The inadequacy of traditional patterns of punishment in dealing with gender concerns today was highlighted in ‘Demystifying Gender,’ a two-day workshop on Gender Sensitization, on 24th and 25th January in JNU Campus by the Group of Adult Education, JNU. The workshop was accompanied with a book exhibition by JAGORI NGO and Danish Books.
Keeping in pace with the dynamism about women’s issues and the drive against gender discrimination across the country today, the Group conducted the workshop to make people aware about alternate methods of dealing with gender problems in our society.
Dr. Ajay Kumar, the coordinator and organiser of the whole event emphasised that the approach of ‘preventing rather than curing’ through discussion and dialogue is essential to change the mindset of people in our society without which no punishment would ever suffice to do away with heinous gender-based crimes. The group has adopted an approach quite different from the traditional JNU pattern of sensitizing students about gender through strict control and punishment which has failed to work effectively within and beyond the campus boundaries because of its inadequacy in terms of taking into consideration all aspects of use as well as ‘misuse’ or ‘abuse’ of legal machinery and destructive consequences of such an attitude to resolve issues.
He highlighted the fact that such measures are quite crucial for fuelling up the gender movement and helping it to gather momentum so that it does not fade away with few punishments or pending judicial enquiries and decisions that usually make serious concerns in society lie dormant and lifeless due to inaction and lack of support.
The workshop is another serious effort by the Group which is actively and consistently fighting and raising such issues parallel to the civil society movements going on across the nation, especially after the Nirbhaya case. Dr Anand Prakash, Mr R.K. Singh, Ms Shalini Sharma, Ms Anshu Chaudhary, Dr. Reetesh Singh and Ms.Anisha from Delhi University conducted the workshop with lot of activities including, games, sensitization training and documentary analysis.
