Skip the loo, my darling

Things are looking up says a beaming Usha Chaumar, 33, formerly a manual scavenger. "We make pickles, vermicelli and 'papad' (spicy savouries) at home, too, which gets us an additional income of around Rs 2,000 per month." Renu Rakesh has more.

- Alwar, Rajasthan (WFS) - Sunita Nanda, 33, from Alwar, Rajasthan, is just back from the Big Apple. She had a terrific time there. While in New York, Nanda sashayed down the ramp with leading supermodels and also attended a series of events held at the United Nations headquarters, marking the International Year of Sanitation.

Her children are delighted as they listen to their mother describe the interiors of the plush UN Millennium Plaza Hotel - where heads of states and leading diplomats and, more recently, Nanda stayed.

But that's where the similitude between world leaders and Nanda, as well as the 36 other women from Alwar, who were invited by the Prince of Orange of the Netherlands, ends.

Five years ago, Nanda earned a living cleaning dry latrines and disposing off night soil by carrying it in containers balanced on her head. She had married into a family of manual scavengers and was quickly initiated into the 'family business' by her mother-in-law. She abhorred the work but since it was the only source of income, acquiesced to it. Between the two women, the family earned a paltry monthly income of Rs.400.

But all that changed in 2003 when Dr Bindeshwar Pathak of the Sulabh International Social Service Organisation met up with the women manual scavengers of Alwar district and resolved to liberate and mainstream them.

Through his NGO, Pathak set up a centre called Nai Dishayein (New Directions) where women are trained in vocations such as food processing, tailoring, embroidery and beauty treatments. The first batch in 2003 saw 28 women eagerly learning the new skills. The next batch saw the numbers double.

The women work at the centre from 10.30 am to 4 pm and earn a monthly stipend of Rs.2,000. Their food products, candles and other items are purchased by hotels and restaurants in Delhi and in the national capital region (NCR). "For a year, we couldn't sell anything that we produced because people said they were made by the 'untouchable' scavengers," says Santosh Singh, who manages the centre.

"For a year, we couldn't sell anything that we produced because people said they were made by the 'untouchable' scavengers," says Santosh Singh, who manages the centre.

But things are looking up says a beaming Usha Chaumar, 33, who explains, "We make pickles, vermicelli and 'papad' (spicy savouries) at home, too, which gets us an additional income of around Rs 2,000 per month."

"Initially, we didn't believe Dr Pathak. We couldn't believe anyone could liberate us from this age-old practice. But a few months after his Alwar visit, he invited us to Delhi for the World Toilet Summit and put us up at the five-star Maurya Sheraton hotel. The organisation also gave us Rs 200 as travelling allowance. When we returned to Alwar, we were sure our life was going to change forever," recalls Nanda.

Shakuntala, 35, another former scavenger, says, "Most of us are now literate. Some of us can even speak a few words of English. We now send our children to English medium schools. Earlier, we didn't have any say in such affairs. The family decided where our children would go for their schooling. The centre has given us dreams and we want to realise them."

Besides rehabilitation, the NGO works towards helping then gain social acceptance, too. The recent trip to New York is the result of such efforts. Earlier in the year, the women had participated in a fashion show organised by the NGO at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. They had walked down the ramp with leading Indian models like Marc Robinson, Indrani Dasgupta and Tapur Chatterjee, in apparel designed by them under the six-month-long guidance of designer Abdul Haldar.

The show was attended by the Prince of Orange of the Netherlands, who then invited them to the UN this year. The trip was sponsored by Sulabh International in association with the Irene Network, a UN voluntary organisation and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

"We could never ever dream that such a thing could happen to us. What happened in New York was much beyond our dreams," says Chaumar, who addressed the international community from the podium of the United Nations. There she spoke about her days as a manual scavenger, about how Sulabh International helped her do away with the humiliating job, and of her being the sole breadwinner of her family. Among her audience were leading diplomats and top UN officials. Later, Chaumar was unofficially crowned as princess of sanitation workers.

Talking about their visit to the Big Apple, the women say they loved the big-city experience - they were most impressed with the skyscrapers and enjoyed their trip to the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in the New York Harbour and the Battery Park in lower Manhattan. And what were their observations of the women of the metropolis? Though they were inspired by the working women in the city, the former scavengers were not too impressed with their clothes. "Less clothes and more exposed bodies. Our men would never let us wear such clothes and step out to work," says Shakuntala.

Of course, Nanda, Chaumar and the other foreign-returned women are the fortunate few in a state, which has the second highest number of female manual scavengers, after Delhi. This, despite the fact that Rajasthan had adopted the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993. According to Pathak, the reason for the prevalence of the practice is the failure of the state to appoint an executive authority to prosecute violators of the Act. According to central government estimates, there are 342,000 persons engaged in manual scavenging in India. Voluntary organisations believe the actual numbers are at least four times this figure.

In Alwar alone, there are about 100 female scavengers, while Bharatpur tops the list with 600 as per figures sourced by the NGO from the state government. However, impressed by the results of the Nai Dishayein initiative, the Rajasthan government is now ready to provide financial assistance to Sulabh International to replicate the Alwar model in Tonk, another district of the state, where out of 225 scavengers, 190 are women. (Women's Feature Service)

 

Surviving a battle they fight every day

In India's business capital, the NGO Sanmitra is helping HIV positive women re-enter the mainstream workforce, thereby ensuring them a life of independence and dignity. Sumita Thapar has more.

the industrial metropolis and the proverbial melting pot – ensures everyone learns the art of ‘surviving’ Mumbai; people living with HIV being no different. India’s migration capital has perhaps the longest history when it comes to an effective HIV response. Even as early as 2000, Mumbai had projects and homes looking at children affected (orphaned) and infected with HIV, and the community and civil society had already begun playing their role.

