Peer education for men on gender violence

Sudaroli Ramasamy, Programme Officer at Prajnya Trust, said that most men are not open to talking about gender issues. So, they decided to get them interested, through peer education. “Men are comfortable talking about these issues within their own group. We wanted to create this culture, where men can talk openly and comfortably about gender issues. This is the first one in a series of such workshops on ‘consent’, which will be organised for men studying in the city’s colleges,” she said. 

She added that the workshop also trains people to be facilitators among their peer groups and spread the message to a larger audience. 

Dr Sharada Srinivasan, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Gender, Justice and Development, University of Guelph, was the intellectual leader of the workshop. With the examination season on, they had a limited audience, said Dr Sharada. “We couldn’t do the workshop as we had planned. What we did was a sort of an awareness session, sharing information on equality and gender discrimination. Our idea was that these men would be going out and speaking to other men on this subject. For that, they need to understand why gender based violence happens. 

The professor added, “Most of the participants had clarity on consent and discussions were good. At the end of the day, we felt positive as we had gotten them to think about the issue. However, I was super excited to see how they take this message through their interactions with their peers. Unfortunately, we will be able to do that only during the next workshop, when the colleges reopen,” she said. 

Rakesh S, a student from DG Vaishnav College, said that the workshop was a new experience for him. “I gained knowledge on various facets of gender-based violence and means to tackle it. More importantly, when we speak of sexual harassment against women, men are often not included in the conversation. We need more men to be the change and respect women,” he said.