Integritus Prime

In our first post about this event, we included some profound lessons about spirituality and service from Sri Madhusudan Sai. In this post, we share his views on gender equality, which we find interesting and useful as well.

Sri Madhusudan Sai’s view is that gender equality cannot happen without equal political representation. Fundamentally, the world is unfair, and although women are almost half world’s population, representation is not even 10%. He continued to say that women are not being educated or trained well enough and there is societal stigma about women having equal rights. The following insights emerged from his talk:

1. In India, some villages still think it’s a liability to educate girls because they will go to their in-laws’ home – tribal societies in Nigeria and Sri Lanka share similar views. That’s where disparity begins – in homes and families and societies. Girls simply don’t get the same kind of respect or rights as boys from the moment they are born.
2. Where education is free, this fact can be used to prioritize the girl child. In India, government education is free until age 14, then girls are married off. Girls’ security is a concern so parents want to marry them off, and be done with the responsibility. Sri Madhusudan Sai and his colleagues work to convince parents to let the girls study longer at no cost to them, and with a stipend paid to them to keep the girl in school. Self-defense is also taught to the girls to improve their safety. Incentives must be aligned to ensure girl children continue their education, and this is not cheap.
3. Furthermore, parents need to be convinced that they should save that stipend money for the daughter’s, which is a culturally appropriate framing for the stipend to be received. This allows parents to feel they are doing the right thing according to their culture and worldview.
4. Eventually, the girls who complete their education go on to pursue tertiary education and are less compelled to marry, and may also provide caregiving for their parents, and work to improve the status of women in society. Thus, educating the girl child helps her, her family, and raises the status of women in society.

In a simple way, Sri Madhusudan Sai was able to break down the work he leads to uplift girl children in societies where they are not valued properly. This gave us a sense of hope and gratitude for the work he supports.

We are inspired to also volunteer and support women and girls through the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Medical Centre through group coaching.