One important link in this chain of effective response is Sanmitra, an NGO registered in December 2002 and located in Siddharth Hospital, Goregaon. Sanmitra focuses its efforts on helping HIV positive women re-enter the mainstream workforce. Along with that, it has also been working among street-based sex workers and bar girls. The thrust is on HIV prevention, care and support. This includes treating sexually transmitted diseases; making women aware of services such as testing for HIV; for those who test positive testing of CD4 count; where CD4 count is below 200, helping them access free antiretroviral treatment (ART) from public hospitals. At present, Sanmitra’s projects reach out to about 1,000 street-based sex workers, 2,000 bar girls and 500 of their male partners.

According to Prabha Desai, who heads Sanmitra, the biggest challenge for people living with HIV today is stabilising health and getting re-enty into the mainstream labour force. “We cannot create artificial jobs in NGOs. Factories and offices are reluctant to recruit HIV infected people,” she says. Desai says employers hesitate as they are not sure if HIV positive people will be as punctual and efficient as the rest; if co-workers will accept their presence. “Employers are telling us, for now, we will recruit affected people but not those infected.”

She elaborates on the difference between infected and affected people: infected are those living with HIV themselves. Affected are family members, spouse, children, parents, etc. – those not infected themselves, but bearing the brunt of HIV, including psychological and financial effects. Desai observes that the employers are reluctant to take in the infected, but if there are any affected people, employers are willing to give them employment.

Desai’s solution to this situation has been simple: set up an enterprise for doing industrial assembling and packaging jobs, get work outsourced from factories and train and employ affected and infected people to do these jobs. In another initiative, Sanmitra trains affected and infected people, most of them young widows, to become HIV counsellors and para-health workers. Desai strongly believes earning livelihood is critical to one’s well-being. “How long can positive people go begging from one church to another? Is that the solution? We have to set systems in place so people can live well,” she emphasises.

Sanmitra’s income generation programme called the Swayambhu Uddhyam Kendra has found support from factories producing electrical goods. The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has been supportive, as have large companies such as Larsen & Toubro. At Swayambhu, a 20-year-old AIDS widow with two children shows us how she assembles switches. Hands deftly hammering she says, “If I work fast and concentrate I can do about a 100 pieces a day.” At any given point of time, there are about 10 women like her who spend seven-eight hours here each day. They earn wages on a per piece rate. This adds upto a minimum of Rs 70 per day, some earn upto Rs 120. Over a month, they earn about Rs 2,000. The NGO gives them a bus and train pass, along with some basic nutrition in the form of a daily snack.

A 20-year-old AIDS widow with two children shows us how she assembles switches. Hands deftly hammering she says, “If I work fast and concentrate I can do about a 100 pieces a day.” As much as livelihood for its sake is critical, work also acts as therapy helping women heal.

Working with other HIV positive people in a safe and nurturing environment helps women reach out to each other. Being employed and taking home a salary gives them a newfound confidence. They work for a few months gaining foothold, and move on to other jobs. Some train to be outreach workers in health programmes or lab technicians, others take up sales jobs. People are encouraged to move on, so they can enter the mainstream again.

As much as livelihood for its sake is critical, work also acts as therapy helping women heal. Sanmitra believes in the power of peer counseling – people who have been through the experience themselves reach out to others. Its Ayush training academy runs three-month courses for infected and affected people, training them to be para-health workers and counsellors. Most trainees are young widows. The course runs over weekends and is offered free of charge. Of the 50 people trained over the last two years, presently, 10 are employed with Sanmitra and the rest with other NGOs.

Trained outreach workers and counsellors work as part of the community initiative under the government-run programmes for prevention of HIV and offering services to infected people. These include the PPTCT (Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission) programme and the ART (Antiretroviral Therapy) programme offered at public hospitals. Under PPTCT, pregnant women are counselled on HIV and encouraged to test. Women who test positive require constant follow-up, ensuring they return to the hospital for delivery. Under the ART programme, outreach workers act like a bridge between the programme and its users to ensure treatment adherence.

One woman counsellor says when she tested positive some years ago all she had heard about HIV was that “it is a death sentence”. Meeting Madhu (name changed), a peer counsellor at JJ Hospital, gave her a lot of courage, she says pointing to a woman sitting next to her. “I realised – we can live.” Another woman recounts the experience when she met Madhu, 33, who talked about her HIV status and her HIV positive daughter. “First, I thought she was lying. Then I thought – maybe I can live too. Before that, I had even thought of suicide.”

Over the last two years, Sanmitra’s outreach staff of 25 including 10 counsellors has reached out to over 1,000 infected people, mostly women. Trained women counsellors counsel pregnant women, outreach workers do home visits. In resource starved public health settings, these footsoldiers are doing remarkable work. Add to that the benefit of peer counselling. The power of peer counselling in enormous, say the positive women. They should know – they have been on the other side of the table.

Many HIV positive women face a double stigma – of HIV and also of widowhood. The trajectory of experience is similar in most cases: husband’s HIV status gets known, he dies some years later, leaving the woman emotionally exhausted and physically drained out. There is little or no family support. There are little children to be looked after. As HIV depletes family resources, there is emotional and psychosocial stress along with the economic. There are constant health issues – trying to ward off opportunistic infections, ensuring proper nutrition, especially those on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Bouts of sickness make it difficult for them to keep a regular job in a scenario where stigma persists and employers cannot be taken into confidence. Children’s education and nutrition remain their biggest concerns.

Thirty of Sanmitra’s staff of over a 100 are HIV positive – that’s one in three. They are motivated to match the mainstream in terms of skill and efficiency. “Everyone lives and works together. Positive people are sheltered – we don’t give them jobs that might put them at risk in any way. Some flexibility in terms of working hours may be required,” says Desai. “Earlier, MDACS (Mumbai District AIDS Control Society) used to insist that counsellors have professional qualifications. Now, our counsellors have passed tests conducted by MDACS in Grade A. That battle has been won.”

