Gender-based and Gender-biased misconceptions is still very much prevalent in most parts of our country. People still believe that the roles of men and women shouldn't change or they simply believe 'it's set', it's predetermined' for a cause.
It's quite common for a women to hear these words, 'this is what you should do, this is what you could do'. But sadly, these are the most devastating and hindering words for youngsters belonging to both the genders. Research studies on this says, 'Such stereotypes emerge as a result of ‘nurture’ more than ‘nature''.
Nowadays with the advent of technology, the barriers seem to be gotten better in urban areas. But the people from rural places, who are deprived of accessibility to such technology and knowledge are still inside the cocoon holding strong to the myths based on gender. Be it on Everest or Space, women have step foot everywhere and have shattered all gender-biased hurdles on their own. To the contrary, it's a matter to be ashamed that still there are women who haven't stepped out of their houses or villages and buried all their unique skill sets go in vain because of the baseless gender-based beliefs.
Deepan Velusamy from Coimbatore and Shruthi Shivashankar from Bengaluru are all set to dismantle this gender stereotype through their thoughtful initiative 'Stepout' a cycle ride from Kashmir to Kanyakumari!
After working as Program Director in Hello FM in Coimbatore, Deepan now works for the National Geographic Channel in their Research and Development team. An ardent traveller, Deepan has been to umpteen adventurous and unexplored places on bikes for research purposes.
'One such unforgettable road trip was an inter-country bike ride in 2011. Myself and Muthukumar set out on our motorcycle odyssey on July 25, 2011 and covered more than 28 States and close to 40,000 km. We visited organic farmers in 23 States in India and a few in Nepal and Bhutan too' says Deepan.
Shruti Shivashankar Murthy from Mysuru, is working as a consultant for adolescent education programs and also a life skills trainer. She quit her job at Ernst & Young in 2013 and took up a fellowship. As a part of the fellowship, Shruti traveled to the interior villages of Rajasthan and had an opportunity to witness real-time and interact with the students through her leadership programmes. From there, Shruthi traveled through the routes of western ghats in Karnataka and since then, 'I never looked back' says Shruthi, a spirited traveler and Cycler.
'Cycling gives me a “Sense of Liberation”. I am super thrilled to Stepout and conduct sessions on gender roles and limitations to empower them with the right knowledge, attitude and skills to step out of the gender boxes and celebrate individuality. Traversing through hills,valleys, rivers and seas, it would be one mind blowing experience to take home. And, as a team we are hopeful that we could make at least a small difference in the lives of these people'. says Shruthi.
Elaborating further about their initiative Stepout, Deepan shared that, 'I met Shruthi through a common friend. Our passion for travel and other common interests relating to cycling drove us to think of a concept of travelling for a cause. And, that's how Stepout, was born! We worked more on our concept as just cycling between two end points has already been attempted by many and there's nothing new about it. We believed plugging in a cause will give a completeness to the project. After going through the possibilities, we finally struck onto creating awareness on gender-based misconceptions and empowering people in rural areas.
'Shruthi will be pedaling from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and visiting many government schools across 500 villages in 13 states, all in just 45 days.Throughout this journey of 4500 km, she will be interacting with adolescents in schools from different geographies and backgrounds to understand how gender plays a role in their life. Awareness sessions and skits are also in the pipeline. And, myself will be the road crew head and will be guiding Shruthi regarding the routes and helping her execute the plan. Anagha Balakrishnan, who is also from team Stepout will be coordinating with schools for conducting sessions. We will be travelling in a Scorpio, while Shruthi will pedal from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. We plan to cover 140 kms every day', said Deepan.
When asked him the response they received from schools they visited so far and which they plan to visit, Deepan reveals that 'Most of them do not even know the purpose of our visit, as gender stereotypes are still prevailing in many of the rural places. We are hopeful that through Stepout, we will be able to accomplish the task of breaking the myths on gender stereotyping'
The idea of breaking gender stereotypes through cycling is a completely new and much-needed initiative.The team is buzzing with energy as they are all set to Stepout on 6th February, 2017 to accomplish their endeavor. We wish the Stepout team a safe and successful trip and hopeful that a change will be created!