Shaheen Women’s Resource and Welfare Organisation – Challenging Patriarchy and Breaking Stereotypes
Posted on February 12, 2008
Filed Under Women Leaders | 18 Comments
The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, “It’s a girl.” -Shirley Chisholm.
In the congested by-lanes of the Old-City around Charminar in Hyderabad, lies Shaheen a Women’s resource and welfare organisation. This is one the few NGO’s in the country that works for Women’s welfare and empowerment. The organisation works on the principle that change happens when cultural norms are challenged. Indeed change is what we require with regards to the status of Women in India.
According to a recent report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) up to 50 million girls and women are missing from India’s population as a result of systematic gender discrimination in India. In most countries in the world, there are approximately 105 female births for every 100 males.
In India, there are less than 93 women for every 100 men in the population. The accepted reason for such a disparity is the practice of female infanticide in India, prompted by the existence of a dowry system which requires the family to pay out a great deal of money when a female child is married. For a poor family, the birth of a girl child can signal the beginning of financial ruin and extreme hardship.
Such is the condition of Women in India that we face today a strategic elimination of a gender from our country. This in the information age and when some news magazines have termed the “New Indian Woman” aware, confident and successful, this new age woman is capable of doing wonders and a great asset to the nation. There is more awareness than ever before but the system of patriarchy still prevalent is hampering growth for the woman. Domestic Violence also is a concern as many husbands still believe that it is their right to harm women physically. Till the age old power equation of male dominance changes, the future of Women is not secure.
The social evils of Dowry, Infanticide and Domestic Violence pose considerable problems for women across India. An often stated fact is that these activities are confined to rural and backward sections of the society, which is grossly untrue as Dowry and Female Infanticide are still practiced in educated, respected and upper class family. Much of the discrimination is to do with cultural beliefs and social norms. These norms themselves must be challenged if this practice is to stop.
Diagnostic teams with ultrasound scanners which detect the sex of a child advertise with catch lines such as spend 600 rupees now and save 50,000 rupees later.
At Shaheen that is precisely what a group of young, enterprising and bold women led by the Secretary Jameela Nishat believe they can do, that is, bring changes into the very system. The organization works on improving the condition of women from the grassroots level and has a bottom-upward approach towards their empowerment. There are many problems apart to which legal recourse is possible. Many women in the old city face constant discrimination and lack of education. Education for the girl child is not a priority and many are confined to their homes, exposure to the outside world is extremely limited. The goal of Shaheen is to empower the next generation to make them aware of their rights and break the stereotypes so that women are treated equally in every walk of life.
Organizing summer camps to sensitize school going children is undertaken regularly and there are regular vocational training classes for women. These classes train them in activities such as computer awareness, stitching, application of Mehendi (Henna) for free. This is a move to empower women who have not had the luxury or basic opportunity to access or benefit from education. Despite the fact that it is an organization for women’s development the main aim is to sensitize boys and men towards women. Empowerment is the key to freedom, and education is empowerment, basic education and free tuition is a regular feature.
Women need to know that they have the right to ask questions. Field workers venture out regularly to educate families in the old city about the dangers of HIV/AIDS and report cases of domestic violence. Awareness includes counseling of the women attending at the centre on issues of dating and choosing a mate to marry.
Many girls are married off without even being consulted. Empowerment has paved the way for independence as Arshiya Begum, a visitor at the centre says, “I have a boyfriend but do not want to get married now as I am too young. My mother knows about him, I will get married later but to a person of my choice.” An active domestic violence cell operates with a lawyer on the staff. Regular counseling among the husband and wife helps in getting to the root of the problem and helps in easing tensions. Organizing of public meetings to educate the masses and make them aware of the movement is a regular feature.
As with any new social movement towards change and challenging societal norms there are several hurdles to conquer. Initially families did not want interference in their “personal matters” and uncomfortable questions about sexuality and AIDS brought with them attacks and large scale protests. Marital Rape is not recognized as crime and refusal to have sex leads to many incidents of domestic violence. Awareness leads to the reporting of these crimes and decrease their occurrence.
