The destination is close but the road is difficult...

People like you and me often talk about the oppressions and exploitations prevalent in our society and we often come to the conclusion that this inequality based society needs to be done away with. During moments of enthusiasm the task might seem easy but the hegemony of patriarchal and capitalist values are so enmeshed in our everyday life and the society that even to bring about a little change, a long drawn out struggle is necessary.

Our organisation has been a part of this struggle against patriarchal values for last three years. The Tech Center was also initiated with this struggle in mind. It's around 4 months old now. We had some very interesting ideas to begin with. We wanted our girls to become friendly with technology, we wanted to see them making careers in this field. But we are facing some great obstacles in our path. The idea that technology is not a proper field for women works not only among men but women as well. This fight against mental slavery of women which internalises the values of patriarchy as their own is a very challenging one.

Inability to come on a regular basis

• Among the main reasons for irregularity of the girls is the fact that most of them are either domestic workers or their mothers are in this profession. They can come to the centre only after finishing all the chores in their homes and the employers'. Some of them are school students and in times of festivals they have to take leave from the schools and accompany their mothers in their job. Or in case somebody in the house falls sick, it is they who have to take the primary responsibility for the patient. In other words, everything gets preference over the time when they can learn or do something for their own. Their families also see their futures in marriage and domestic service. As far as the girls themselves are concerned, they passionately want to do something else - to become a computer operator, graphic or web designer, camera person or something else but not certainly a domestic worker. But they are so much pressed under the responsibilities of their homes that they find it next to impossible to manage some time for their own when they can learn some technological skills for their futures.
• Among the main reasons for irregularity of the girls is the fact that most of them are either domestic workers or their mothers are in this profession. They can come to the centre only after finishing all the chores in their homes and the employers'. Some of them are school students and in times of festivals they have to take leave from the schools and accompany their mothers in their job. Or in case somebody in the house falls sick, it is they who have to take the primary responsibility for the patient. In other words, everything gets preference over the time when they can learn or do something for their own. Their families also see their futures in marriage and domestic service. As far as the girls themselves are concerned, they passionately want to do something else - to become a computer operator, graphic or web designer, camera person or something else but not certainly a domestic worker. But they are so much pressed under the responsibilities of their homes that they find it next to impossible to manage some time for their own when they can learn some technological skills for their futures.
• The third reason for irregularity is their early marriages. The girls who have been coming to the tech centre are between the age group of 15 to 25. Most of them are married off by the time they were 16-17. And after marriage, the priority for their careers no longer remains.

The families of the girls do not want to send their girls on their own to a distant place. They themselves also feel insecure to come on their own and without any friends. Even to come to the centre, they need each other. So in case one girl is taking leave for some reasons, her friend also is forced to take leave, even though the centre is located just about 1 or 1.5 km from their homes.

Most of the girls are illiterate

It's a simple fact of our society that preferences are never given for a girls education. Most of the girls of the tech centre are school drop-outs; only two of them are still continuing their education. Even for them, regular counselling has become necessary to make them stick to their schools. Their families are least interested in their education and they want their girls to assist their mothers as domestic workers, more hands at work means more money. As most of these girls are illiterate, the language issue has emerged as a big problem. Knowledge of English and/or Hindi has become a minimum requirement for jobs in any office in Delhi. So we have been trying to impart them some lessons on language as well. But it needs constant practice and as they have not been able to come on a regular basis, we have not been able to make rapid progress in this front.

The limitations of resources

The girls want that we should shift our office nearer to their homes. But due to lack of proper resources, we have not been able to do that so far. Moreover, we want to provide them some scholarship, specially to those who want to make careers in the field of technology so that they can devote their entire time for studies and training. But this problem of resources has limited our efforts here as well.

The challenges are certainly immense but our determinations are firm and we have been looking for newer ways to confront them. Despite slow progress, we are certain in our convictions that we will reach our goal...one day.