Youth challenge deep rooted gender biased stereotypes that prohibit girls from playing sports

215 adolescent boys and girls (85 girls and 130 boys) participated in a 4 day sports camp in Jaipur last week. The camps that took place in 5 wards of Jaipur city was conducted under PRIA’s flagship programme Kadam Badate Chalo and was with the collaborative effort of Pro Sport Development, led by its founder director Suheil Tandon; PRIA and Martha Farrell Foundation. Kadam Badate Chalo is a youth led programme that is intended to create leadership and champions among youth (both boys and girls) to address the issue of ending violence against women and girls. Youth from all intervention areas of Kadam Badate Chalo have reported that girls and boys are seldom seen playing sports together in public spaces; in fact it is also uncommon to see girls indulging in sports activities outside their regular school/college routine. One of the reasons for this has been the overriding feelings of insecurity that the girls themselves and their parents have expressed because of the persistent eve teasing and sexual harassment that they face from boys and men in their locality. Interactive noncompetitive sports such as 'Dragon's Tail', 'Catch Me If You Can', 'Act Like' and 'Simon Says' proved to be excellent ice breakers for girls and boys who were soon playing together in a game of continuous cricket. The venues and timings for the camps were deliberately selected by the youth themselves based on findings of the youth led participatory safety assessment of each ward which identified these sites as being unsafe. The camps were conducted between 4:00 – 6:00 in the evening because girls rarely leave their homes after 4:00 as it is during this period that boys and men are seen occupying all the public spaces either playing cards, drinking or just talking. The venues were:

1. Behind the Anganwadi because it is dark and lonely
2. The chowk
3. Garden, because they are always filled with men and boys who stare and pass comments and
4. Recreation park because it is a place where "dirty things” happen.

There were many learning moments for both the trainers’ team as well as the participating youth and it was apparent during the reflective exercise that followed each camp that boys had not reflected on why and if girls don’t play. Some boys shared how much they had enjoyed playing together with girls but the great learning for them was that even playfully, "we should be careful that we do not hurt others with our actions and thoughts”.  Girls were ecstatic while sharing about their experience of playing cricket and most importantly engaging in an activity with boys and not feeling threatened by the experience. Similar camps are envisaged to be conducted in all programme areas of the youth led Kadam Badate Chalo initiative, beginning with Sonipat, Haryana.      

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