Desai says when women first come to the centre, they are traumatised. A couple of months of work helps them start rebuilding their lives. “Just look at them now,” she says pointing to their smiling faces. The women look confident and cheerful – it’s difficult to believe they have survived a battle they must fight everyday. Having experienced firsthand the near-death-experience and then bouncing back after hitting rock bottom with suicidal thoughts and severe depression, these women are extremely generous when it comes to reaching out to others. As HIV positive women reach out to each other and those newly infected, they are saving lives, and in turn finding a new meaning for their own selves.

 

"Every house should be a woman's organisation"

Rural women have nothing to lose by speaking out. Urban women have their bank accounts, education certificates and some 200-300 saris in the cupboard. They have a high tolerance for violence, says Ruth Manorama, in this interview with Charumathi Supraja.

5 February 2008 - It's not the international awards she’s won. It’s not the people she works tirelessly with and for. It’s not the government policies she has shaped by her campaigns. What makes Dr Ruth Manorama remarkable is the smile in her eyes and the humanity in her face. It’s in the way she listens carefully and speaks out from a depth of understanding.

Ruth Manorama's voice has carried hope and positive change to the poorest and most oppressed in the country. Her efforts have drawn attention to the urban poor in general and Dalit women in particular. Winner of the Right Livelihood Award 2006, Manorama came to Bangalore in 1977, a freshly qualified social worker from Chennai. More than three decades, many struggles and victories later, she looks at her years in public service, with Charumathi Supraja.

Excerpts from an interview.

You did your B.Sc in Women's Christian College and your Masters in Social work from Stella Maris, Chennai. Yet you chose to settle in Bangalore.

Just after I finished my B.Sc I was unsure about what I wanted to do next. I joined volunteer service in my church. They were offering a 3 month course in Community Organization. It was a good exposure to the slums in Madras. I was exposed to problems of Burmese expatriates in Madras. That's how I got into the work of understanding the urban poor. Who are these urban poor and where have they come from? Then we went to the rural areas. I was appalled by the caste violence and discrimination faced routinely by people there. They earned Rs.2 for a hard day of labour. As students, we knew that was too little even as an allowance. The bus fare to Chennai, in those days, from that point, would have been Rs.10. People lived in such poverty and disease. Chronic diseases like scabies, anemia, etc. I started questioning the State.

Ruth Manorama trains adolescent girls in reproductive rights. (File pic: WFS)

How does the government make policies and not ensure that they reach the people they are meant for? How does the State tolerate atrocities committed against its own people? When my parents asked me to choose a subject for my higher studies and offered me the option of the Administrative Service, I didn't want to be part of the State system. I chose to do Social Work. It was a respectable, professional course in those days. I was offered the post of a lecturer in the same college. But I decided to take up the job I got in Bangalore in a training institute as a specialist for community development.

How was the city you moved into?

Bangalore was a simple city. Beautiful. Very good local people. I got a chance to understand the migrant population that trickled into Bangalore. Why do people migrate? They migrate in search of food and livelihood. They don't have any space to move into in the city. They squat on pavements, in slums, wherever they will not be shooed away from. The government views these people as 'unauthorized occupants', 'squatters,' etc. They claim that these people make the city dirty. I started working with them. My husband and friends were also interested in this work.

I make posters and put them up in the slums and villages. They reflect messages against domestic and caste violence. One of them reads, 'A real man never beats up a woman.'

We started a group informally. I saw that women are most affected by the problems in the slum. They have to trek long distances in search of water. They have no place to ease themselves. I remember in Byappanahalli, one woman died of a snake bite. One child fell into a deep well when she went to fetch water. I went with all the women of that slum to the slum clearance board and refused to leave until they sanctioned taps for that slum. It was a big issue. The women started mobilizing their own groups, approached the authorities and got their work done.

Tell us more about Women's Voices (WV) – the group you started.

Women's Voices is a Bangalore-based organisation of slum-dwellers, not a charity organization. From one slum, 11 slums, 17 slums, we now have 126 units. Women are fighting for different things. We facilitate. I have 10 women working for them. I know their daily schedule. They keep me informed. These are member based organizations.

What are the problems being tackled now?

Though we have met the basic facilities in most of the slums, all the problems have intensified. In the context of globalisation, in Bangalore, poor don't get anything free. Water is privatised. So is power. Those who have the means have allowed it. WV is fighting that the poor will pay what they can for these facilities. Land is being given only to multi-nationals who will anyway leave after making profits, but will keep the land. Today in Bangalore, people can consume more. Many families have more than one car. All around Bangalore, thousands of acres of land is being given away for a song in the name of business. It is like losing gold. When public wants to buy a house, there is no land or it is priced such that we can’t touch it. This city is not useful to the middle class. The poor were anyway on the edges of society. How then do we protect Bangalore for the citizens of Bangalore?

You questioned the caste undertones within the mainstream women’s movement in the country and carved an exclusive space for Dalit feminism. Why?

The voice of the mainstream women’s movement was dominated by upper caste women though dalit women were part of it. I studied the condition of Dalit women and presented a paper on it. I said that Dalit women are thrice alienated by caste, class and gender. The upper caste women who are victims of gender hierarchy can still come out of it since they have the social and financial means. Not so with Dalit women. I federated them and the National Federation for Dalit Women (NFDW) has got international recognition now.

How do you include men in the discussion on women’s rights?

I have opened up NFDW meetings to men. They bring us cases of violence against women and react strongly to them. I make posters and put them up in the slums and villages. They reflect messages against domestic and caste violence. One of them reads, 'a real man never beats up a woman.'

Young women often dismiss the need for a women’s movement of any kind. As a feminist, can you comment on that?

They do so because they have never felt deprived. Young women need to be part of an organization to understand how a 'collective consciousness' develops and works. Being part of a group enriches your understanding of things. It helps you to see better. I feel that every house should be a woman’s organisation. The children should be made to help around the house, so that they understand their mothers better.

