Open Mike 14: Gender bias, stereotypes, and sensitization [India] (links)

Here are links for tomorrow's topic. Many of the links here deal with the issue at a larger scale -- societal level, national level etc. One thing that we could also focus on, at the meeting tomorrow, is these issues at a more personal (individual) level.

[1] My favorite one: Gloria Steinem's famous speech -- "If Men Could Menstruate" http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/steinem.menstruate.html

[2] A UNICEF report (one of many in the State of the World's Children series) on Women Politicians, Gender Bias, and Policy-making in Rural India. By Lori Beaman, Esther Duflo, Rohini Pande, and Petia Topalova. http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/docs/beaman_duflo_pande_topalova.pdf This report is rather academic in its structure and methods of analysis, but there are interesting charts at the very end.

[3] India Together links:

1. Seven markers for gender balance -- indicators to assess gender sensitivity in governance, set up by the Center for Women's Development Studies
   
2. Who is a feminist? Paromita Vohra's film Unlimited Girls explores the ideas and experiences of feminism in contemporary urban India
3. Long and arduous road -- Educationists and social scientists are increasingly veering around to the view that persistent gender biases are rooted in India's failed education system. As a result, the search for gender parity must begin with guaranteed access to quality education for all.
4. What happens to girls? -- Despite quality education, the mindset of people is not changing in this country
5. Sexual harassment at work -- a practical guide
6. Raw deal for women journalists -- The recently released `Status of Women Journalists in India' report, commissioned by the National Commission for Women presents a disturbing picture of women journalists
7. Girls without power -- Despite islands of progress and even a paradoxical government-run success, the larger picture of girls' education and their empowerment is dismal. There is an enormous gap between fact and paper fiction, and the task for feminists and activists is cut out
8. A newborn's first right -- Less than 50 per cent of girl child births are being registered by parents because of gender bias, says former Census Commissioner Jayant Banthia, speaking at a Panchayats and Child Rights convention recently at New Delhi
9. Are girl students safe? - - The fleeting attention that is given to the rape of a girl in school hides the systematic harassment and violence that so many are subjected to - an important reason why girls drop out of the education system around the age of puberty
10. Barriers to girls' education -- We should not be too quick to attribute low literacy among girls to poverty alone. A number of other factors are just as responsible
11. Her mind, her country -- The State Council for Educational Research and Training in Delhi has taken a surprisingly different approach in its preparation of text books for students in classes 6-8 (gender sensitivity in curricula)

[4] Times Foundation has a collected set of links:

1. Literature on gender sensitization
2. Downloadable resources on Women's rights, etc. (mostly PDFs)
3. An article on Women's Entitlement to Property
4. Report of the Workshop on Gender Justice : Forging Partnership with Law Enforcement Agencies by Dr. Poornima Advani from National Commission for Women

[5] Gender bias perspectives from the developing world factsheet

[6] Gender and Language

1. Gender bias in an Indian language by G. Sankaranarayanan, in the Language in India journal (link to the online version) [the language in this article is Tamil]
   
2. Undoing gender stereotypes in Hindi by Anjali Pande

[7] A report on India Gender Profile by Bridge Institute of Development Studies. This report is more factual (factsheet) than anything else

[8] Gender stereotyping in advertising -- Majority advertisements featuring children show boys in diverse, challenging and macho roles while girls are portrayed in a more streotyped and objectified manner

[9] Promoting Gender Equity in Community Institutions: Evidence from Indigenous Communities in Western India by Kalpana Jain and Nihal Jain (pdf link)

[10] Gender stereotypes: Representation of men and women in Indian mass media -- a paper by Krishna Pokharel from Center for Civil Societies