When schools around Bengaluru started enforcing safety norms following a spate of sexual abuse cases, one feature that was nowhere in the government-stipulated guidelines figured in the pep talks of some principals and teachers for girls: watch what you wear, where you go and whom you mingle with.
Young girls in our schools may be busting the glass ceilings in academic and non-academic performances, but the ‘Lakshman rekha’ of “appropriate behaviour” is difficult for them to cross even in this day and age, even though the line itself has become blurry.
When this correspondent asked a school principal (who did not wish to be named) if they equally reprimanded boys and girls for “inappropriate” sexual behaviour, she thought long and hard and said, “Not that we think boys can do anything and get away. But we may be extra careful when it comes to girls because they finally bear the brunt. It is for their good.”
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Suchitra Rao, a consultant with UNICEF on child safety issues, said that one of the most common questions asked in workshops conducted by the government as well as NGOs is, shouldn’t there be a dress code? That it is for girls goes without saying.
“That is precisely why it is important to keep ‘adolescent education’ gender neutral in terms of the value system they inculcate, while making a distinction only with respect to biological aspects,” said Ms. Rao. “In fact, we also need to educate boys on how they can be punished under the new laws if they are irresponsible in their treatment of girls.”