Rural women seem to do better for themselves with a little help and support, whereas urban women, with their education and relatively empowered status, are content to stay within prescribed limits...

Rural women have nothing to lose by speaking out. As Marx said, the poor have nothing to lose but their chains. Rural women speak out once they've found their voice and space. If members from my organisations are teased while traveling in the bus, they bring the roof down.

Urban women are more conditioned, have their bank accounts, education certificates and some 200-300 saris in the cupboard. They can't imagine spending a night on the platform. They often hand over their salary cheques to their mothers-in-law or husband. They have a high tolerance for violence. I am often contacted directly by families of women experiencing domestic violence in Bangalore and asked to intervene.

You personally counsel them and provide support?

There are many stories there. Some are happy, some are sad. Even after we intervene and talk and give help, the women are treated badly, sometimes denied even food. We keep trying.

How do you balance your public life with the personal?

I travel a lot. I sometimes wish I could have given my children more time but I am sure they are learning from my role in public life. I tell them that nothing comes easy. I have worked very hard to get here. My wish is to bring empowerment to any woman who approaches me for help. Not that she will be a separatist kind of person in her house. But I would like to make women comfortable with who they are and to reach out to what they want to be. It's the only thing I can do.

How do you guard against the bitterness and anger that could come from fighting a long battle against injustice?

There has to be reconciliation after the fight. The victims have to forgive their oppressors and purge themselves of hate and anger. We haven’t reached that stage yet in India. When you are fighting for a reasonable cause, a justifiable cause, you don’t feel angry or tired.

 

A world without women

How ironical it is that just when Indians are patting themselves on the back on having the richest man in the world in their midst, when the middle classes are celebrating the rising stock market and more, girls are being killed, women are being bought and they have to fear for their lives in many parts of this country, asks Kalpana Sharma.

In the late 1980s, when we had the first indications that technology was being used to ensure that girls were not born, a few people made rather prescient predictions about the future. They predicted that women would face much greater violence. They suggested that women would be trafficked.

These campaigners against sex-selective abortions were condemned as scare-mongerers. They were told they were exaggerating to make a point. Fewer women would mean a greater demand for them. That instead of dowry, women could demand a higher price for marriage.

Realities now

We know now that the opposite has happened. Many of the dire predictions made in the 1980s are coming true. In the states where sex selection is most rampant, there are entire villages where the men cannot find women to marry. So they are 'buying' women from other states. And in some instances, where the family can afford to buy just one woman, she is expected to 'service' all the men in the family.

In the states where sex selection is most rampant, there are entire villages where the men cannot find women to marry. So they are 'buying' women from other states.

An increasing number of studies and reports are now revealing that this is happening not just in Punjab and Haryana, the states with the worst sex ratios but also in some districts of Uttar Pradesh. It is possible that such incidents could be occurring in other states as well but have not yet been reported.

The 2001 census was a wake-up call. It exposed the damning Indian reality of falling sex ratios in the 0-6 years age group. The national average stood at 927 girls to 1,000 boys. Since then some efforts have been put in place to implement the law to check sex-selective abortions and to encourage parents with girls. But clearly, so far, the impact of such policies has not made a difference. The Third National Family Health Survey has revealed that five years later, the sex ratio in the age group has fallen to 918.

Meanwhile, according to recent reports, in villages in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, women are being sold as 'wives' for as little as Rs.3,000. Impoverished women from Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand are finding themselves in households where they do not speak the same language as their 'husbands' who have paid for them. They are expected to clean, cook and procreate. Ideally, they should bear boys. If they have girls, they have several reasons to worry. For one, girls in these villages are unwelcome. Second, in villages full of men, many of who cannot find women to marry, girls are unsafe. They cannot be sent out of the house alone. And even within the household, they have to be protected.

In some villages in Punjab, however, all the men in a household have access to the bought bride. She has no choice. Even if she is married to one brother, she must be available to all the other brothers in the house. Thus, polyandry exists, particularly in poor households where only one man can 'buy' a wife. Studies suggest that this is happening in the cotton growing districts of the state. Once prosperous, crop failures have led to an acute economic crisis for many farming families. Suicides have been reported similar to those witnessed in Vidarbha and Andhra Pradesh. Sex selection has ensured that there are too few local women available. And poverty has dictated that only those with money can 'buy' a woman.

Ironies

How ironical it is that just when Indians are patting themselves on the back on having the richest man in the world in their midst, when the middle classes are celebrating the rising stock market, when the media is openly promoting two Bollywood blockbusters as if they were essential news, girls are being killed, women are being bought and girls and women have to fear for their lives in many parts of this country. This reality should cancel out the euphoria. But it barely makes a dent. It touches our consciences for a moment and then recedes.

What should be done? In the states where the trend of eliminating girls has reached its peak, there is a social emergency. It must be tackled on all fronts. It should be a high priority not just for those state governments but also for the country. For, what happens in Punjab, Haryana and UP today could take place in any other part of India tomorrow.

But more than enforcing laws, and making sure they are effective, we have to work harder on the more intangible and deeper problem of prejudice and perceptions. Some believe that we will be a less biased society, and that caste, gender and communal divisions will be flattened out as we become more prosperous. Yet, sex selection has clearly shown that prosperity enhances and deepens inherent prejudices and provides the resources to act upon them. It is no coincidence that the most prosperous districts have the lowest sex ratios.

Changing perceptions

Can the media do anything to change perceptions? To some extent it can, although the reasons for son-preference are complex. A recent survey of advertisements, for instance, revealed that the majority of ads using a popular icon, like a sports personality or a film star to endorse a product, used little boys. These boys were not chosen on the basis of their looks. They had to be 'cute' and 'smart'. On the other hand, when little girls appeared in ads, they had to be pretty. You could not find a dark girl or a plump girl in any ad. Furthermore, most family images comprised man, woman, boy or man, woman, boy and girl. Rarely did you see a family with just one girl, or with two girls.

