Gender equality training was a lesson for the husbands

The husbands in Shankariya Sukumbasti were reluctant to go to the gender equality training organised by Dalit Welfare Organisation. Today they know the value of a woman, the women say.

By Malene Lærke

05. March 2007

The women have no doubt which training from Dalit Welfare Organisation, DWO that has had the most impact on their lives; the gender equality training that there husbands also had to attend organised by Dalit Welfare Organisation, DWO.

“By DWO we were requested to come with our husbands but they only laughed and asked why they should come to the training. They also said that even if they did go there would be no allowance or food so what would be the point, however; they did come in the end out of curiosity, I think,” recalls Jayanti Pariyar, chairperson for the Dalit Women Society Reform Savings Group in Shankariya Sukumbasti, ward no. 6 in Motipur VDC, Bardiya district.

The training lasted for one day and it made the male members of the community rethink their stand on gender and what gender equality means.

“Afterwards the husbands were so surprised and thought it was valuable. This is important the husbands thought,” Jayanti Pariyar continues.

“We can see that the men at the training understood and realised that equality is better for the community and for the family and that equal value to men and women is important. Now we are like two wheels and we are equally important,” tells vice chair person Tulsi Pariyar.

The women tell that their husbands have begun to do women’s work and that they no longer believe that it is only the wife that should be responsible for cooking.

“A new circulation of hope came into our hearts when the men started to cook, wash utensils and help in the household,” says Lal Mati B.K.