Twenty five-year-old Deepa Chauhan of Amreli district, Gujarat, says, “I had no real understanding of violence before I joined the campaign. Our family has 13 members living under one roof; there are five women. I was oblivious to the violence we were subjected to on a daily basis. After I have become a facilitator of programmes for a campaign ally, inconsiderate acts towards women at home began to bother me. I began to speak up. Recently, I had a male visitor. He proposed marriage and as it is the custom he gave me Rs 50 to finalise the tie. I was appalled by this gesture. I retorted by giving him Rs 100. He was nonplussed. I showed him the campaign materials and explained to him that men and women must be equal in a marriage – there should be no element of subservience. Recently, I was teased while traveling on a bus. Earlier I would have bore it in silence. This time around I berated the man. In our area, girls ride mopeds. Many of them are, however, harassed on the roads by boys. Once while I was riding one, I saw a group of boys laughing at me. Normally I would have ridden on. This time I stopped and asked them why they were laughing. Is the sight of a girl on the moped funny? No, maam, they said. But the remains of breakfast on your face are. I saw the humour of the situation. I burst into laughter, too. As a facilitator, I conduct gender sensitisation programmes. There is one particular game we organize. We call out the names of professions – like doctor, teacher, nurse, engineer – to see what gender association people make and see if can help alter current stereotypical notions. People still associate a doctor, engineer and pilot with males. It will take some time to deconstruct these beliefs.