Category: Power in Praxis

End of Fast Fashion

When was the last time you bought something to wear? Was it last month? Last week? Yesterday? Here in Delhi, shopping is more of a recreational activity than an errand. We say that the air-conditioned malls provide much-needed retreat from the scorching summer heat. Once there, what else to do but shop? Or we immerse ourselves in search of that addictive dopamine rush when we buy a branded item for a bargain price at a local market. And lost in rejoicing at the low price at an H&M showroom in a swanky mall or at the local market of Sarojini Nagar, we stay completely oblivious to the large cost to our environment.

A study by the Ellen McArthur found that one whole garbage truck’s worth of textiles are wasted every second. Furthermore the fashion industry is the second largest polluter globally, and generates more greenhouse emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Yes: while we in New Delhi dispute over odd-even number-plate days for cars, and walk around with face masks, we also continuously contribute to an industry that will use up a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050 if the conditions do not change.

On March 14th, 2019, the UN Environment Assembly launched the Alliance for sustainable Fashion, which is ‘seeking to halt the environmentally and socially destructive practices of fashion, and instead harness the industry as a driver for improving the world’s ecosystems’. Many companies internationally are also finding creative solutions to this problem. In the Netherlands, a company called Wintervacht uses blankets and curtains to produce coats and jackets. Indosole, based both in Bali and San Francisco collects discarded tires in Indonesia to turn into shoes, sandals and flip-flops. Ecoloaf, in Spain, uses plastic waste from the ocean to make clothing, bags, and shoes.

 

For a country with it’s own fashion sense, led by the scintillating Bollywood, where are India’s solutions? While we do not lack in resources or entrepreneurial ability, we lack awareness of this matter. Ultimately it is only through increased awareness that we will be able develop sustainable habits. In the past 15 years, the pieces of clothing bought by an average consumer has increased by 60%, while the duration for which each piece of garment is worn has decreased by 36%.

 

We have begun to see clothes as disposable items, wherein lies the biggest malaise. We have to begin to invest in fewer but more durable items, and reduce the quantity of our textile waste, before it is too late. We have to make fast fashion unfashionable, because we know it is not sustainable, for Earth!

 

 

Author Bio:

Kaavyayini Pal is a class 12thstudent from Sri Ram School, Gurgaon, India. As she awaits her Board exam results, she indulges in meditating on the issue most dear to her sensibilities-Sustainability, for she truly believes that it is her generation that has to bear the biggest brunt of all that is ecologically wrong with the Earth today, and that it is also her generation which will come up with the right solutions for these problems they inherited.

 

Updated: May 1, 2019

By Tara Stafford Ocansey

This is a story about a training program for young women in Ghana to learn skills of glassblowing along with business planning, marketing, and digital skills, but it also about so much more than that. It’s about how we consider the linkages between our sustainable development challenges through our program design to tackle numerous challenges at once. Sustainable development has been defined in many ways, but perhaps the most common and generally agreed upon definition defines sustainable development as “the ability to meet the needs of the present without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland, 1987). The Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015 lay out an ambitious vision for how we can build more equitable and prosperous societies without sacrificing the well-being of our planet. What these young Ghanaian women are doing is not just about learning a trade. The program is equipping them with skills (SDG 4) to earn a livelihood (SDG 8), empowering women (SDG 5), shifting the culture toward one that values sustainably produced products and addressing pollution through a kind of grassroots waste management practice (SDG 12).

 

https://youtu.be/Tc0o-ApfmjU

Sub-Saharan African countries have the youngest populations in the world, and are therefore hard hit by the global crisis of youth un- and under-employment and lack of relevant skills. In 2016 the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that the unemployment rate among youth aged 15-24 would peak at approximately 13.1% of the global youth population in 2017. Lack of access to a full cycle of basic education, poor quality of education for those who do receive it that lacks opportunities to learn practical skills aligned to local economic demand combine to stymie progress toward addressing this challenge. So in looking at strategies to address this issue in sustainable ways, we must ask, how can the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation be woven into strategies for improving youth access to education and training opportunities so that youth are equipped to live healthy lives and create jobs for a sustainable future?

As Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is emerging as a key strategy for improving the livelihoods of youth and adults and promoting economic growth for developing nations, there is an opportunity to ensure that environmental education is infused into how vocational and life skills are taught. The ways various trades are approached, including the materials used, the manner in which waste is handled, and how products are produced and marketed all play roles in sustaining or degrading the environment. By incorporating concepts of environmental sustainability and environmentally-conscious design and decision making into TVET programs, learners will be encouraged to translate the lessons into their own ways of living.

The Center for Sustainable Development (CSD), through their Connect To Learn initiative, has been helping to increase young people’s access to quality education since 2010, supporting over 1,350 girls on secondary school scholarships across 11 countries, investing in digital tools for their schools, and training teachers with skills for integration of technology and inquiry-based pedagogies. As more girls began graduating without practical skills for employment and lacking funds to continue their education, CSD began investing more in vocational, digital, and life skills training, and is now building on this work by building in environmental education components.

 

This is taking shape in Ghana through a partnership with Youth and Women Empowerment (YOWE) in Odumase Krobo, a part of the country famous for their ancient practice of bead making using manually crushed recycled glass and local dyes. YOWE enlisted the support of local innovator and expert glassblower Michael Tetteh. Tetteh started his glassblowing career as a beadmaker, until his passion, curiosity and enterprising spirit led him to seek the mentorship and training support of expert glassblowers from Europe. After traveling to Europe to train in glassblowing, he setup his own glassblowing factory in his home, figuring out how to build the firing ovens and cooling chambers himself, and continuing to hone his skills. With growing popularity in his products, combined with a shifting culture in Ghana that is increasingly middle class and interested in proudly made local products, CSD and YOWE developed a training program to train young women in this traditionally male-dominated profession.

Eight young women were trained in the trade, receiving companion trainings by CSD and YOWE teams in business planning and marketing. The program is now adding a digital skills component to help the apprentices have skills to be able to research new market opportunities, promote their products, and communicate with potential buyers beyond their own communities.

 

Trainer Michael Tetteh is passionate about using recycled glass in his production, and in minimizing waste wherever possible. This is novel in an area where effective waste management is sorely missing. While Ghana has made strides in recent years to implement trash pickup services in more heavily populated areas through a public-private partnership with company Zoom Lion, smaller towns and rural areas often still lack such waste management support. This combined with a general lack of awareness about the negative impacts of poor waste management lead to gutters and waterways choked with plastic and other waste. Recycling service happens only on an ad hoc basis, with individuals sometimes combing communities collecting recyclable materials to take to one of few disparately located recycling facilities as a source of income. Until improved waste management services arrive at scale, the humble glassblowing factory is helping to fill that gap. As more and more people learn about the factory, visitors come from far and wide, many bringing bags of glass bottles with them to be used in the production. Local restaurants collect their bottles and bring them to the factory to be transformed into gorgeous vases, dishes, candleholders and tiles.

After just ten months of training, the original batch of trainees have truly become glassblowing artists. Five of the women are continuing on to work in the factory with their trainer, and the group is in the process of procuring land to build a bigger factory closer to the road to Accra to help facilitate the scale-up of their business. At the same time, the group is working to identify new ways of marketing their glass, adding on complementary skills such as macramé to create hanging vases and other decorative pieces.

 

The women will have their products for sale at the next Trade Fair Exhibition in Accra later in 2019. Stay tuned!

MIT and Harvard educated Jyoti Singhvi  is the founder of JYOTI New York, an entrepreneur and mentor with first-hand experience of overcoming challenges to take a passion from an idea to a business. Haein Shin, Education Technical Adviser at Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development (CSD) interviews Jyoti Singhvi on her career to share her insights and advice for aspiring youth, especially for young women trainees in CSD’s education programs.

