Summer Issue 2006

Issue 2, 2003

Linda Moore, the writer of this
article, is one of the co-founders
of the ‘Feminenza Ring of Hope’.
She has a vast teaching experienceof 30 years, both with adolescents and adults.

"The Ring of Hope is close to my heart because I feel that while the emancipation, such as it is, that I grew up with, has allowed me the freedom to grow and develop, I would want for all women in the world to come into their own sense of value and well-being, and to be proud of being part of the female gender.

Also, I have been a teacher for a long time now, and I see that despite the freedoms that there seem to be, many girls lack self esteem, and almost apologise for being female. I would want to see this to be different too. Feminenza has allowed me to develop confidence, to appreciate my strengths, and to see that together we can make a difference in the world."

Just before Christmas last year, I went to Rajasthan in India with a small group of sixth form students as part of a link project from St Christopher School, Letchworth, for 3 weeks.

This is a brief account of the work of an organisation that we stayed with for 10 days, whose work with women is making a huge difference, and which has impressed me so much that I want to find ways to help.

The organisation is called ECAT, which means ‘Unity’ in colloquial Hindi, and which is also an acronym for Education, Conscientisation,
Awareness and Training. (Conscientisation coming from ‘Education is the basic tool for the development of conscientiousness and reconstitution of society’ - Mahatma Gandhi). It is a non-government organisation, and since 1988, it has, amongst other things, been working with women with the objective of promoting rural development.

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ECAT headquarters, where we stayed, is based next to the village of Kukanwali in Kuchaman, and is a place of lush greenery in the desert, where a family atmosphere pervades, and where we were welcomed as part of that family, with songs and dances every night, being constantly invited to share the work and also the play with the many children living there.

During our stay we made many journeys by jeep into the desert, to visit many of the projects that ECAT is undertaking, and it is the projects directly associated with women that I want to concentrate on.

The condition of women in rural communities in Rajasthan is very poor, due to a lack of education, early marriage and social restrictions. ECAT decided that their focus in this area would be on achieving gender equality, empowerment of women, elimination of all kinds of violence against women, and enabling women to control their own fertility. They identified different categories of social problems and started development activities for adolescent girls, deprived women who were financially poor, and single women. (ECAT identifies single women as ‘widows, abandoned women, unmarried women and woman who head their household’).

The education of girl children has been one of the major focus areas. It has been officially acknowledged that, as a result of ECAT’s efforts, the literacy rate has shot up from 11.25% to 48.16% over the last 10 years in this district.

Education for girls

There is a girls’ hostel on the campus, where 30 girls of single women stay and are provided accommodation, clothes, food and education expenses. Also, girls aged 8 to 14 were identified from project villages, who had never seen school or had left school at an early age, and these girls have been taken to ECAT and provided with a residential education.

We spent many happy hours with them,
and I was really impressed by their thirst for education, their sense of fun and their generous welcome. We were often invited to their rooms, had our hands painted with henna, were entertained and given food, and we tried to exchange information about families and our different ways of life.

One of the events that ECAT organises is called the Kishori Balika Mela, and it is an annual adolescent girl’s fair, to give them an opportunity to play games, sing, dance and express their feelings. They play games, like‘ kabbadi’ considered a boy’s game, which they never expected to play in their lives. The girls also get an pportunity to meet other girls of their own age group, but the most important feature of the Mela is the chance that the girls get to move out of their homes and see the outside world.

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Adolescent girls

ECAT has organised girl’s forums in 30 villages, where they discuss issues such as: the phase of adolescence, inequality between boys and girls, girl’s education, the dowry system, violence against women, child marriage, and so on. They are also given access to newspapers, and the meetings are leading to a strong collective of girls, who are not only asserting their lawful and social rights, but are also raising their voices about larger community issues. 1230 girls from 60 villages have joined these girl’s forums.

We spent part of a morning witnessing one of these groups, and it was such a pleasure to see the confidence beginning to appear, and the growth of strength and empowerment that such gatherings can bring. Through these forums, the girls have started thinking about their future. They are informed about the law, oppose early marriages, and are in direct contact with the government for any type of assistance or support that they require.

ECAT has also realised that the mindset of adolescent boys needs to be changed, and so has started boy’s forums aswell.

