of the National Policy on Education, 1986. It recognised that education can be an effective tool for women’s empowerment.

Sukanya Samriddhi Account  (Girl Child Prosperity Account)

*Sukanya Samriddhi Account is a Government of India backed saving scheme targeted at the parents of girl children. The scheme encourages parents to build a fund for the future education and marriage expenses for their female child

*MoWCD

Sabla or Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls

*Empowering adolescent girls (Age) of 11–18 years with focus on out-of-school girls by improvement in their nutritional and health status and upgrading various skills like home skills, life skills and vocational skills. Merged Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls (NPAG) and Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY)

*MoWCD

Indira Gandhi Scholarship

*Scholarship for Single Girl Child with an aim to compensate direct costs of girl education to all levels especially for such girls who happen to be the only girl child in their family.