Parivartan, which mean “transformation,” uses the sport of cricket as a tool to promote gender equity, respect for girls and women and reduce gender-based violence. Based on the US-based program, Coaching Boys into Men, ICRW developed Parivartan for the Indian context, leveraging the influential role cricket coaches play as role models for adolescent boys.
ICRW’s evaluation of the three-year initiative shows positive changes among the coaches and the athletes. The coaches, for example, became more supportive of equality between men and women. According to one coach, “The program helped me think how as men and women we are all equal. Earlier I used to think that men are always powerful and they can do anything that they want. But now I think in a different way.”
Coaches also became more understanding of women’s and girls’ vulnerability to sexual violence. Said one coach, “Earlier we used to hear the stories in newspaper about teasing, attempt of rape and used to think that these women might have given a lead or did something to provoke. But now I realize the pain and am trying to understand how to change the mindset of boys regarding violence which is so very important here.”
The athletes in the program became less rigid in their thinking about manhood and masculinity and the roles girls and women can play inside and outside the home. Many said they were less supportive of the physical abuse of girls and more willing to intervene when witnessing the abuse of girls, although behaviors to stop violence did not appear to change over time.
These and other findings will be presented May 30 at a forum in Delhi on making sports a viable medium for social change featuring ICRW, the Indian government, Magic Bus India Foundation and UN Women, among others. The event will serve as a platform to take Parivartan forward by exploring ways to integrate it into existing institutions and scaling it up to other settings.
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