Ungendering domestic work

Ungendering domestic work

Santosh Kumar is 22 years old. He lives with his parents and two younger siblings, a younger brother and a sister in Kothigaon village, Gariyaband district of Chhattisgarh. Santosh’s parents are farmers and Santosh works as a mason to support his family. He joined the Kothigaon youth group in 2017 of Lok Astha Sewa Sansthan, Oxfam India Partner and regularly attends the meetings. 

Since joining the youth group Santosh narrates the changes that he is experiencing in his life “I was least bothered about how my mother was managing the farm work and the household chores. Now, I understand how difficult it has been for her to manage things without any support. Now I wash the clothes of the family members and also clean the house.” Not only this, Santosh prepares his sister and brother and sends them to school.

Sustaining the changes were not easy for Santosh, as his friends and neighbours ridiculed him. But determined Santosh questioned his friends and neighbours – “If I do not do my household chore of my family, will you do it for us?”  Santosh recounts, “It took some time for my friends and neighbours to accept the reform in me, but now they no longer ridicule me. More than anything else, my family and especially my mother is the happiest person to see a changed Santosh.”

Santosh also encouraged his friends to join the group and today about 8 of his friends who joined the group have started their journey of bringing in positive social norms.


Gender Justice

We campaign to change patriarchal mindsets that influence violence against women  

Read More

Related Stories

Private Sector Engagement

28 Apr, 2022

Meerut, Uttar Pradesh

Linking Sugarcane Farmers With Social Security Schemes

Oxfam India's Power of Voices Project (PvP) aims to ensure rights of informal sector worker specifically those engaged in sugar value chain.

Read More

Private Sector Engagement

28 Apr, 2022

Meerut, Uttar Pradesh

Registration of Workers on e-Shram Continues

Oxfam India has, in the last eight months, helped over 3600 workers from the unorganised sector register on the e-Shram portal.

Read More

Education

28 Apr, 2022

Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand

Back To School

First with the sustained efforts of the Mohalla Classes and later with a dogged enrolment drive, we have managed to enrol 448 Out Of School children in schools in 8 districts in Uttar Pradesh and J

Read More

Education

28 Apr, 2022

Mehrauli, Delhi

Firdous: The One Woman Army Spearheading Children’s Education in Mehrauli

”Most school going children in Ghosiya Colony (Mehrauli) do not have access to smartphones and internet connectivity. Without the latter, their education will get disrupted,” says Firdous.

Read More