Commitment aroused from the realization of own reality…….
Akhi Amin used to eat guava by climbing trees like her brothers and other boy children around her home in her childhood. She also used to know life is like that .So who is boy and who is girl this question never came to her and her peer group’s minds. Akhi’s life was going in such way. But one day quite unexpected something happened. Akhi’s grandmother saw her on the top of the guava tree and forbade her never do this again. She also had to listen that she is a girl and climbing trees is strictly forbidden to the girl, its only boy’s job. From that day Akhi stopped climbing trees to-assure the society that she is a girl. Like climbing trees many other things had to be stopped by Akhi to pass the societal examination of being a good and obedient woman……
This statement was told by Akhi, one of the participants of 3 days long foundation course on Women leadership development held in the 26 – 28th October’13 in Mymensingh, organized by jointly The Hunger project & Brac and supported by UNDEF. 42 women attended in the training including 6 UP representatives. Like Akhi everyone had same and different cases to put up. The training was residential and participants received different learning’s and information’s even rising nights. The major learning topics were sex and gender, gender division of labors, position and condition of women, patriarchy, women oppression and its consequences, womenempowerment, leadership, CEDAW etc. In the closing session a number of women concluded that they could able to be realize the causes, areas and consequences of discrimination and oppressions and the vulnerabilities of women in patriarchal society. So now it is time to come forward in together to minimize the gap and protect against gender based violence and harassments. But there is no magic solution to eradicate all of things over night. It is a long path of preparation and straggle. Being self-reliant, conscious and having attained capabilities like men are important step win this battle. They clarified that the battle is not of weapon but of reason, convincing, arguments. They also affirmed that they could easily touch the commitments realizing the critical condition of women what they could not see ever before. So they spontaneously identified some areas to intervene and make a monthly plan. The plan will be followed in every month through a daylong meeting in their Union parishad auditorium.
Regional desk , My
mensingh