This Bengaluru college has started a course to teach men to be equal partners at home

Bengaluru, Oct 1: At a time when India is coping with the problem with gender inequality, an educational institution in Bengaluru has come up with something unique to make a contribution towards the country's social life. The college has started a course that aims at inculcating values in men to become equal partners on the domestic front.

The course called 'Reserved for Men' kicked off on September 22 and is attended by 15 men, aged between 23 and 34, according to a report in The News Minute. The course will continue over a month and it aims to teach the young men the ways to become equal partners at home - not only through sharing household chores but also the emotional stress that comes with taking care of the partner, family, the elderly at home and also solving problems in relationships, etc.

The course has been started by an NGO called Samvada which works with young people across the state of Karnataka and educates them on values, lifestyle, etc, the report said. It also takes efforts to help socially marginalized groups to become part of social issues like gender equality, sustainable livelihood, etc.

"We have been conducting gender sensitivity workshops for many years with young men and women. In the past few years, we felt that young men needed much more sensitisation to understand gender issues and to be equitable partners," Baduku college principal Murali Kati was quoted by The News Minute as saying.

"It was a mixed bag of responses. Some wanted to learn how to cook, some wanted to know how to break gender stereotypes. Many of them were interested in learning about child care, and caring for the elderly... like what they can do to emotionally support elderly mothers as they are going through menopause," the principal said when asked about what expectations the participants had from the course.

Quite a unique and useful move in the social set-up that we have. Isn't it? What's your take on this? Let us know your views in the comments section below.