On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Center for Women’s Empowerment & Gender Equality (CWEGE) organized engaging gender sensitisation workshops for students at Amrita School of Dentistry, Kerala and Amrita Dental School, Kochi.
At the Amrita campus, the session was attended by 52 enthusiastic second-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery students. The workshop emphasized gender awareness and inclusivity, with compassion as its guiding principle. Key discussions included Gender and Sex, helping participants distinguish between biological sex and socially constructed gender roles.
By the end of the session, students were able to:
Distinguish between Gender and Sex
Understand the negative impact of assigning roles based solely on gender
Identify areas in society and in their personal lives that require re-evaluation to promote equality
The workshop concluded with the message that no skill, profession, or role is meant for a single gender. With the right training, support, encouragement, and willingness, anyone can learn and excel in any field.
A special segment introduced the concept of DA DA DA – Daya, Damam, Danam:
Daya – Compassion
Danam – Charity/Generosity
Damam – Self-Restraint
Students were encouraged to reflect on these values and identify three avenues in their lives where they could apply Daya, Danam, and Damam, contributing to a more gender-harmonious society.
The workshop was led by Radhika Shetty , Dr Drishti Marwah from CWEGE, assisted by Masters in Social Work students, and focused on building gender harmony using Indian frameworks and principles. The sessions explored gender roles and ways to work around them meaningfully, contextualized for an Indian audience, helping students understand practical approaches to fostering gender equality in their personal and professional lives.
