Bhopal: A few proverbs that embody subtle form of gender discrimination have figured in a competition held by a voluntary organisation in the city.
The organisation, Sarokar, has invited entries related to such phrases as are used daily but contain gender discrimination. The entries in PDF form.
According to Kumud Singh, secretary of Sarokar, Hindi proverbs, ‘Gudree ke Lal’ and ‘Poot ke paon paalne mein hi dikhayee dene lagte hain,’ are common but signify gender bias.
The first refers to a talented person born in a poor family and the second says that the talent of a person is visible even when he is a child. Singh has told Free Press that both the phrases allude to men.
Therefore, the idea is to make the people aware about how gender discrimination prevails in subtle form, as one cannot discover it, Singh says.
She says identifying such examples is important as seed of gender bias lies in trivial things, and it is necessary to dispose of those germs to wipe out age-old bias.
Besides proverbs, films, media, social media, stories, poems, plays, cartoons, sayings, idioms and text books consist of that prejudice and there will entries in the contest on those issues, too, she says.
All those phrases seem to have been slyly inducted into daily life to bring down the importance of fairer sex, she adds. Kumud says most of the entries are from Madhya Pradesh.
Apart from MP, the competition has evoked response from Punjab and a few other states, she adds.
According to her, in one of the entries, a senior officer of the state government has described how his son is often called ‘girlish’ for his love for embroidery work. Though the organisation did not expect a huge response, what they have achieved is encouraging, she says.
The association has held many contests on the subject of gender bias, but such a competition has been held for the first time, Singh adds.
She says they will display the examples on the Facebook pages of the group. Prizes will also be given to the best entries. The last date for sending entries is Monday (February 22).
