EMPOWERMENT FOR GIRS

Dr. Anandi Ramakrishnan,Director – K.R.Raval’s Kids World,

Ahmedabad

Coverage• Why Girls students evolve to stereo type roles in life• The need for us to step in• How we stepped in with “Empower Girls”• Results from our experiment• Learning from our program

A tigress is born

•Known all over the world•Only Women PM of India•Woman of the Millennium

•Why? Support and Equal opportunity

“Children evolve around expectations of significant

people (parents & teachers)around them”

•They can become what THEY want them to be.

“Results from childrenhave direct baring on

parental beliefs”

-Hess, Holloway, Dickson & Price, -McGillicuddy-De Lisi -Parsons, Adler & Kaczala -Stevenson & Newman

“Negative parental comments haunt talented women

decades after they leave home”

-Reis

Girls can equal boysand reach

full potential….Only….

Only if we…..

“Teachers and parents

underestimateintelligence of girls”

-Myra & David Sadker

All of us are implicated!

“Girls fear being perceived as

Smart” - Bell, Buescher, Olszewski, Highham, Eccles,

Midgley, Adler, Kerrr, Colangelo, Gaeth, Kramer, Reis, Callahan, Goldsmith…..

Why? Peer Pressure & Stereo type

expectations!

We felt we can change, parents, teachers and students and launched

in January, 2014.

• 500 girls from 5th to 10th • 5 questions – Paper and Pen

1. Are you proud to be a girl? 2. Do you want to make your parents proud?3. What do you want to become in future?4. Who is your role model?5. How would you become self reliant?

Simple, yet difficult questions – 10 days

Problems were with teachers! • Teachers wanted to help with all answers!

What happened with answers?• 500 students – 10 groups of 50 each• 2 teachers and 1 student team leader• Each group analyzed 50 answer sheet• Find themes that emerged from answers• Each group to pick up one theme• Develop it into a stage show• Perform it on 8th March, 2013, Woman's Day

Interesting answers to questions!1. Are you proud to be a girl?

> 80% said yes, 20% not clear 2. Do you want to make your parents proud?

> 95% said yes. 5% not clear

• Boys were informed of the plan

Interesting answers to questions!

3. What do you want to become in future?4. Who is your role model?

> Overlapping answers> 37% Kiran Bedi> 32% Sunita Williams> 10% Kalpana Chawla> 07% P.T.Usha> 06% Sania Mirza> 08% Assorted Others

Interesting answers to questions!

6. How would you become self-reliant?> Educate myself as much as possible for

financial security. > Learn martial arts> Be fit and strong, participate in sports

Themes that were chosen by teams and enacted:

• Save the girls in the womb• Proud to be a girl• Fighting the odds• Role Models• No discrimination• Be aware of surroundings, safety first• Educate Girls• Salute a girls life

The Show:• 1000 + audience• Women Judges

The Impact:• Increased awareness – girls can dream and do.• Talents showcased• Post program feedbacks were positive

Girls counseling centre started

Girls Counseling Centre

• Committee headed by Principal• Teachers and students• 24 x 7 telephone line• Committee meets once a month

Girls Counseling Centre – 12 months highlights

• Solved 27 serious cases with domestic problems that affected studies

• Cleared many confusions on academic choices• Confusions / fears of marriage and future• Parents started spending quality time during

lunch/dinner• Close friends were invited home, parents got to know

them in person• Friends from social media were revealed• Communication at home improved

Girls Counseling Centre – Major Learning:

• Inability of working parents to spend time with girls lead to major problems

• Peer pressure creates great stress• Girls experience great stress due to exam fear • Girls undergo health related stress during puberty• Girls undergo stress due to social media• Most stress related problems get resolved if they can

communicate with parents clearly• They need equal opportunity and support• If supported they perform as well as boys and reach

their full potential