 

https://youtu.be/HLt44WE8-RQ

 

 

Navatha Kanike is a dynamic Center Manager and leader at ICT Women’s Center, one of Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development (CSD) education and energy initiatives. Haein Shin, Education Technical Adviser at CSD interviews Navatha to hear her thoughts and observations on the Center, which offers training for young women to learn skills aligned to the job market in her locality. The goal of the Center is to increase employment prospects for young women through the training on Information and Communications Technology (ICT), conversational English, life skills, environment and business skills.

 

Share any questions or comments you have with us!

Deepa Narayan has just released a new book, “Chup: Breaking the Silence About India’s Women“, published by Juggernaut. Dr. Radhika Iyengar from Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development interviews Dr. Narayan on how her research has illluminated the ways that even education women who believe themselves to be empowered women often behave in ways that undermine their own empowerment, and serve to make women invisible. The conversation closes with ideas for addressing bias in forward-looking ways.

https://youtu.be/g2LBId1a8DE

What are your ideas for addressing our own internalized biases about our gender roles? Let us know in the comments!

 

7 Reasons why Manikarnikais a movie worth watching:

 

1. You might be a regular movie watcher who enjoys movies indiscriminately or, you could be someone who only watches movies that stir the usual air of social norms. Luckily, this movie fits the bill in both categories. It is a fairly well-made movie, with a gripping story line.

 

2. The Time-Period it covers: It is based in a time around the year 1857 – which was when the Sepoy Mutiny spread from Delhi/Meerut, all the way to the west and east of India, setting the course for the first ever pan-India Freedom movement against the British Rule. We see the urgency which must have reverberated through India at that time and allows us to see why it took an additional ninety yearsfor India to finally gain Independence. We see that what was lacking in 1857 was not bravery, but a concerted leadership on the part of the Indians. With that realization, we can certainly appreciate the roles that freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and Patel played as central figures of the freedom fight that eventually led to the British exiting India in 1947.

 

3. The Subject of the movie: The movie is about Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi, who till date is one of the extremely rare breeds of women warriors to appear, not just in Indian, but in the world history. She is married to a king who suffers from a feeling of weakness against the British that contrasts starkly with his wife’s youthful valor and an amazing grip on ways of warfare to match. She is superbly trained in horse-riding, archery and sword-fighting, and also exhibits a thorough read of the ways of the world. We see an example of this latter, when widowed and childless, she soon assumes the status of the leader for her region of Jhansi, and takes many decisions that she thinks will ensure the protection of the people of Jhansi. It is impressive to see that one of the first things she does as an independent ruler is to send a letter to the then British High-command in India, extending a diplomatic channel for the two powers to engage with one another. The British of course reject such a channel, and instead send troops to bring the Rani to her knees. The movie then is a continuous saga of the young Rani’s unabated courage and skill on one battle ground after another, till she finally dies at war.

 

4. The Details: While the movie is about an important and interesting topic, the devil, as always, is in the details:
5. Rani’s courage is palpable from the start and gradually becomes truly larger than anything one has seen on a big screen. Thus, while as an unmarried youngster she can shoot a leaping tiger mid-air with her arrow, by the time she is the Queen of Jhansi, she wields her sword on the enemy mercilessly, literally decimating multiple opponents with one swoosh of her sword, balanced atop a racing horse. She is fearless, and every part of her presence says that. In fact, there is a scene where she stands in front of a large idol of Goddess Kali (the goddess of destruction of the evil and ego), having just slayed a large number of enemy soldiers within a short time. No co-incidence that the posture she assumes with a sword in hand, ferocity in her eyes, and the dead foe at her feet, compels the viewer to liken the Rani to the Goddess herself. I think it is this viewpoint which is an interesting take on how someone named Laxmi (the goddess of wealth) demonstrates that women’s appreciation and gravitation towards the non-violent forms like knowledge and wealth, and motherhood and love, should not be misconstrued as an inability to take to destructive forms.
6. Continuing on the same lines, the Rani, when faced with a shortage of men to fight in her army, invokes participation from women. She addresses the women of Jhansi, thus: If God has chosen for women to do the most important task and bear human children, then surely taking up arms and fighting in wars cannot be any challenge to the strength of women. It is an amazingly poignant moment to see women giving up their metallic jewelry to melt it to make arms for them. No ballad on women could compare with the poetry of this scene. It is not just a slap on the face of the many myths that are perpetuated about women’s obsession with vanity, but also builds up women, queens and ordinary women alike, in newer light of not just softness and maternal instincts, but also of intelligence combined with sheer physical power. In fact one of Hindi language’s most popular poems by the late poetess Subhadra Kumari Chauhan that immortalizes the Rani by saying “She fought a lot, she fought like a man!” can be read in a new light now, “She fought a lot, she fought!”
7. Rani Laxmibai embodies the true essence of a liberated woman, who is a daughter, a wife, and a mother, but more than just that. She cares for the family she is put in, but does not take any role as given. She writes her own script wherever she is placed.

