Family, Education and Religion: An Interface to counter Gender Based Violence

Since issues of gender based violence, discrimination and ill-treatment are plaguing both India and Pakistan, it is relevant here to share my entry for "Go Beyond the Armchair", an initiative by The Red Elephant Foundation in Chennai. The idea was to bring people to go beyond 'liking and sharing' on Facebook and suggest ideas for concrete action, develop strategies and responses to counter gender-based violence that is rampant in our societies. Here is my idea for which I won the second prize :) The spirit behind this idea is to leave the chair of comfort that we occupy and plunge into the real world to offer real solutions.

Family, Education and Religion: An Interface to counter Gender Based Violence

Increased incidences of gender based violence have initiated debate over ways to counter it. However, most ideas that emerge are idealistic and call for a drastic change in the social order. This may not be feasible considering the fact that societies over the world are deeply entrenched in patriarchal attitudes and short term solutions to this cannot solve the problems that we encounter today in the form of violence, brutality, gender stereotyping and gender mainstreaming. Any change that can claim to be sustainable has to come from within. It has to be rooted so strongly that generations after generations imbibe it and practice it.

It is in this view that I suggest an interface between family, education and religion in order to tackle what can be termed as the marginalization of one important section of society – i.e. women. Attitudes towards gender are shaped by culture and religion, both of which play a dominant role in socialization. Family and Education are important sites of socialization since they shape and individual right from his/her childhood and have a long lasting impact on the kind of citizens a society produces. Any strategy to address gender based violence cannot be successful if it operates in isolation. Because this is not a problem alone of any one sphere of society. It is a result of the interactions between these spheres and their influence on each other. A sustainable strategy to address concerns raised by gender inequality and gender discrimination of any form should involve three major actors that play an important role in the life of an individual – namely family, education and religion.

Religion ought to be employed as a tool to develop sensitivity about human life and devotion to serving the society. Socializing an individual into a particular religion takes place in the family and it is here that the family can act as a site for inculcating positive religious learnings which teach children the importance of human values. Religion is a crucial part of our upbringing, which can rarely be avoided by people. Instead of being overwhelmed by one’s religion, family should encourage children to practice religion with human values. The emphasis of humanity through religion can then be taken to the school, which is the second home for a child. An inter-faith atmosphere where the child has the opportunity to learn about different cultures and develop a sense of respect for them will be the second step of this interface. Education can then work as a tool to shatter stereotypes and prejudices that the child may have learnt from his surroundings. Both family and education then do not shun religion/culture but use them in a very constructive way in order to address larger human concerns. The result would be people who are socially sensitive and recognize the need to move beyond established norms and rituals. Such a population will not be bogged down by dogma, ritualistic concerns or societal pressures but would strive to make this world if not an equal but a more humane place to live in.

Gender based violence as an issue affects all societies the world over. Primarily, it is not just a 'women's' problem since men can too be victims of gender based violence. A wonderful campaign initiated by The United Nations 'HeforShe' says it all. Gender based violence could be seen from the prism of structural violence since its roots lie deeper into cultural and religious forces that govern our life. To address such a deep-rooted problem, women cannot be the only stakeholders. Others and their participation is significant too. These can be identified as - men, civil society, media, state etc. An interface between family, religion and education, all three of which lie at the heart of a community can be evolved to address this issue in an innovative way. We need to strike gender based violence at its roots and eliminate it from where it begins to operate. This cannot be achieved without the help and involvement of the community since any examination of gender based violence only through the prism of an individual is flawed. Any change that can claim to be sustainable has to come from within. It has to be rooted so strongly that generations after generations imbibe it and practice it. If we leave out the community from under the purview of gender based violence and solutions related to it, then we are only talking of a solution restricted to the 'armchair'. We need to go beyond the armchair and undertake concrete action to address this pressing issue. The best way to actively involve the community in this is to develop linkages between religion, education and family in a constructive way in order to give an impetus to community practices that are not bogged down by dogma, ritualistic concerns or societal pressures. The community thus can be made the biggest stakeholder in dealing with this issue, without whose involvement I see little success for isolated efforts to effectively deal with gender based violence and do justice to those whose lives it has destroyed - both men and women.