These are subtle normative messages that sit on top of accepted perceptions and reinforce them. You can never prove this because it is imperceptible. But if we have to change perceptions, or at least believe we should, then a deliberate attempt has to be made not to reflect popular perceptions but to try and alter them in some way.

 

Work matters

There are many people who believe that women should do only women's work and that they should step out of their homes for paid work only if it is absolutely necessary. But the economy is denting such perceptions, observes Kalpana Sharma.

In Aurangabad, Maharashtra, a group of women have taken on the challenging but difficult job of burying or cremating the bodies of accident victims. The women are a part of a self-help group. Traditionally, most such groups engage in traditional tasks - womanly tasks, one might say such as making papads, embroidery, making paper products etc. to earn money. It is rare that you hear of a group that breaks away from the norm.

According to a newspaper report, the women in Aurangabad successfully won a contract put out by the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation for this task. Four groups of men had also applied and had asserted that such work was not woman's work. Yet, the 11 women of the Panchsheel Mahila Bachat Gat managed to win the contract. They are paid Rs.15,000 per month by the AMC for five bodies and Rs.3,000 for every additional body. The women say that they manage to save Rs.500 per body. And amazingly, these women have overcome their own aversion to such a job and their worry about what others would say, including members of their family. They strongly believe that victims of accidents, often unidentified, must be given a decent burial or cremation.

Gendered professions

This story is interesting because it raises questions about the kind of jobs women can do, or cannot do. While women with education have crashed through many barriers and broken stereotypes in this country, choices for work are limited for poor women. Much of what they do is unpaid work, particularly in rural areas where women engage in agricultural work. Even in cities, poor women either work as domestics or do home-based work for which they are poorly paid.

Then there is a class of women somewhere in the middle, particularly in urban areas, who have some education and want to have a chance at getting steady work. But these women face many hurdles, some of them unexpected. Another story from Maharashtra illustrates the nature of these unexpected obstacles.

The majority of Indian women are engaged in work through the unorganised or informal sector.

Newspapers recently reported the case of six women who filed a case in the Bombay High Court challenging the decision denying them the position of Assistant Motor Vehicles Inspector. Of the total of 207 posts, 62 were reserved for women. But there was a catch. The women had to be at least 157 cm tall. The reason for this, according to the department, was because the women would have to test trucks and big vehicles and would not be able to do so if they were shorter than this prescribed height. The women, on their part, argued that such a precondition was unfair, that they had met all the other criteria and that they ought to be given the job. Unfortunately for them, the Bombay High Court has ruled that the appointing authority was within its rights to lay down such rules. But the very fact that women are applying for such jobs is novel.

I was also told recently that in Bangalore city, women deliver the post. Post-women. Why did someone not think of this before? It makes eminent sense and gives another avenue for regular employment for women. And in Mumbai, women are driving taxis and in some other cities there are women auto-rickshaw drivers. Unfortunately, the experiment of women bus conductors did not last in Mumbai. But there is no reason why it cannot be tried again.

The majority of Indian women are engaged in work through the unorganised or informal sector. This means there is no job security, there is no assurance of fair wages, and there is no one to monitor work conditions. Also, even as women work in paid, underpaid or unpaid work, their choices are restricted, particularly if they are poor and uneducated. Even in the United States, a recent survey established that out of 500 occupations, one third of the women were concentrated in just 10 occupations that included teaching, nursing and bookkeeping.

Vital contribution

With the increasing costs of living, more women will have to find paid employment to ensure the survival of poor as well as middle class households. Such paid employment will also contribute to the economy in general. According to The Economist, (April 12, 2006) the increase in female employment in the rich world has been the main driving force of growth in the past couple of decades. Those women have contributed more to global GDP growth than have either new technology, or the new giants, India and China. Add the value of housework and child rearing and women probably account for just over half of world output.

Women's contribution to the economy has always been undervalued. Now economists are putting a value to their work, paid and unpaid. Of course, there are still many people in this country who believe that women should do only women's work and that they should step out of their homes for paid work only if it is absolutely necessary. But the changing nature of our economies and the pressures of survival amongst all classes, except the very rich, are already denting such perceptions.

The women from Aurangabad, Bangalore's post-women, the women from Bundelkhand that I had written about in an earlier column and many others are pioneering a real change in attitudes by doing what their mothers would never have dreamed of doing and what their fathers were convinced they could not do.

 

Fighting eve-teasing: rights and remedy

Irrespective of the dress they wear, or, their ages, their looks, their educational, professional and marital status, never mind the time or place, women in Kolkata and elsewhere are being subjected to all kinds of harassment, including eve-teasing. Shoma Chatterji peels the layers and exposes myths.

Eve teasing violates a woman's basic right to live in dignity. Will women forever remain targets and victims of eve teasing? Will their rescuers continue to be unwilling martyrs to a dead cause? Before these questions are addressed, one needs to explore and analyse why, irrespective of the dress they wear, or, their ages, their looks, their educational, professional and marital status, never mind the time or place, women in Kolkata and elsewhere are being subjected to all kinds of harassment from obscene telephone calls, stalking, and last but not the least – eve-teasing.

On August 1, Sanjay Soni, a young man, tried to molest a girl inside a shared auto rickshaw in Lake Town in the presence of her father who was escorting her. When the girl tried to resist, the father asked the auto rickshaw driver to stop and began to bash up the culprit. A crowd gathered and beat up the man who was saved from being lynched by the timely arrival of the police. Some of the women who were standing in the queue at the Lake Town auto rickshaw stand said eve teasing and molestation are regular occurrences on the route.

