“Hidden Pockets presents Pocketshala”
When these words were played on the speakers our hearts were on the seventh cloud because our work of months and imagining of creating a support tool to talk about issues has finally come true. Talking to young people about things has always been a difficult task. The attention span of young people is short, one moment they are listening to you and the very next moment they will move on to next interesting issue around, creating things which will keep their interest intact in the issues is very difficult. A young person tends to ignore heavy or boring sessions.

It is very important to understand that young participants usually tend to take time to understand issues such as bullying, body shaming, health and hygiene etc. As a facilitator we have to keep adding new tools in our handbag to inform young kids.

One way which has always worked with children has been the art of storytelling. Since our childhood grandparents have been using the art of telling stories. The art from the past, in our modern world has taken the form of  podcast. Creating stories based on issues such as mensuration, bullying, health and hygiene, relationship etc. has given us a space to start the conversation. In the workshop at Deepalaya we started our session with the first podcast on bullying which has a lead protagonist named Rahul who is being bullied by some kids at school and how his friend Neha helps him out. When the podcast was being played silence was there, which was telling us that there is surely a Rahul in the schools of these kids. Many kids had difficulty in understanding that bullying is not just  physical violence but it also can be when a specific kid is being targeted because of his appearance.  For many of them calling each other names about their skin, height, weight or facial features was a normal thing but at the end of the session they were able to relate to Rahul’s feelings of being bullied and methods to prevent this to happen any further.

It is a well-known fact that when we listen to a story we tend to remember it. The idea behind making podcast in a story telling manner is to create such stories which will remain in children’s minds. The first workshop also created a taboo discussion on urinating in public where two young boys were not able to understand that why urinating in public is a privilege given to male gender and for females this is not the case. On the other spectrum girls at the session have consensus on that if some men urinate in public it has always made them uncomfortable. A lot of questions were also raised such as why children themselves do not clean the toilets at their home though they are the one using them. The discussion was obviously was intense for young children but our aim was just to make them think through the process of being open minded.

With a lot of questions being raised and discussed many children were able to give solutions as well as especially when it came to tackle bullying. Initially children had the idea that if anything happens they should always call the police first as they were never exposed to any other option to resolve such a sensitive matter. Just like in the podcast where Neha goes to the teacher and ask for help who is the immediate authority they also agreed that going to a teacher is a best option to stop bullying or taking a stand for the person being bullied.

Towards the end of the workshop, there was discussion on health services programme in schools  and they were quick to address that most of them had a health room in their schools but were clueless regarding usage of it. They were also not aware of the government’s policy on adolescent health programme where they could go to hospitals and access health services.

The workshop which was conducted with the help of audio podcasts is a helpful way to tackle usual challenges a facilitator face in  workshop with young participants. Hence it could be a way to start a conversation or break the ice of awkwardness when it comes to talking about serious issues with young accomplices.  The whole idea to create these audio recordings was to make sure that our message will remain in their minds and whenever they face such issues they should be fully aware of their options.

About the Author : Jitender N Bhardwaj is a nomadic traveler who often enjoys long walks in untraditional parts of a city. He as been associated with Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights field since 2014 and loves talking about sexuality and pleasure.

PS: The audio podcasts were created along with Painted Tree Pictures, with the help of Women Deliver.

What classifies a person as a user of a technology? Does that classification include gender? Do designers of different technologies work on designs that take into consideration the requirements of users from different genders? Which gender do different apps or products and even technologies resonate with? Is there a predominant gender that is taken into consideration and others that aren’t? How do we understand the difference?

As an organisation working on inclusion in different spaces, Hidden Pockets has also been working in the area of technology to find the answer to these questions and others in a way to make technologies and the space of technology inclusive for all. Peeling one layer after another in search of answers, we realised that inclusive thinking is one that is often to given to as a fundamental concept in our system of education.

On 13th May 2017 Hidden Pockets was invited by FSMK (Free Software Movement Karnataka) to conduct a workshop on ‘Gender Sensitization’ for the students of Bearys Institute of Technology, Mangalore.  The day started with session on free software, how to think like a computer scientist and was followed by a workshop on ‘Gender Sensitization’. FMSK sees a need to have conversations around issue of gender and how this gets manifested in technology spaces as well. Being an organisation working on diversity and inclusion, we at, Hidden Pockets, were more than excited to be part of this initiative and bring conversations around gender in a technology space. Aisha Lovely George conducted the training on behalf of Hidden Pockets. The purpose of the talk was to sensitize students of different technologies about the need to look technology from several perspectives going beyond one in a way to make it usable for diverse groups of users.

It is important to understand the builders, architects, designers come with their lived-in experiences, knowledge and other influences into what they build. It is important to work with students from diverse backgrounds in a way to bring them all to a neutral ground. This, in no way, is an easy task. However, setting some common fool-proof grounds and rules could help them in looking at their product in a more unbiased manner.

In this case, more than 90% of the students were from the Muslim community. The room had a clear gender based segregation and seating arrangement with girls on one side and boys on the other side. The girls were giggling and keeping the answers to themselves and guys confidently answered all the questions. Initially, we asked the students to change their seating arrangements as we realised girls and boys were seated separately. We later mixed them into groups for some of our activities.