Every time we liberate a woman, we liberate a man. -Margaret Mead. Women need to be a part of the socio-economic development of the country to progress. Women have long been suppressed and the second gender now it is time for a change in the system.
Interview: Jameela Nishat, Secretary, Shaheen.
Q) Why a special organization for women’s welfare? What about general welfare organizations?
A. There was no organization in the old city area for women and the other welfare organizations are strongly patriarchal. During the nascent stages of the organisation there was a conference for men titled, “Woh mard ki kya joh apni biwi ko nahi marta?”(He who does not beat his wife physically is not a man). Someone had to raise a voice against this, a voice for women.
Q) How difficult is it running a woman’s welfare organization?
A. There are many obstacles. People did not let our workers enter the house. We were attacked many times for raising questions about the dominance of men. Girls are alone in this struggle, our effort is to unite and empower them. I am a Muslim woman born in Sultan Shahi and know how the old city works, so I take care of it. If I were a Hindu it would have been difficult to survive. A local person has to be the leader, otherwise the effect is diluted, and every group has a mainstay. We have several Dalit Haryanvi women here and we are trying to find a leader among them to get the message across effectively.
Q) Where does the law come into the equation of Domestic Violence and denial of rights?
A. There is little or no help from the police and the courts are slow. Most matters are settled with counseling, the police in fact ask the women (the most victims) to make all the necessary and required adjustments. Even in a Women’s police station the situation is the same, the society needs to be sensitized towards women. That is the reason for our interaction with boys and young men in our localities.
Q) Does the presence of women in politics and bureaucracy help?
A. There definitely have to be women in politics and bureaucracy to empower women especially at the grassroots level. The emergence of Mayawati has been a great push. We began when the woman was a ‘nobody’, due to awareness has become a ‘somebody’ but the goal is to become part of ‘everybody’.
Q) How does communal violence affect women?
A. Oh! Women are treated as dispensable commodities and sent away from home and only men remain there. This has an adverse affect on their education and displaces them putting them in conditions much worse than home.
Q) Empowering women, does it mean that you are giving a voice to the voiceless?
A. Most definitely yes, women are as much part of the society as men. They deserve to have their voice heard and strive to lead a life on equal terms with men. Lots of families have a fictitious notion of “Izzat” (honor) which do not allow women to step out of the house. We intend to change that and the media specially the regional language newspapers and television channels play a major role in spreading awareness.
The Shaheen Centre is located at:
23-3-540, Baqshi Bazar, Sultan Shahi,
Hyderabad-500065.
Andhra Pradesh, India.
Phone:- 23486994.
E-mail:- jameelanishat@eth.net
Watch the video related to women and politics
VOA Uzbek story on women and politics in Central Asia, ayollar va siyosat, Amerika Ovozi, O’zbekistonda prezidentlikka ayol nomzod, Oct 2007
Help answer the question about women and politics
Scriptures about women in Politics and the Church?What does the Bible say about women in Politics and Church leadership?
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18 Responses to “Shaheen Women’s Resource and Welfare Organisation – Challenging Patriarchy and Breaking Stereotypes”
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SHE IS A LEGEND
I was aslo wondering why this bitch is awoled to speak at all. The general was right and I believe that he stil feels remorse for what military actiona against inocent people have done in Serbia but the bitch is stil ANGRY SHE WANTS MORE OF HER HATE she hates man its obvious maybe war against serbia was just her impulsive reaction to her frustrations and surelly to some ditry albanian narco dollars
Really? Oh. I forgot. We attacked Obama based on race? Duh!
You're picking "examples" where race and gender are unrelated.
I never heard anything even vaguely like that, unlike the crackpot
lunatic filth I am hearing about Sotomayor or Obama.
