Last night I had the privilege of connecting with the women of the India Mahila (women) Association through Mosaic BC (www.mosaicbc.com). The workshop was titled “Empowering Women” with a focus on research statistics from the “Creating Families by Design: Births in BC’s Indo-Canadian Community and my workshop on Empowering South Asian Men and Women in the home.
The statistics for the Creating Families by Design: Births in BC’s Indo Canadian Community are available at (http://bit.ly/IINXva). The interesting aspects of this study is that this type of selection happens here in Canada, a nation where we are promoting the equality of men and females in all areas of their lives.
The research pointed to the fact that this type of sex selection happens more amongst immigrant families. Through the discussion, the conversation around how South Asian men and women are empowered within the home. The conversation can be applied to any culture, ethnicity and race as the upbringing of individuals as we are conditioned not only by our race, culture, ethnicity but by genetics, society and general programming through media.
Through the workshop, I asked the question of how the women perceive men and women. The answers I received were men are perceived as “ego, confident, dependent, demanding, strong, protectors, and know it all” and women are perceived as 2nd class, weaker sex, victim, honor of the house, nurturer, motherly, and backbone of the family.” It was interesting as the genders were perceived in their roles instead of as individuals.
Through further discussion, the women were asked to go into meditation to get a sense of how they feel during their interactions with masculine and feminine. This exercise led to the discovery that some of the women did not feel the connection of the masculine while they felt a deep connection with the feminine. How do you feel about your connection with your masculine and feminine?
The workshop ended with both roles being seen as leaders, a person, humanitarian, individual, independent and with an identity.
How do you want to be seen in the world? Do these words resonate with you?