Nardhini S, a members of FSMK insisted on giving communication a place of vital importance. Then there was a small session on why it is important to understand the concept of gender when it comes to tech, a talk on why it is important to respect all. How can one holistically understand making of tech apps for all genders? These and many more such questions were explored during this session in an attempt to open newer perspectives to these students.  Emphasis was given on how to respect each other’s space, views and most important gender. The session was concluded with a gentle reminder about the responsibilities of the students to be inclusive of all, especially as the creators, inventors and makers of tomorrow.

Would you like a gender sensitisation workshop in your workplace or education institution? Write to us at aisha.george@hidden-pockets.com. We’d be happy to help! 

Techies; the misfits, the geeks, the nerds, the un-wired ones are making the future right now or so it seems. Techies have the power to change the narratives and ensure that more people from different groups are represented in this conversations. In an era where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) would be the next big truth, how do we make sure that this future is inclusive and reflective of everyone’s realities? What is the language that is being used to create this new brave world? Who are these people, and is it true that some people are being left out? Is there space for care and inclusion?

With rising incidents of harassment in tech spaces, gender diversity is soon becoming an issue which the companies can no longer ignore. With rising importance given to technology, how do we ensure a space that discusses role of technology in negotiating power structures? What is this technology, and who are the consumers of it? Is there a specific gender that is creating a technology, and is there a certain gender that is just consuming technology?

Hidden Pockets in an attempt towards creating inclusive spaces, conducted a talk on existing Bro Code within the workspaces. In an attempt to check the existing biases within tech workspaces, we conducted a workshop to channel conversations between people who use technology in different capacities.

The conversations ranged from different understandings around gender, and how it manifests in participants life. Most of the participants were people who considered themselves as tech makers in some capacity and had generally a very positive approach towards technology. They were aware of some of the inherent biases that tend to get reflected in some of the tech products.

Jasmine Lovely George, trainer from Hidden Pockets played a game to understand the inherent biases to help participants realize some of the unconscious bases held by all of us. The game led to some interesting discoveries. It was interesting to see that there was a very limited understanding of gender in workspaces and there was tendency to assume that individuals acted without any gender expectations within work culture. There was also specific mention of  the fact that genders could be more than two genders, and there was a need to make spaces more accessible for people belonging to different genders.

There was a section around technology products and their usage. There was a tendency to see solutions in technology and approach problems through technology lens only. Sruthi Krishnan, from Fields of Views  discussed their research studies around lack of efficiency of panic buttons and safety applications in responding to crisis situations. Someone else also discussed the usage of Food delivery applications to reduce wastage.

There was also a clear lack of understanding of problems that affected people from different genders. Overall, there was an agreement in trying to make spaces and workstations more inclusive and have more people from different backgrounds.

With the rising need to make different spaces inclusive, it is becoming of exceedingly important to have these conversations and question ideas that are inherently present in our minds due to various reasons – environment, family, friends, education and others. Are these ideas valid and fair towards all? How can we change them? Hidden Pockets aims to tackle these issues of gender and sexual diversity in workspaces and would be hosting a lot more workshops and talks to keep raising this disparity and continue these conversations to have a more meaningful engagement with technology. If you are interested in having a workshop in your organisation, write to aisha@hidden-pockets.com

Uber in last few weeks have been trying to figure out different ways of handling and trying to improve the conditions in its workspace. In an attempt to improve its workspace atmosphere, it introduced a Holer’s report which tried establishing some of the Code of Conduct prinicples which a company can introduce to have more diversity, inclusion and better work-life balance.

Code of Conduct principles are generally a set of rules that an organisation introduces to make a workplace lot more comfortable for all its staff . These principles set the tone of an organisation and help in building a great work culture.

Hidden Pockets in its attempts to discover and talk about inclusive spaces,have been introducing the concept of Code of Conduct in different spaces. In recently conducted RHOK Bangalore Hackathon , Hidden Pockets gave a talk on Code of Conduct, and the need for different spaces to introduce these principles to have a much more holistic experience. The hackathon was attended by around 30 people from various backgrounds.

The coders came from different backgrounds and were coming together to create a product as a solution for a cause that they believed in. In an event, which was mostly attended by male coders, it was important to emphasise on the fact that there were not enough women coders in such hackathon spaces. In a makers space, it was important for us to raise some of the questions around how could we make these spaces more inclusive so that people from different genders, class and caste would find it more encouraging to attend these events. For most of them, gender was a new topic that they were getting introduced to, and they were trying to understand how this concept could be brought into our daily spaces of work.

User experience was another issue which was picked up during our conversation. Does the user and the maker have a dialogue before creating the product, and how does this help in creating a better experience for the user?

Since most of the coders were working on issues that they were interested in, it was important for them to realize that there was diversity in the room and to acknowledge at some level that this diversity would be a great added bonus to their work experience. Code of Conduct helps the participants and the employees see value in diversity and makes spaces more inclusive by bringing in experiences from different backgrounds and connecting these experiences to different themes.

The coders worked on these different themes :