On July 30 this year, Tabassum (name changed), a student of Class VII, studying in Cartauche Public School in Park Circus, was returning home in a bus on route 45. Unable to bear with the advances of a middle-aged man standing behind her in the crowded bus, she raised an alarm. Her co-passengers remained mute spectators. The bus driver stopped the bus when he saw an on-duty sergeant. Some bus passengers came forward to back Tabassum only when the police began to question her. Singh was later released because the girl and her parents withdrew their complaint. Almost all Kolkata newspapers reported both these incidents.

The law on eve-teasing In the Indian Penal Code, the word 'eve-teasing' does not exist. Eve teasing is an attitude, a mindset, a set of behaviours that is construed as an insult and an act of humiliation of the female sex. However, victims of eve teasing could take recourse to certain sections of the IPC. Section 298 (A) and (B) of the Indian Penal Code sentences a man found guilty of making a girl or woman the target of obscene gestures, remarks, songs or recitation for a maximum tenure of three months. Section 292 of the IPC clearly spells out that showing pornographic or obscene pictures, books or slips to a woman or girl draws a fine of Rs.2000 with two years of rigorous imprisonment for first offenders. In case of repeated offence, when and if proved, the offender will be slapped with a fine of Rs.5000 with five years imprisonment. Under Section 509 of the IPC, obscene gestures, indecent body language and acidic comments directed at any woman or girl carries a penalty of rigorous imprisonment for one year or a fine or both.

In 2005, Chandrima Dutta was waiting at the bus stop at Minto Park. She had to go to Dhakuria. As she waited, a whisper in her ear asked, "Want a lift?" Two twenty-year-old boys were the source of the whisper. Thirty-year-old Chandrima moved away towards the street. But they would not let her be. They started the bike they were riding. One of them pulled at her hand while the other slipped a hand around her waist. As she began screaming, the boys speeded away in their two-wheeler. The time was six in the evening. A sub-inspector at the Shakespeare Sarani Police Station (near Minto Park) narrated this to me.

Sometime in 2005, Reema Bose (name changed), was returning from the hospital at the end of the day from Deshpriya Park. As she walked along Motilal Nehru Road, an auto rickshaw suddenly appeared by her side. A few young men inside were guzzling beer. They began to throw bargains, whistled, teased and threw obscene comments at her. When nothing seemed to work, one of them got off the rick and tried to pull her into the vehicle. A mobile police van arrived in the nick of time and saved Reema. It was eight in the evening. (Reema narrated this incident to me.)

Kolkata is not unique. Women in Bangalore constantly face leers from passers-by, and taxi and rickshaw drivers. In buses, groping is common and on one occasion, when a woman yelled at the person touching her, she was thrown off the bus! The Mehrauli-Gurgaon road in Delhi has a lot of liquor shops and often, men get back into their cars and begin to drink after which eve-teasing is a nice and easy way to have fun and go on an ego trip at one and the same time.

Women's rights activist Maitreyee Chatterjee says that even a burqah cannot guarantee safety. "Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code which mentions the arrest of a culprit for attempt to outrage the modesty of women does not have any condition about the victim's dress," she says. Filmmaker Anindita Sarbadhicari says that eve teasing and molestation are acts of perversion. "It is foolish to think that molesters get turned on by the victim's dress. Then why are there so many rapes in Islamic countries?" asks Sarbadhicari.

Remedies?

Women constables in Calcutta's Salt Lake area sometimes function as undercover agents from the Bidhan Nagar (north) police station by acting as decoys. Three young woman constables were able to round up a total of 60 offenders within the first month of their operation in 2005. All offenders, say the policewomen, were aged between 18 and 28. This strategy was probably the outcome of the sudden spate of obscene calls hounding wives of high officials and ministers who live in Salt Lake, Calcutta. Film personalities like Moonmoon Sen, Indrani Haldar and Indrani Dutta, Dolly Roy, wife of Congress MLA Sougata Roy, Renuka Biswas, wife of CBI joint director Upen Biswas, Deepika Nanda, wife of state fisheries minister Kiranmoy Nanda are among those who were hounded by obscene calls at any time of day or night. But immediate deterrent action is often linked if the victim is a celebrity or has high connections. Democracy here is conspicuous by its absence.

An officer posted at Bidhan Nagar police station, Kolkata, thinks that laws against eve teasing are not stringent. "There is no law that can bring them to task," he says. "They are penalized with a meagre fine ranging from Rs.10 to Rs.100.00 or three days imprisonment in lieu of the fine. Until proper and more stringent punishment is meted out, one cannot stop this," he adds. To nab the teaser and hold him down is one of the most difficult tasks in law. Add to this the casual and indifferent attitude of the constable you take your complaint to. He looks at you with a smirk, chews on his paan and the look is enough to express that he does not believe a word of what you have said or better still, does not care!

However, eve teasing has now been given its proper status as a criminal activity – the law recognizes it as sexual harassment. The crime could not earlier be pinpointed as a 'crime against women' per se; victims can now take recourse under the law. (See box above.)

In Delhi, policewomen pose as women commuters and pull up men when they attempt to molest or tease them. But problems would arise if this action of pretence by the policeman were seen as entrapment. "Whip them black and blue," suggest some senior police officers of Bangalore, as a remedy. "Besides offering the victim instant justice, it would also help the legal system from getting clogged with cases where most often than not, the culprit is let off."

Cases against eve-teasers and molesters also difficult to establish because the victim runs away and never comes back. Why? "She has already suffered enough during the process of being teased and molested in public. Tremendous psychological pressure from the immediate family stops her from coming forward to identify herself. Besides, she has to take the same route to college. She is not the only one either. There are hundreds who cannot report such incidents even if they wish to," says filmmaker and women's rights activist Ananya Chatterjee-Chakraborty.

The pscyhology of eve-teasing

Women are often criticised for 'inviting' molesters by way of their 'seductive' way of dress and make-up. But this theory collapses in the face of rustic, illiterate and poor village women who cannot afford to dress seductively. What does 'seductive' dressing mean? Who decides what is 'seductive' dressing and what is not?