Get used to it: Your team got beat because it was insane, incompetent, and just plain out of it. And there's more coming.
These lies of yours are just proof how ignorant and misinformed and
genuinely demented you are, and scum like Limbaugh may try to reinforce this madness. All that will do is illustrate the psychopathology of the reactionary, neo-Nazi, sophistic ultra-right reactionaries clustered in the shambles of the Republican Party.
In short, you're screwed.
Baloney.
Sarah Palin has done very well.
You are only upset because she has been an effective campaigner.
If John McCain were an effective campaigner he would not be as far down in the polls as he is.
You remind me of the drunk divorced men who sit on bar stools complaining about their ex wives as their ex wives do their best to raise the children, pay the mortgage and hold down a full time job because their ex husbands are behind in their child support payments.
By westward expansion, do you mean like the colonisation of the 'new' world? There is an excellent book called Britannia's Daughters by Joanna Trollop about the opportunities that opened up in Australia, America, Canada, etc – there was less fussiness about dress and behaviour codes for women, since they were expected to get on with the gruelling work alongside men
Albright’s family fled from the Nazis and took refuge in Serbia for a time. The Serbs and Jews shared common graves in the Balkans at the hands of the proxies of Nazi Germany. Those proxies were: Croatian Ustasha, Bosnian muslims and Albanian muslims.
She subsequently bayed for the blood of those who had given her family shelter…the Serbian people. The Serbs had saved hundreds of downed US pilots and thousands of Jewish people. They suffered for their goodness. Albright is a cunt.
There were some significant woman rulers during the Renaissance period, who were involved in politics. queen Elizabeth I of England is of course the most famous, and another important woman ruler was Catherine di Medici, who was regent of france for two of her sons, frnacois II and charles IX, and who. Mary of Guise, who was Queen Regent of Scotland for many years during the childhood of her daughter mary, Queen of Scots was anothr significant woman in political life.
katherine of Aragon, first wife of henry VIII, was siginficant in political life becdause her refusal to agree to the annulment of her marriage, led to henry's seperation from the Roman Catholic church, which was of great political significance.
God bles Albright
By not voting them in. That is all you can do.
Very interesting and wonderfully candid interview, thank you for posting it!
Now for a historically-based answer:
Because women didn't own property and the founding fathers felt that it was unfair for non-property owners be allowed to participate in voting for taxs measures that affected property rights. Since women couldn't own property they would not have a vested interest in insuring fair taxation laws for those that DID own property.
And there you have it.
If the above genius that claimed that men are idiots was right, then why did men later give women the right to vote? It certainly wasn't women that passed this Amendment was it?
Right On the money Video!
"Why should women go into politics?"
For the same reason most men get into it: The power and the ability to make whatever changes they see fit.
"Are there any specific characteristics they can offer that men can't? "
No. Contrary to popular belief, women aren't going to necessarily add a "softer" and "gentler" side to politics. Evil exists in both genders.
"Specifically, women can understand problems more, are more compassionate and understanding,"
Again, not necessarily. It's a nice stereotype, but a stereotype, nevertheless.
"Why should we have more women in politics?"
When people say that we should have more minorities (women, people of color, etc.) in politics, it's not necessarily because they'll add something new, it's because they feel that the government should be as diverse as the people who helped create it.
EDIT: Luna
Ummm…Hilary IS a mom.
h orny? hehe visit my profile for a good time z
Old bitch – the typical ugly American woman!!! Americans are true to their traditions – talk about what they do not know!!!!
Evil woman. She and her jewish family were saved by the Serbs during the war and she repaid them by bombing them!
Election through proportional representation from candidate lists.
Candidate lists voted within the parties, implementation of quotas or party policy on woman's participation
Earlier universal suffrage
Party leaders that have been women
Female Prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland
Progressive politics (Scandinavian socialism) put female friendly issues much higher on the agenda, attracting more women into politics in the first place. Childcare provision and similar make it easier for all women irrespective of social background to have a career