Culture and social norms bind society together. In India, cultural practices are considered very important. But certain cultural practices are unfair and discriminate against women. Such discriminatory practices lead to unfair treatment of women. To transform social norms and the cultures that promote such discriminatory practices, Breakthrough India was founded in the year 2000. The founder of Breakthrough India is Mallika Dutt. Today at Mad4India, we will discuss her success journey and the work done by the organization.
Goal of Breakthrough India
The goal of Breakthrough India is to empower young girls and women through education and completely end sexual harassment and gender-based sex selection. Additionally, to save them from child marriages and domestic violence. Mallika Dutt’s music video based on the rights of women surmounted the Indian pop charts The song won India’s 2001 National Screen Award for the best music video. After that, she launched the organization Breakthrough India. Mallika Dutt knew that pop culture, media, technology, and arts could be highly fruitful tools for advancing social justice.
Bell Bajao Campaign By Breakthrough India
Breakthrough India started working with victims of domestic violence initially. The initial campaign was ‘Bell Bajao!’ It is a series of TV advertisements designed to help people understand that violence is everyone’s business. By creating an interference when you witness it such as ringing a neighbor’s doorbell], you are helping out. The advertisement went global and won awards. International stars like Michael Bolton and Sir Patrick Stewart and Michael Bolton were featured in the advertisement.
Challenges Faced By The Organization
The real challenge for the organization was to make women understand the concept of discrimination and violence. Many women don’t see their husband’s bad behavior and beatings as violence. Many women feel that if their husbands beat them for things like burning a roti then such behavior is normal. It becomes tough to help women when they do not realize they have issues.
Raising Awareness
Breakthrough India tries to take a non-confrontational approach. Preaching does not seem to work, so the organization tries to get the people to realize the problem themselves. Theatre, music, and media are the main tools through which information is spread. Breakthrough has video vans that travel villages and cities. The vans engage residents in games and street theatre that draw attention to violence against women.
Dropping Out of School
70 percent of girls living in villages of Haryana and Jharkhand drop out of school before age 16. One of the reasons is that traveling to and from school can be dangerous. Another reason is the lack of facilities in schools, such as clean and accessible toilets. Many women and girls have also internalized the idea that their brothers can study for as long as they want but they can only study up to a point and after that, they need to get married.
Helping Girls Educate
One of the main aims of breakthrough India has been to get them to believe that they have as much a right to an education as their male relatives or friends do. Breakthrough India has partnerships with Haryana and Jharkhand to set up projects in more than 150 schools and 35 schools in these States, respectively.
Initiative – Share Your Story
Share your story with your son is another digital initiative by Breakthrough India. To make young boys understand that harassment is not acceptable their mothers tell their sons their personal stories of sexual harassment and even of catcalling on public roads or at work. Many boys from small towns and villages feel that harassment is fun but through the experience of their mothers, they understand that it’s not funny.
Inspirational Work of The Organization
Breakthrough India is working hard to break stereotypes, change the cultural practice and educate the community on the rights and equal treatment of women. Mad4India wishes Breakthrough India all the best for all their future endeavors!
If you loved this story, read a story about Darshana Dayat an inspiration and epitome of women empowerment.
To know more about Breakthrough India, please check – Website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
To know more about Mallika Dutt, please check – LinkedIn.
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