Women Change the World

CIVICS CHAPTER-5 CLASS-7

Introduction

• In this chapter, we will look at work outside the home, and understand how some occupations are seen to be more suitable for men than for women.
• Types of efforts made by the women’s movement to challenge discrimination in more recent years.

Who does what work?

Who does what work?(cont …)

Fewer opportunities and rigid expectations

• The reason they did this is because they feel that outside the home too, women are good at only certain jobs.
• For example, many people believe that women make better nurses because they are more patient and gentle.
• This is linked to women’s roles within the family.
• Similarly, it is believed that science requires a technical mind and girls and women are not capable of dealing with technical things.

Breaking stereotypes

• Engine drivers are men. But 27-year-old Laxmi Lakra, from a poor tribal family in Jharkhand has begun to change things.
• She is the first woman engine driver for Northern Railways.
• It is important to understand that we live in a society in which all children face pressures from the world around them.
• Sometimes, these come in the form of demands from adults.

At other times, they can just be because of unfair teasing by our own friends.

Learning for change

• In the nineteenth century, many new ideas about education and learning emerged. Schools became more common and communities that had never learnt reading and writing started sending their children to school.
• But there was a lot of opposition to educating girls even then.

Yet many women and men made efforts to open schools for girls.

• Women struggled to learn to read and write.

Learning for change(cont …)

• Let us read about the experience of Rashsundari Devi (1800– 1890), who was born in West Bengal, some 200 years ago.
• At the age of 60, she wrote her autobiography in Bangla.
• Her book titled Amar Jiban is the first known autobiography written by an Indian woman.
• Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was born into a rich family who owned a lot of land.
• Rokeya learnt to read and write Bangla and English with the support of her elder brother and an elder sister.
• She went on to become a writer. She wrote a remarkable story titled Sultana’s Dream

Schooling and education today

• Today, both boys and girls attend school in large numbers.Yet, as we will see, there still remain differences between the education of boys and girls.
• In the most recent census of 2001, these figures have grown to 76 per cent for boys and men, and 54 per cent for girls and women.

Here is a table that shows the percentage of girls and boys who leave schools from different social groups. Scheduled Caste (SC) is the official term for Dalit, and Scheduled Tribe (ST) is the official term

• There are several reasons why children from Dalit, Adivasi and Muslim communities leave school. In many parts of the country
1. Distance
2. No Proper School
3. Nor Teachers
4. Poverty
5. Discrimination

Women’s Moment

• Women and girls now have the right to study and go to school.
• These changes have not happened automatically. Women individually, and collectively have struggled to bring about these changes.This struggle is known as the Women’s Movement.

Different strategies

• Campaigning

Campaigns to fight discrimination and violence against women are an important part of the women’s movement. Campaigns have also led to new laws being passed.

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• Raising Awareness
• An important part of the women’s movements’ work is to raise public awareness on women’s rights issues.
• Their message has been spread through street plays, songs and public meetings.

Different strategies(cont …)

• Protesting

when a law or policy acts against their interests. Public rallies and demonstrations are a very powerful way of drawing attention to injustices.

• Showing Solidarity

The women’s movement is also about showing solidarity with other women and causes.