What a victim should do 1. The victim/complainant should go to the nearest police station and file a FIR within the mandatory rules. 2. She should note that the FIR is written down in the register and take the registration number or ask for a receipt of the same. 3. It is then the duty of the police to investigate into the incident. Note: It is advisable to consult a lawyer before registering the F.I.R.

Another myth says that girls ought not to step out after dark and if they have gone out, they ought to come home before it is too dark. It is implied that the victims are perhaps to blame for men teasing, stalking and molesting them; this thinking is itself rooted in patriarchy. So, from childhood, parents bring up their sons and daughters by two completely different rules of censorship on their movements outside the house – geographically and in terms of time – one set of rules for boys and one set of rules for girls. The same 'logic' applies in mixed sex schools in India. Yet, when the girl grows up and gets married, she is expected to adjust to the 'outside world' of husband, in-laws and a different family altogether, something they have not prepared her for. The Maitrayani Samhita (Yajurveda) repeatedly says that a woman's body is not her own, so she cannot prevent herself from being molested. Violence thrives in the victim's acceptance of the victimiser's moral right, social superiority and physical power.

These myths could have been exploded through effective protests, but this has been fractional. When women protest against violence to their person by men, other women, social groups or the machineries of the government, they are again victimised. Covert or overt, direct or indirect, visible or invisible, structural or social, women are always both targets and victims of violence across the world. The eyes of the man who accosts a woman with evil intentions will be extracted, wrote Chanakya in the Arthashastra while defending the rule of Chandragupta Maurya. 2000 years later, the woman is not spared the evil intentions of men. Their eyes are hardly the only offending organs of their body used to insult a woman.

Eve teasing, like rape, molestation and sexual harassment, is generally understood in feminist theory to be an expression not of unbridled lust and desire, but of power. Eve teasing is a form of sexual harassment indulged in by men, never mind their intelligence or their education.

Men's elbows thrust out to brush against you; someone stands too close behind you in the bus even when there is enough space for him to maintain a decent distance; you must be prepared to encounter leers and comments if you are wearing a skirt never mind its length, or even a sari if the choli is a low-backed one; till the offenders manage to instill enough guilt in you for you to feel you should not have worn what you have. These are just a few strategies eve-teasers resort to.

There is a hidden agenda to a catcall, to a deliberate brush or to bottom pinching – show her who is superior. Let us watch her suffer humiliation and helplessness, the feeling of violation that burns through her each time someone darts that look and mutters in that alien language. The offence almost never meets with defence. The glory of watching one's insults being absorbed through her skin without fear of reciprocation is something men take malicious joy in. Most women are conditioned to pretend that they have not felt humiliated even as their whole being is simmering with anger. This reinforces the confidence of the offender. He savours his victory till he targets the next prey.

"Anatomy is destiny," wrote Sigmund Freud. The comment encapsulates the confining, narrow implications of the way in which women's physique and anatomy has affected the way they are perceived by men. ⊕

 

Love, Wealth and Success

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."




"Is the man of the house home?", they asked.


"No", she replied. "He's out."




"Then we cannot come in", they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.

"Go tell them I am home and invite them in!"

The woman went out and invited the men in"




"We do not go into a House together," they replied.


"Why is that?" she asked.



One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success, and I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."


The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!!", he said. "Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"


His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?"




Their daughter-in- law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"




"Let us heed our daughter-in- law's advice," said the husband to his wife.

"Go out and invite Love to be our guest."

The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."




Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?"




The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!!!!! !"


MY WISH FOR YOU...

-Where there is pain, I wish you peace and mercy.
-Where there is self-doubting, I wish you a renewed confidence in your ability to work through it.
-Where there is tiredness, or exhaustion, I wish you understanding, patience, and renewed strength.
-Where there is fear, I wish you love, and courage.

You have two choices right now:
1. Click this off
2. Invite love by sharing this story with all the people you care about.

I hope you will choose #2. I did.

 

 

The Delhi Police's booklet containing tips for women from the Northeast to be safe in the capital exposes only their own need for sensitivity training. Not surprisingly, many northeastern students in Delhi are incensed at being portrayed as responsible for their own problems, writes Kalpana Sharma.

04 August 2007 - The Delhi police have given a new twist to the old tale of women’s safety in cities. In their desire to “protect” women especially from northeast India, they have issued a strange booklet. Titled “Security tips for Northeast students/visitors in Delhi”, the booklet sets out tips that are supposed to help women from northeast India feel safe on the streets of India’s capital.

For the uninformed, this might sound an unusual step for the capital’s police force to take. But Delhi is the place where several students from northeast India have been raped in recent years. The booklet suggests indirectly that this could be because of the way the women dress. So once again, the onus for remaining safe has fallen on the women.

The booklet, with an introduction by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Robin Hibu, who is an IPS officer from the Northeast, is remarkable for its language and its contents. On a dress code it suggests: “When in rooms do as Roman does” (whatever that means). Under security tips: “Revealing dress to be avoided.” “Avoid lonely road/ bylane when dressed scantily”. And “dress according to sensitivity of the local population.” The fact that for the male half of the local population, your being a woman is enough provocation to tease, fondle or attack irrespective of how you are dressed does not seem to count.

Inappropriate and offensive

I have only read excerpts from the booklet. For all its good intentions, it is clearly inappropriate and offensive to the sensibilities of women from Northeast India. Not only does it give gratuitous and useless advice to women but it also proceeds to tell everyone from northeast India how they should behave in Delhi. How else can one explain a sentence that reads: “Bamboo shoot, Akhuni and other smelly dishes should be prepared without creating ruckus in neighbourhood”. Smelly dishes creating a “ruckus”? This would be amusing if it were not culturally offensive.

