“It is a journey of a hesitant girl to a confident advocate for gender equality,” says Kajal, a 16-year-old girl, comes from Jaurasi, a small village in the Panipat district of Haryana, and studies at Government Senior Secondary School Jaurasi in 10th grade.
Kajal always felt unfair treatment at home. While her elder brother was allowed to do as he pleased, Kajal was always expected to focus on household chores and her studies. Despite her attempts to express her dislike for this, she found it challenging to communicate with her family and make them understand. When Sonia, a field coordinator of Haryana, introduced her to the Kadam Badhate Chalo (KBC) programme in Jaurasi school, Kajal hesitated at first. But today, she has led a meeting for the safety of girls, has a more nuanced understanding of gender, and stands up for herself.
At the beginning of the programme, Kajal was uncertain about attending the sports-based activities, as she had never participated in any sports alongside boys. However, she was eager to learn, so she decided to attend the session till the end. Kajal learned about gender, gender-based discrimination, and violence in the programme.
She gained the confidence to challenge societal norms and stand up against gender biases, she says, and noticed a positive change in herself; she is no longer afraid to express her thoughts and opinions to her parents. “After every session, I used to tell my parents what I was learning; my parents started understanding me better and became more supportive of my aspirations instead of limiting me to the household chores,” she says.
With time, Kajal brought significant changes to her surroundings. She influenced her peers to join her in addressing gender biases and creating a safe learning environment in school and the surrounding areas.
According to her, feeling of unsafety is a major concern and contributes significantly to dropout rates. Inspired by the programme, Kajal and other adolescents took the initiative to address safety issues that they faced while they commuted to school and organised a stakeholder meeting with both the school administration and village sarpanch, to share their findings and collaboratively address the identified safety issues. “I noticed a positive change in my school. With our advocacy, the school took safety measures and formed a Child Protection Committee, and recently, we organised a stakeholder meeting where we invited the village Sarpanch to discuss the issues. We also urged them to remove the liquor shop near the school and he assured us of taking action. Additionally, we requested the principal of the school to improve facilities like clean washrooms and install a pad disposal machine, and thankfully these changes were implemented. I felt proud because these changes were initiated by us students and I was the one presenting,” she says proudly.
Kajal’s journey from a hesitant girl to a confident advocate for gender equality is an inspiration for others to challenge unfair practices and strive for a more inclusive and equitable society.
