Paper Short Abstract:

This paper focuses on the reasons why anthropology should be taught outside the classroom to those in charge of public safety and social justice by narrating my experiences of teaching gender sensitivity to policemen in India and the consequent shocking misogynist responses that I faced.

Paper Abstract:

This is a narration of my experiences as a woman teacher, about teaching outside of the class room to a group of policemen and associated officials about gender sensitivity; who were most reluctant to receiving any kind of education from a female academic and totally resistant to learning about gender sensitivity. It is about my exposure to the deeply entrenched patriarchal values that is pervasive among those who are in charge of society and on whom women in particular depend for their safety. This effort exposed me to the mind set as well as the values that the men in power hold that act as barriers to women being given a fair deal in their daily lives, especially with respect to gendered violence that is so rampant in India. The reluctance to learn from a woman teacher was an eye opener to the gender stereotypes that are held in certain parts of the country and the huge gap between official policies and the motivations of those assigned to its implementation. It also exposes the chasm that exists in primary education and socialization about sensitivity to gender related issues and an ethics that is free from inherited prejudices and casteism and misogyny. This kind of experience brings out the realization about the value of anthropological education to all who are future custodians of law and society and the needs to make such education compulsory at least for certain kinds of jobs involving care for common citizens.