Working to overcome poverty, injustice and poor health in India

Elimination of Violence Against Women day

Theni District women's movement staged a rally and convention in November

I won’t give my rights to anyone, will fight to protect women from domestic violence and will protect my sisters and my neighbourhood from violence.

The voice of women in India has long been muted, particularly when it comes to violence against women.

But in November 2009, more than 900 women took a big a step towards changing that. Theni District Women’s Movement held a day of events on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and around the town of Theni the action certainly didn’t go unnoticed.

Each year, 25th November is designated International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Many international organisations and NGOs organise activities to raise public awareness. Women’s activists have marked 25th November as a day against violence since 1981, remembering the brutal assassination in 1960 of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic. Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. Some 70 per cent of women experience physical or sexual violence from men in their lifetime — the majority from husbands, intimate partners or someone they know. It takes many forms and occurs in many places — domestic violence in the home, sexual abuse of girls in schools, sexual harassment at work, rape by husbands or strangers, in refugee camps or as a tactic of war.

Theni Mavatta Pengal Iyakkam (Theni district woman’s movement) represents about 40,000 women who belong to the women’s federations that VST and its partners work with. TMPI aims to address all forms of violence against women in the district and to bring equality in social, economic, political & cultural life. Concerns include child marriage, sexual abuse, child labour, dowry, untouchability, female infanticide & foeticide, school dropouts, and Dalit issues. In local government elections, women and Dalits were motivated by TMPI to contest the election and many won office.

Our partner, Development Action Consortium Trust, organised many events and activities on the day to create awareness on domestic violence. These included:

• A workshop for women police officers on the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005. We believe making greater use of this legislation instead of conciliatory measures by police can overturn public attitudes that tolerate domestic violence.
• A poster exhibition in a busy part of town opened by Mr Sivananda Jothi, District Session Judge. A song about women’s empowerment was played through an audio system.
• A three-metre high balloon was flown near the central bus stand in the centre of Theni with the slogan, Stop Violence against women. The message reached 5,000 people.
• About 900 women from federations in the districts and 50 girl children joined a rally flagged off by V Balakrishnan, the local police superintendent, who urged women to come together to fight for their rights. The women held up placards with messages on domestic violence and dowry harassment, while the schoolchildren’s placards addressed education of girl children, prevention of child marriage, child labour elimination, and prevention of child sexual abuse. The marchers handed out leaflets, played songs and read out awareness messages.

The main convention heard speeches from Ms Vanajaa, programme director of Development Action Consortium Trust, from V, Purushothaman, DACT trustee, V. Balakrishnan, the police superintendent, Ms Salma, chair, Tamilnadu State Social Welfare Board, Ms Hebsi Bai, family court advocate, Madurai, and Ms Raja Rajeswari, district social welfare officer, Theni. Ms. Salma said there were 81 laws in the Indian constitution to protect women from violence. ‘We should use those laws and get benefit from them,’ she said. All women should take an oath: ‘I won’t give my rights to anyone, will fight to protect women from domestic violence and will protect my sisters and my neighbourhood from violence.’

The events were widely reported in both English and Tamil newspapers and on local television, which covered the entire day’s programme.

Ms Vanajaa, who organised the day, was pleased with the result. The police and government officials showed real interest and commitment to the issues, she said, and as a result there is more interest from NGOs in the district in the Theni women’s movement.