i). As a daughter, she outlearns her brothers in all skills taught to them. As a wife, she is her husband’s true consort in appreciating and participating in his love for books and arts. As a mother, even when her own child is poisoned to death, she extends her full protection to the child they adopt.

ii). In fact, even as a queen she is not just a beautifully dressed doll, she is also a ruler, who goes out to her people to see their ways of life first hand. To me, personally, it is one of the most fabulous twists on a typical Bollywood narrative to see that the only supposedly ‘item number’ kind of song and dance, where one finds dancers swaying their hips and busts on a somewhat raunchy number is being performed not for a man or a band of men, but for the Rani who sits on a throne like seat in a tribal area lavishing her praise at the performers. (To put the dance in context, it is a tribal dance about a bumble-bee stinging a passerby). This contrasts sharply with how Indian cinema has often portrayed women in history. For example, most recently in the blockbuster film Padmavat, the Rani was full of beauty, glamour, coyness and a great sense of right and wrong as laid out by the traditions of the time, and thus to protect her pride, at the end she prefers to jump into fire than be caught by enemy. However, isn’t that exactly how patriarchy wants to see women- as beautified commodities abiding by the norms laid out by religions and cultures dominated by men as priests, kings and lawyers.

iii). Rani Laxmibai, is a gender-bender in the true sense. As a widow, she refuses to have her hair shaved off, and does not take to wearing white clothes, nor to retiring to a life of an ascetic in the devotion of gods in the holy city of Kaashi.

 

5. For all the physical beauty the Rani possessed, nowhere in the movie, are we forced to think of her as a beautiful temptress. Infact the movie is a no-brainer to show to even little tween girls, because seduction or titillation is not the path taken by the director. Thus even when creating a male heir is a big premise in the movie, since the British threaten to take over any kingdom that has no male heir (so much for gender equality by the West!), there are no scenes of love-making. The movie is a slam dunk in succeeding to single-mindedly portray women in their often underplayed, and ignored, avatar of fierce strategists. The image of the Rani with the enemy’s blood dripping from her sword and smeared on her clothes, will surely inspire little children to embrace the fact that courage, and (unfortunately) violence, is not a prerogative of males. The disposition to violence is not a natural to any gender, and thus the stereotype of ‘boys will be boys’ when it comes to disruptive behavior definitely needs to be re-considered.

 

6. For lovers of period costume, especially amazingAmrapalijewelry, there is plenty to relish. The jewels are charming in their sheer size and variety, and remind the viewer once again, why India had beckoned invaders from all over the world again and again.

