प्रिया जर्नल
CGAMP Workshop on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2005
On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, the Committee on Gender Awareness and Mainstreaming in PRIA (CGAMP) organised a discussion on the issue of discrimination against women with specific focus on the issue of amniocentesis/foeticide for all Head Office staff members on March 8, 2005. The entire staff wore a white band as a symbolic gesture for fulfilment of promises made by our government nationally and internationally especially for gender justice.
The session started with a presentation on “Discrimination against women/girl child”. Statistics on the issues of discrimination and violence against women, literacy, economic/political participation and the declining sex ratio were shared. Followed by the presentation, a discussion was facilitated in the group on the use of prenatal diagnostic techniques for sex determination of the foetus, amniocentesis and a preference for sons. The two questions put to the audience were- what is the reason for preference of a son and what would be the result of the declining sex ratio in future?
The discussion produced some interesting aspects of gender-based discrimination. Some of the causes were that parents saw no returns on investing money on a girl child, the issue of dowry, a male child implying old age security and patriarchy and its power relations that influence the thought process of people.
The impact of the declining sex ratio were also identified - a north-south divide even in the forms of consequences of declining sex ratio, a variation within states, increase in kidnapping, importing of women, increase in sexual exploitation of women and polygamy.
Followed by this discussion, the staff members were divided into five groups to identify some gender based violence/ discrimination themes that could be discussed in future and decide upon actions to be taken individually and on PRIA’s behalf on issues of gender testing and female foeticide. The groups suggested incentives for the second girl child of the staff, some policy research to be taken up and advocacy to be done to bring about some change in Government Policy and boycott of member found indulging in gender testing and female foeticide.
The presentations of various groups highlighted the fact that the staff members do not want to ignore these issues and sit idle. Some of the suggested changes that could be brought about at the institutional level were :
The session started with a presentation on “Discrimination against women/girl child”. Statistics on the issues of discrimination and violence against women, literacy, economic/political participation and the declining sex ratio were shared. Followed by the presentation, a discussion was facilitated in the group on the use of prenatal diagnostic techniques for sex determination of the foetus, amniocentesis and a preference for sons. The two questions put to the audience were- what is the reason for preference of a son and what would be the result of the declining sex ratio in future?
The discussion produced some interesting aspects of gender-based discrimination. Some of the causes were that parents saw no returns on investing money on a girl child, the issue of dowry, a male child implying old age security and patriarchy and its power relations that influence the thought process of people.
The impact of the declining sex ratio were also identified - a north-south divide even in the forms of consequences of declining sex ratio, a variation within states, increase in kidnapping, importing of women, increase in sexual exploitation of women and polygamy.
Followed by this discussion, the staff members were divided into five groups to identify some gender based violence/ discrimination themes that could be discussed in future and decide upon actions to be taken individually and on PRIA’s behalf on issues of gender testing and female foeticide. The groups suggested incentives for the second girl child of the staff, some policy research to be taken up and advocacy to be done to bring about some change in Government Policy and boycott of member found indulging in gender testing and female foeticide.
The presentations of various groups highlighted the fact that the staff members do not want to ignore these issues and sit idle. Some of the suggested changes that could be brought about at the institutional level were :
- The organisation may not express joy on such occasions of discrimination.
- Any act, which goes against the law of the land, will be treated as illegal by PRIA at an organisational level. The person who indulges in such discrimination (illegal acts like early marriage, dowry, testing of foetus, sexual violence- in family and outside) should not be allowed to continue his/her services in PRIA. This should be specifically mentioned in service rules.
- Pamphlets on the illegal acts that would form a part of misconduct in PRIA should be prepared and circulated amongst all the staff members- those already existing and also those who join later.
- The organisation can also keep a watch at the different stages of one’s life cycle and can arrange for counselling on the issues of those stages- marriage, contraception, family planning etc. The staff members could also be associated with different resource persons for such counselling.
- Some incentive could be provided for higher education of the girl child, if required.