Schools

19 schools have been started in rural hamlets, where previously there was no local education possible. The school was in handawatin Ki-Dhani, which was a village with people from the Rajput caste. The girls were not allowed education because they would have had to travel and it was not thought important, so there was no schooling possible. ECAT went along to the village, had meetings, and found that although the women wanted education for the girls, the men initially didn’t want it to happen. They went away, and some days later, a woman named Topkanwar turned up at 6 a.m at the campus, having got herself in a jeep, despite the opposition from her husband, to say that they wanted a teacher to go back that day and start, because the men were saying that it was impossible, and she wanted to prove them wrong!

A teacher was sent back with her for 2 months, staying at Topkanwar’s house, and then 2 women were picked from the community, trained to be teachers by ECAT, and the school is up and running now, with the villagers contributing to the school building.

While we were having Chai (tea) in the school, listening to the girls singing a song (about family planning!), Topkanwar turned up to see us, and the glow of pride on her face was delightful to see. It really lit me up to see that one person can make a difference, and I also felt that there is a lot more in common across the world of women than there is difference.

I asked Vikas to translate from our international brochure ‘We believe that within the partnership of humankind, each female life is created equal, wanted and of value, in purpose and design, free to seek, to choose and to discover her part, her life and future therein.’ This was greeted with smiles and acknowledgement, and we talked about each woman fulfilling her potential.

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Empowered women

To quote from the ECAT annual report,‘ Marriage is anything but a joint and equal partnership for women. Early marriage deprives them of education and limits their opportunity to have roles outside their home. It deprives them of developing skills and denies them social or economic independence. Once a woman is denied the protection of her husband, either because of widowhood or desertion, she suffers
from discrimination and exploitation.’

Single women from the upper castes seem to suffer the most, having no source of income generation, not being allowed to go out of their place to work in the fields. They are helpless because they can’t do anything while staying in the home, and society does not allow them to move out. A woman might be married at 16, widowed at 18, and from then on prohibited from taking part in any festivals, not allowed out of her home, and not allowed to remarry, particularly among the Rajput caste, so her situation is particularly difficult.

While we stayed at ECAT I was privileged to sit in on a very important workshop on changing village thinking about remarriage. ECAT was proposing to sponsor the remarriage of two or three women, and was discussing the possibility with women and men from several villages. If this works and catches on, it could change the possibilities of life for so many women, currently condemned to a life of hopelessness. The discussion was wide ranging, and also involved forming social development committees in the villages, with a call back to traditional values. It seemed to be about women raising standards, and about causing an atmosphere in the villages where men would be expected to uphold their marriage vows. The men and women present agreed to go back to their villages and to start forming these committees.

I was asked to say something at the end of the workshop, and talked about the unity of women being a great force, also letting the women know that they were not alone, that many other women in the world think of them. I was told that they not only want financial support, but emotional and mental support for what they are doing, and I could wholeheartedly empathise with them. They are looking for empathy, not sympathy. To mention how a little amount of money can make a difference, one of the women said that if she had the equivalent of € 115,- (or $ 115,- or £ 75,-), she could set up a shop with all of the goods in it, and from then on be financially independent! (Another aspect of the work of ECAT is to encourage self-help groups, where every woman submits a small amount of money every month, and loans are given, so that women can start their own businesses. 1000 women in the district belong to such groups in the area.)

I was presented with a statue of Durga, goddess of power, at the end of the workshop, and was told that it would give me power, to go back to where I came from, and be empowered. There was an amazing feeling of sisterhood there, despite the language barriers, but the language of feeling said it all.

I came away from my stay at ECAT enthused about making a difference in the world, realising that the main thing is to make a start. ECAT has achieved so much in a short time, and Kamla is always thinking about what else can be done. It was a privilege to be there, and to be welcomed in such an open manner.

I am now trying to think of ways to help, and from a distance, the easiest ways are to try and let people know about this work, which is being done by many NGO’s, and also to try to raise funds. If anyone would like to respond to this article or donate money to this project, you can e-mail to the general address of Feminenza in England: . I will make sure that your response and/or contribution will get to the right place.

I must thank Kamla Chaturvedi especially, as she, with her husband Satyen, formed up ECAT, and accompanied us on many of the field visits, telling us many uplifting success stories about the women that we met. I told Kamla about Feminenza, and she said that we are welcome to come anytime to witness what is being done, so I hope to go back there soon.