My Experience

It was an overwhelming experience of visiting our 3 field sites in Jharkhand, which helped us in further understanding how the group members have been able to change their thoughts regarding the various gender issues be it of giving equal opportunities to both the sons and daughters, treating them equal in every aspect , engaging in the responsibility of a responsible father by taking the children for vaccination, taking care of the child and doing every small little task for them such as washing their clothes, making food for the kids, spending time with the children, supporting them in their studies.
The Men have been able to understand their responsibilities and that taking care of a child/ children are not only women’s duty. It’s about equality of men in engaging in household work or taking care of the children.
Few of the members that we interacted with told us how by attending the group meetings and having had discussions on different issues such as Gender discrimination, Violence against women, Child Marriage and its ill effects. How through the discussions they have been able to widen their knowledge and understanding of these issues, plus they have also started to analyse their role as responsible men and raise important questions on their socialization process in their families and at homes and reflect on certain gender norms which they have had to believe like a man is the bread earner of the family and the lady of the house has a responsibility towards household and taking care of the children.
We also got an opportunity of interacting with ANM in Ranchi district in village Lamkhana we asked her about whether the men in the village get their children along with them for vaccination or to get the checkups of the child done. The ANM said yes the men have started to get their children on their own for vaccinations or for the checkups, but they have also started taking interest in knowing about the types of vaccinations, medicines available, and nutrition available for children.
One of the members told us his first child was a daughter, he used to be very upset about it and wanted a boy as he used to think having a boy child is a boon for the family rather than having a girl as girls are a burden for the parents, but after attending the meetings and attending the training sessions he has been able to evolve his thinking completely he now considers both boys and girls as equal and further does not consider girls as a burden. He is in fact proud of the fact that he has a daughter.
The Group Members have also taken actions against stopping child marriage, engaging in dialogues with the people in the village regarding issues such as violence on women, Gender discrimination, engaging of men at home in household chores or taking care of the children.
In short our 14 day visit to Jharkhand was very fulfilling in terms of understanding how the processes on the field works, this field visit has helped us in understanding how successful the project has been in the two years, have the inputs that have been given to the group members in the group meetings helped them in transforming their lives and in the process have they either been able to some extent become the role models for other men in the village or in the futuristic time to come.