ActionAid India's #ActEqual films reinforce theme of gender equality

All three films have been created by Dentsu Mama Lab.

ActionAid India has come up with a new digital campaign on gender equality called #ActEqual. The campaign has three short one-minute films addressing different gender issues. The films deal with gender disparity both at the workplace, as well as at home, across ages.

The first film, #ActEqual Farmers and Farm Workers, shows a group of farmers working in the field with some carrying their kids on their back while two women relax on the tractor and watch the farmers slog.

In real life, this is not the case. The film highlights the problems faced by women farmers and peasants. Despite women forming over 75 per cent of India's agricultural workforce, women are barely recognised as farmers or farm workers. In fact, women own only 13 per cent of India's agricultural land, despite being engaged equally, if not more than men, in back-breaking labour. This has led to greater difficulties for women farmers such as accessing credit schemes, insurance schemes, and compensation.

The second film, #ActEqual Share The Work, shows a group of men fill water and take it home while a group of women do the electrician's job in the village.

Working against what actually happens in reality, the film highlights the issue of women and work. It addresses the problems of women not being paid for the work they do and the need and the lack of institutional support for working women/women labourers for child care in the form of crèches, maternity leave, paternity leave, equal wages and access to institutional credit.

The third film, #ActEqual No Child Should Skip School, shows how a boy does household work like sweep, wash clothes and take care of a baby. But, what the film is actually about is that girl children are always treated as second class citizens when it comes to education and that one out of two girls does not complete Class 10, mainly because she is expected to help in household chores. It highlights the need for gender equality from childhood and equal access to education across genders.