CHENNAI: In 2008, The Prajnya Trust’s 16 Days Campaign against Gender Violence began with the objective of pointing to the prevalence and pervasiveness of gender violence. It fought against the popular notion that education and a certain standard of living guaranteed exemption, and sought to open conversation about its various forms. Fourteen years and several significant events later, the campaign returns for its 12th edition, having seen and contributed much to the discourse.
“Six days after our 2012 campaign, the Jyoti Singh rape happened in Delhi and it altered and considerably extended the discussion and discourse on gender violence in India. We no longer had to make the point that it happened. People were reporting it more — in the sense of making police complaints and the media picking it up.
We were talking much more about what we can do, the law, a little bit about bystander intervention. Much of what we’re doing — this year’s campaign, for example — is more research-driven than we have done before. We’re able to deepen our discussion to a much greater extent. There is also a generational change over the years and I think we’re able to do other things now; deeper analysis and deeper conversations,” explains Swarna Rajagopalan, founder. And this year’s schedule from November 25 is no exception.
Talk about domestic violence
The campaign will shine the spotlight on domestic violence through its several programmes. Like every year, the presentation of the Gender Violence in India report will inaugurate the events. “We began doing this in 2009. It was intended to be a ready reckoner, a short, handy little report because it’s hard to comb through even NCRB. Over the years, the report has grown from the original 14 pages to around 100 pages.
This year, we have added a section on intersectionality,”she mentions. Following the presentation of the report will be an assortment of eclectic events, including Surviving Violence: Everyday Resilience and Gender Justice Webinar, Responding to Domestic Violence: Training, Visual Representations of Gender-based Violence and much more. Some events require registrations while others are closed. This year is also the return of a few in-person events; the campaign is most likely to stay hybrid, says Swarna. People can also try out the community cafe that provides a platform to converse about the topic that hardly ever makes it to the dinner table.
This year’s campaign is relevant now and has been for decades and centuries. It became more and more discussed in the last two years as the pandemic lockdowns saw disturbing statistics of domestic violence cases. Several news outlets spoke of the numbers on the rise. But should this have been surprising to anyone? Swarna answers her own question, “I think that domestic violence has remained so important.
Why would you be surprised that domestic violence went up? It should be something we could have predicted. Despite that one year of shadow pandemic attention, have we actually put any structures in place? If there were to be a second situation like March-April of 2020, would anything be different? In some ways, we make progress and in some ways, we’re standing still and the final test of whether all of our activities and awareness work, of all the disbursements the governments supposedly make is whether somebody who is battered can get help. That one person is your litmus.”
Starting fires
This, and a lot more, will be spoken about at the programmes of the 16 Days Campaign… but it is what follows the campaign that matters. After attending a campaign all about new insights and new information, Swarna hopes that those who visit feel moved to do something with the knowledge. “At the end of the day, all of these things are about citizenship and citizenship is about discovering that you have agency and about wanting to use that agency.
Some of the information that we give people is about what you can do, what you can tell people, what is a call for help, what are your rights. I would love to see lots of people at the programmes. Many of them are opportunities for people like the domestic violence training. There’s no cost; you can log in wherever you are. We are bringing this on a platter to young social workers and I would love for people to take advantage of it,” she adds.
Knowledge is truly power and while we are still at the early stages of change, there is much to discuss and learn regarding gender violence in our country. And many places to start, maybe at this 16 Days Campaign.
The 2022 Prajnya 16 Days Campaign against Gender Violence calendar is now online at https://prajnya.in/16d22, with programme details and registration information for open activities.