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Tell us about your NGO Drishtikona – Changing Perspectives.
I started Drishtikona – Changing Perspectives in August 2018 with the singular vision of changing society’s attitude towards women in light of the global Me Too movement. At that point, there was a lot of misinformation in circulation regarding various gender issues. I read a senior police officer’s Facebook post blaming the victims’ dress for rapes, amongst other terrible things which highlighted how much we, as a society, need to correct our mindsets and perspectives regarding gender. I was met with a lot of skepticism initially. A lot of people thought this was an anti-men campaign or that gender-based violence only affects rural India. It took patience and skill to deal with all the criticism of my work.
Drishtikona – Changing Perspectives was India’s first and only organization in 2018 that focused solely on gender education and sensitization. So far, through our in-person and online workshops and programs, we have impacted over 1 million people across Asia. We have designed unique curricula for our various workshops. These include – GEM our basic Gender Education Module, LAQSHYA – workshop enabling young girls to set professional goals, PEHCHAAN – workshop countering Racism and Homophobia, SWAYAM – Self-esteem improvement program for adolescent girls, BOOND – Menstrual Health Education and Management program, DHAIRYA – workshop on building resilience among children from vulnerable communities, VIDUSHI – workshop on developing Mathematical skills among school girls, and SANSKAAR – a parenting workshop aimed at better cognitive development of children.
What would be your message to young girls and their parents?
My aim through my work at Drishtikona – Changing Perspectives is to create a better world for future generations of women. Hence, my advice to young girls would be to not allow themselves to be brainwashed by the patriarchal society that only wants them to become submissive and give up all their power. The world would be a much better place if young girls were less obedient and thought more critically. I would warn young girls against letting Bollywood fill their minds with sexist ideas in the name of tradition or love. Learning to fight back is essential to women’s progress. The cause of gender equality does not benefit from “good” girls who smile all the time, do as they are told, and only exist to please society. To their parents I would say, please do not turn your daughters into conduits for society or your will. More often than not parents of young girls expect them to sacrifice their dreams to be caregivers in families. Please do not snatch away your daughter’s right to be a complete person. A great general rule of thumb for parents is that if there is something you would not expect from your son, please do not burden your daughter with it either. If you don’t expect your son to cook, clean, or take care of sick people in the family, make sure you also don’t expect these services from your daughter. Remember daughters don’t exist to provide you with unpaid labor and their careers are just as important as your sons’.
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