Members of Mukti’s Amplifying Community Voices (ACV) group conducted several sessions to disseminate the training received from “Rupantaran Foundation” among the marginalized women of Sundarbans. All the programs of ACV are being supported by “OAK Foundation”. ACV team conducted a workshop on Gender sensitization -Centrality of Marriage among Herambagopal GP women groups from 7th to 10th February 2023. 111 women of Herambagopal GP participated in the session.
The content of the session was – what is the importance of marriage in a patriarchal society and how does it affect women?
The participants were told to draw their own “River of Life” to mark the changes brought about by marriage. They were asked to explain how their life trajectory has changed from early life to marriage and how they had to prepare to accept the change. How society prepares women mentally to consider marriage as everything in their life and spend their lives centered on marriage.
Observing the path of their River of Life, it was clear that their life was smooth before their adolescent years. Adolescence (age – 14-17) begins with various obstacles, ups and downs in the course of the river – end of education, restriction on freedom of movement, initiation of marriage, etc. After marriage, most women lose their ability to make decisions about their own lives and are deprived of ownership of property. Although they get stuck in married life, marriage is glorified in society. From their adolescent years, they were conditioned to believe in the fairy tales that attributed priority to marriage above all else. Society prevents women from thinking that there can be another life after marriage where they can set a goal or develop their own identity. Society teaches them to identify as someone’s wife or someone’s mother.
Through the session, the women were made aware of the primitive practices of a patriarchal society in the name of marriage. Participants were shown the way to overcome obstacles in married life. Examples were raised of some women who have succeeded in post-marital life by believing in the successes of their adolescent years.