 

7. The movie is a labor of love for the female director, Kangana Ranaut, making her debut. She claims that she wanted to show patriotism as a mission larger than any life. Interestingly, this sentiment, and perhaps her own history of being outspoken about all casting couch advances made towards her, has earnt her the wrath of the popular Bollywood group. Her movie has been shunned by Bollywood big names, who have maintained a tight-lipped disapproval for a woman claiming right to patriotic fervor, a prerogative retained typically for male protagonists like Manoj Kumar back in the days, or for newer crop of male soldiers like Hrithik Roshan in Lakshaya. And it is just when, those inside the movie-world decide to ostracize Ranaut, that people at large, like you and me, stand up to show our support for a voice of dissent, not for the sake of dissent, but for the sake of stirring the air which otherwise continues to stifle many who even remotely imagine a world different from one ordered to them by the system.

 

Seven stars for a 5-star project!

Go, watch the movie….you can read this later too!

 

#Manikarnika #genderbender #kanganaranaut

 

By

Nidhi Thakur

 

Bio

Nidhi Thakur is an economist, with specialization in labor and health economics. Her interest in Gender issues, is an on-going evolution of her resistance to the many systemic biases that are perpetuated through political, social and unfortunately even religious institutions, in order to preserve a power hegemony which perversely favors a small section of society. She believes in empowerment through education, skills, financial independence and political voice. She has published in academic and non-academic journals, and is currently a Lecturer in Kean University, Union, NJ, where she hopes to interact and hopefully influence, and be influenced by, the lives of many a first-generation college goers from minority backgrounds. She has an M.A. in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Arizona, and a Post-Doc from University of Chicago.

Updated: Feb 14, 2019

By Emmanuel Nuetey Siakwa

As the Executive Director of Youth and Women Empowerment, an NGO based in Odumase Krobo, Ghana whose mission is to motivate and provide learning opportunities for all stakeholders to advocate for quality service delivery and hold duty bearers accountable, I recently had the honor of facilitating an event called “STATUS OF THE GHANAIAN WOMAN, EXAMINING PROGRESS, PROSPECTS FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN GHANA.” Our goal was to offer a safe space for women from difference backgrounds and experiences in Ghana to openly discuss issues that affect them, connect with each other, and brainstorm solutions.

The event was attended by 305 individuals, made up of 260 Women and 45 men. Participants were drawn from the security services, civil servants, artisans, market women, religious organizations (Christian and Moslem), and persons with disabilities among others.

Our two main objectives for the event were to 1) collate experiences of progress made by women and 2) develop a framework to work together in collective action to achieve Ghana’s development. In this article, I share how we organized the event, some of the key findings that were shared by the event’s presenters, and the ideas that were generated by participants during group sessions for the way forward.

 

The program was organized by the STAR Ghana Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection, and is focused on coordinating zonal programs across the country to solicit for inputs, challenges and gaps to feed into a national dialogue. For our zone, the organization I head, Youth and Women Empowerment, was honored to facilitate our zonal program.

 

The event kicked off with encouraging words from the Municipal Chief Executive for Lower Manya Krobo, who expressed that, during the recent District Assembly elections, no woman stood for election. He posited that it’s about time we probe to find out why women are not taking up leadership positions, what the hindrances are and how these challenges can be addressed. He pledged his support to improve women participation within his locality. He mentioned interventions being undertaken by the Government to support women, among them are the Livelihood Empowerment Against Program (LEAP) and Microfinance and Small Loan Centre (MASLOC). He encouraged participants to take advantage of the platform and contribute to shape policy formulation.

 

The event then continued with the sharing of person stories by 3 women, who described their experience overcoming abuse and discrimination to become leaders in their communities. These stories were then further contextualized through a presentation on the current state of Ghanaian Women made by Mrs Golda Asante, Director, Regional Coordinating Council, Koforidua, who discussed the advancement of Ghanaian Women through 3 lenses – Politics and Governance, Economic Rights, and Access to Social Services (Education and Health).

