Participants at the three-day capacity-building workshop for women. Picture by UB Photos

Dec. 21: “How many of you can whistle?” asked a resource person to a group of women leaders from the panchayat and local bodies. The question startled them and wide-eyed they looked at each other.

Suddenly, a shrill whistling sound echoed in the room. “Who was that? Is there a boy out there?” asked the resource person to the bewildered group of women. One of the women owned up and then a few others spontaneously started whistling and were successful. Suddenly, a sense of thrill engulfed the entire room and the group started whistling and giggling.

The resource person then explained, “We have conditioned ourselves to think that only a boy can whistle. How many of you have whistled like a boy in your village?” this seemed to send the right signal. The women started murmuring among themselves.

Summing up her “whole new experience” Monu Das, 36, from the Sivasagar district mahila samiti said, “I discovered a new-found happiness and remembered my carefree days of my childhood and youth. I have realised that I have missed out on many things in life due to the gender-based conditioning.”

Das now plans to go back to her hometown and educate the women there.

“I will now try to disseminate information in a playful and interesting manner. The new approach through games and plays is I believe is more relevant and effective,” she said.

This was an instance from a playful brainstorming session which was part of the three-day capacity-building workshop for grassroots women leaders, organised by North East Network (NEN), an NGO which concluded yesterday.

The programme is very action-oriented. It is not enough to have the required skills, it’s equally important to have a perspective and a vision. We are trying to make the women realise their potential and the little things that they have missed out in life,” said Anurita Pathak of NEN.

Altogether 14 women belonging to different groups like panchayat leaders, self-help group leaders and schoolteachers affiliated to the Sivasagar district mahila samiti participated in the workshop.

There were four women from the weavers groups from Kamrup district who took part in the workshop.

The women were also made to realise their hidden organisational skills through various games. “We have used a very novel methodology and are trying to disseminate information like the various support services available to them,” said Pathak.

In one such game, the women were made to hold hands and stand in a circle. The circle was supposed to be a fence. One woman stood outside the fence and was the tiger and the one inside was the goat. The fence was supposed to protect the goat from the tiger.

“It is through such games that we teach these women to evolve effective strategies in order to safeguard their rights,” she said.