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Workshop on
Awareness creation and capacity building of
Women in India |
Date: 23rd & 24th
July 2011. Venue: Sarvodaya, St. Pius
College, Goregaon (E), Mumbai.
Participants
:
Graduate students from Kamala Mehta College – Andheri(W),
Balbharathi College - Kandiwali, Ismayil Yousuf College
- Jogeshwari, MSW students from Nagpur and Bharatiya
Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) activists from Nasik, Pune,
Mumbai etc.
Two
days long Awareness creation and capacity building
workshop for women have been conducted in Goregaon,
Mumbai. Objective of the workshop was to
 create
awareness among the women, how the patriarchy structure
limits their freedom, how it is an obstacle for the
empowerment of women in social and political spheres,
how it is weaved with culture religion etc. 75
participants including women and men from various parts
of Maharashtra attended the workshop.
The workshop started with introduction by Dr.
Vasundhara Mohan. The rationale and objectives behind
the workshop, the expectation from participants etc were
explained by her. Thereafter the participants were
divided in to 5 groups for facilitating group
discussions and reporting.
This was followed by two sessions by Dr. Asghar Ali
Engineer on ‘Patriarchy in India family system’ and
‘Right of Women in Quran’. The structure and nature of
Indian family system, male domination in the system and
how even women are conditioned to follow all these
patriarchal ‘values’ without question etc. where the
major points discussed. He also discussed the rights of
women as per Quranic
 teachings.
Both his talks were followed by live questions and
answers, and discussion.
Ms. Minal Mhatre lead the afternoon session on
‘Political Participation of Women in Maharashtra’. In
order to reach to the topic she divided the participants
in to five group and each group were given one title to
discuss on, such as ‘why the women reservation bill have
not yet get passed’, ‘what are the problems faced by
women while entering into politics’ etc. The groups came
with their finding of the discussion and the resource
person developed her presentation from these findings.
This was followed by the screening of a documentary
film ‘Unlimited Girls’, by Paromita Vohra. The film is ‘an
exploration of engagements with feminism in contemporary
urban India. It is told through the conversations of a
narrator called Fearless who starts accidentally in a
chatroom and embarks on a journey where she encounters
diverse characters.’
In the evening by 7.00 pm the participants gathered in
the hall for sharing their experiences and for cultural
performances.
The
second day
of the workshop was started with sessions by Dr. Ram
Puniyani on ‘Religion Gender and Empowerment’. In his
session, through questions paused to participants, he
explored the usage of ‘religion’ for subverting women in
our social system. With examples of various incidents
and organization he made it clear
 for
the participants.
After Lunch session ‘Role of women in Conflict
transformation’ was taken by Dr. Vasundhara Mohan. With
power point presentation and data from all over the
world regarding conflicts, its impact on women and the
role played by women in conflict transformation. The
session was followed by discussion and experience
sharing by participants.
Fr. Michael in his session ‘Gender and Conflict’
discussed the discriminations faced by girls in family,
society and educational institutions. He examined the
social psychology behind the acceptance of patriarchal
values by women themselves.
 This
was followed by group discussion moderated by Ms. Minal
Mhatre. The objective of this activity was to make the
participants think about solutions to counter gender
discrimination which women face right from family to
parliament. Participants noted down the points discussed
into chart paper and each group presented their
observations to the entire participant.
With distribution of certificates, feedback from
participants and vote of thanks by Dr. Vasunthara Mohan,
the two days workshop concluded by 05.30 pm.
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