Not surprisingly, many northeastern students in Delhi are incensed by this insensitive and pointless effort on the part of the police. Sensitivity training needs to be given to the police, not to the targets of attacks in Delhi. A woman journalist from Manipur narrated in an email discussion how she was almost dragged into an auto-rickshaw at 9.30 at night on a well-lit road with plenty of people around. When she called and complained to the police, she heard them say, “She’s from the northeast. Must have got into the rickshaw herself”. And this after she had identified herself as a journalist.

The booklet also raises yet again the importance of looking at our cities through a gender lens. If cities are safe for women, they will be safe for everyone. Gender audits done in cities like Mumbai have thrown up ideas that, if implemented, would make all cities more liveable.

For instance, mixed-use localities that are well lit are perceived as safer by women because they are rarely deserted and there are people around at all hours. Similarly, cities with a good public transport system are thought of as being women friendly. They are in fact people friendly.

Of course, not all public transport is necessarily safe and cultural factors do come into play. Delhi, for instance, has public transport but to use the buses, women have to wear armour. Even the separate “ladies” seats make little difference because getting to and from those seats is enough to drive you mad. And you are only “safe” for a short time, if you get the window seat. If you get the aisle seat even on a “ladies” seat, you have to be prepared to be leaned upon, groped, fondled, stared at, the works. Anyone who has used buses in Delhi will tell you that separate seats make little difference. Only separate buses would work, but that too when there are enough women to fill them. I personally know of instances where a lone woman in a Delhi bus in the middle of the day has been the subject of harassment from the conductor and the driver.

What do we tell them?

None of this is to say that women must not be on their guard. We know what life is like on the streets. So be prepared. Don’t be foolhardy. This is what we would tell our daughters. But we will also tell them to be confident, to be proud that they are women and not to get cowed down just because the world outside does not give them the respect they deserve as human beings. We will tell them to fight for their rights, whatever the circumstances. But for girls from Northeast India, there is the double burden of being different in terms of how they look and being women. To “protect” them, the police and the Delhi authorities need to launch a mass education and sensitisation programme for the police and the general public.

But to come back to the issue of women and safety, a poster by filmmaker K.P. Sasi, titled Rules for girls, circulated on an email discussion, gives a telling take on this subject:

Don't go out alone at night That encourages men Don't go out alone at any time Any situation encourages some men Don't stay at home Intruders and relatives can both rape Don't go without clothes That encourages men Don't go with clothes Any clothes encourage some men Avoid childhood Some rapists are turned on by little girls Avoid old age Some rapists prefer aged women Don't have a father, grandfather, uncle or brother These are the relatives that often rape young women Don't have neighbours They often rape Don't marry Rape is legal within marriage To be quite sure - DON'T EXIST!

 

Female Point System (just for fun)

In the world of romance, one single rule applies to men:

 Make the woman happy. Do something she likes, and you get points.

 Do something she dislikes and points are subtracted.

 You don't get any points for doing something she expects.

 Sorry, that's the way the game is played.

 Here is a guide to the point system:



 SIMPLE DUTIES

 You make the bed (+1)

 You make the bed, but forget the decorative pillow (0)

 You throw the bedspread over rumpled sheets (-1)

 You go out to buy her what she wants (+5) , In the rain (+8)But return with Beer (-5)

 You check out a suspicious noise at night (0)

 You check out a suspicious noise, and it is nothing (0)

 You check out a suspicious noise and it is something (+5)

 You pummel it with iron rod (+10)

 It's her pet (-10)



 SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS

 You stay by her side the entire party (0)

 You stay by her side for a while, then leave to chat with a college buddy

 (-2)

 Named Rita (-4)

 Rita is a dancer (-6)

 Rita is single and is really beautiful (-80)



 HER BIRTHDAY

 You forget her birthday (-50000)

 You take her out to dinner (0)

 You take her out to dinner and it's not a sports bar (+1)

 Okay, it's a sports bar (-2)

 And it's all-you-can- eat night (-3)

 It's a sports bar, it's all-you-can- eat night, and your face is painted the

 colours of your favourite team (-10)



 A NIGHT OUT

 You take her to a movie (+2)

 You take her to a movie she likes (+4)

 You take her to a movie you hate (+6)

 You take her to a movie you like (-2)

 It's called 'DeathCop' (-3)

 You lied and said it was a foreign film about orphans(-15)



 ENJOY THE 'BIG' QUESTION

 She asks, 'Do I look fat?' (-5) [Yes, you LOSE points no matter WHAT]

 You hesitate in responding (-10)

 You reply, 'Where?' (-35)

 Any other response (-20)



 COMMUNICATION

 When she wants to talk about a problem , you listen, displaying what looks

 like a concerned __ex-pression (0)

 You listen, for over 30 minutes (+50)

 You listen for more than 30 minutes without looking at the TV (+500)

 She realizes this is because you have fallen asleep (-10000)

 Now what chance do you have???


 Pass it on to the poor fellows for info & to the gals for a good laugh !

 

Happily Single or Happily Married

Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more. - Brother David Steindl-Rast :

Contentment is the key to happiness. If we are contented with what we have or whom we are, we will find true happiness. Success is not the key to happiness but rather happiness is the key to success.

Happiness mainly comes from our own attitude, rather than from external factors. If your own mental attitude is correct, even if you remain in a hostile atmosphere, you can still feel happy.-H.H. the Dalai Lama:

The process of being happy does not depend on others. You create your own happiness.If you love what you are doing , you will find happiness.

You can be happy as a single as well as being in marriage but I think I rather prefer to be married and being happy because of the joys of a family life and snuggled up in the warm embrace of a loving relationship.

Life is more fulfilling and compassionate when you have children in marriage. It gives meaning to what life is all about . A man who does not marry is like a fruit tree which flowers but bears no fruit.When he grows old, he will be cold ,lonely and living in an empty void.

It is not that they do not want to marry but their expectations are too high or too perfect and no one can live up to their standards or they have not found the right one yet.

If you are single ,be happy and if you are married, be happy too. Being married is full of challenges and if there are no challenges in life, life would not be worth living.