Breaking the barriers of ‘Gender Stereotypes’
International Web talk show on ‘Gender Stereotypes: A Lived Reality’, as per the guidelines of UGC, is being organized by the Institute of Women’s studies, University of Lucknow. The key features of this event includes a multi-dimensional approach on the subject through a range of speakers from Judiciary, Media,Police, Academics, Corporate World, Transgender, Culture and Literature.
The second day of this event had Hon’ble Mr Justice Manish Kumar, High Court of Judicature, Allahabad, as a speaker to bring in the perspective from the Judiciary. In its move towards breaking the barriers of gender stereotypes, this session also hosted Ms Simran Shaikh, a transgender working with India HIV Alliance as a Programme Officer. She added the perspective from the third gender into the discourse
Dr. Archana Shukla, Coordinator, Institute of Women’s Studies and convener of this programme took the opportunity to welcome and introduce the distinguished guests and handed over the meeting to Prof. Manuka khanna, Department of Political Science, University of Lucknow, to moderate and facilitate the interactions there by. It was fascinating to witness in a platform like this to have an accomplished guest Hon’ble Mr Justice Manish Kumar who himself had an opportunity to be taught by Prof. Manuka khanna, the moderator for this event. Prof. Manuka also oriented the participants on what gender is and how it is being socially constructed.
Hon’ble Mr Justice Manish Kumar in his address shared his journey from choosing be to a lawyer to becoming a Justice. He pointed out that courts positively look out for female lawyers when it comes to elevation to senior positions, but unfortunately only around 10% to 15% of the total lawyers across the country are female. He encouraged women to consider this profession as it opens up so much of scope in terms of career progression for those who are committed irrespective of gender. He also expressed that one of the gender stereotypes that female lawyers get to face is the double burden between balancing their work life and their household work unlike men. This double burden puts them at a disadvantage, at times cutting short their productive work time especially when 15 to 16 hours of work hours are required of them.
Ms Simran Shaikh in her talk shared her journey so far to what she is now and the struggles involved in revealing her identity as a transgender to others and all the more the painful experience of not being accepted by the other genders. She also expressed that her deepest need was never to gain sympathy nor the empathy from other genders, but to be received, accepted and regarded as a transwoman. Prof. Manuka khanna played a key role in facilitating both the speakers to express their views on gender stereotypes with the participants.
Ms Deepti Mehrotra facilitated the participants to formulate their expectations concerning gender stereotypes to ensure that they will be addressed in the upcoming sessions.
Dr. Archana Shukla in her vote of thanks expressed her gratitude to the speakers for their valuable contributions and to the moderator whose expertise had facilitated a dynamic interaction between the participants and the speakers. She concluded the session by inspiring the participants to look forward for yet another dimension from the corporate world on 27th July 2020.