 

Beginning with a discussion of women in politics and governance, Mrs. Asante described the slow increase in political participation of Ghanaian women throughout history. Women are given equal rights under the constitution of Ghana, yet disparities in education, employment, and health for women remain prevalent. Additionally, women have much less access to resources than men in Ghana do. Ghanaian women in rural and urban areas face slightly different challenges. Although women are guaranteed political participation rights under the 1992 Ghana Constitution, there is a lack of female representation in government. In 2012, 19 women occupied seats in Parliament, while 246 men occupied the rest of the seats. In 2017, the number of women elected to Parliament grew, and 37 women were elected. However, Ghanaian women still make up only 13.5% of Parliament.

There has been a slow increase of women in Parliament since the adoption of the multiparty system in 1992. Ghana has taken multiple steps to increase equality in the political sphere. For example, the government signed and ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (CEDAW). The Government declared its commitment to gender equality in Beijing. Yet 23 years after this commitment, we are asking, what has been the outcome of these commitments made by Government to improve the status of Ghanaian women?

 

Discussing the underlying causes for this phenomenon of low participation among women in governance, the following issues came up strongly

• Traditions and Socio-cultural attitudes- Socialization process
• Gender-based stereotypes –Eg. certain positions are for men
• Women in leadership positions are promiscuous, etc
• Discourages many women from talking up certain political leadership
• Unsupportive husbands/Partners – threatening divorce
• Choose between marriage and Political career
• Fear of name calling and insults – Terrible description of strong women in society e.g. maame gyata, Iron lady, witch, etc
• Campaigns are very expensive- lack resources- money, vehicles, etc.
• Lack capacity and confidence to take up leadership roles
• Taking care of the Home- unpaid work
• Some men undermine their “women” bosses

 

Next Mrs. Asante moved to a discussion of women’s economic rights, where she indicated that females involved in economic activities have increased over the years, from 31.4% in 1960 to 44% in 2010. Also about 91% of women are in the informal sector where they experience gender segregation and typically work for low wages.

There is also a distinct difference in artisan apprenticeships available to men and women. Most female artisans are only involved in either hairdressing or dressmaking. Some of the challenges identified to be hampering women’s participation in economic activities were highlighted as:

• Access to credit facilities and finance: Lack of collateral, inadequate savings and cumbersome bureaucracy
• Sexual violence/ harassment
• Ignorance on the awareness of credit facilities
• Cultural factors, traditions and stereotype- women will not participate in certain ventures – own a land
• Unpaid services- contribute to poverty and over- reliance on men

 

On the topic of Access to Social Services- Education and Health Services, Mrs. Asante explained that there is a general dominance of male child education. Women living at the highest socioeconomic status exhibit the highest literacy rates at 85%, while only 31% of women living in the poorest homes are literate.

Some of the barriers identified as hindering girls and women’s access to education and health are:

• There are still girls who are not in school because economic and cultural norms factor determine the choice of who go to school.
• It is often said that women and girls main purpose is reproduction –boys/ men are breadwinner for the family
• Some girls in schools experience sexual harassment – Experience from visits to schools
• Poor facilities in some schools for girls ie no toilet, no first Aid, no sanitary towels- No school during menses
• Parental neglect / lack of parental control- contributing to waywardness
• Teenage pregnancy
• Low awareness / information about availability of health services
• Fear and false perceptions about certain health conditions e.g. fibroid, cancers, etc. Eg. visited 85 prayer camps in ER- 1 camp had 50 pregnant women
• Women are susceptible to infections and diseases i.e. HIV and other sexually transmitted disease. E.g. More than 60% of persons living with HIV in ER and Volta are women
• Women cannot negotiate for safer sex
• Traditional Rites -Widowhood rites, Trokosi system
• Poverty

 

Suggestions shared on how to increase women’s participation in Politics and Governance, Economic Rights and Service Provision in the areas of Health and Education included:

• Increase advocacy through civil society organizations
• Affirmative Bill to enhance women’s participation and decision making- mobilize and intensify engagements to have it passed
• Women Empowerment programs
• Create enabling environment for gender equality –political participation
• Promotion of socio cultural change processes
• Enforcement of our laws – speed justice
• Integrated approach focusing on: gender mainstreaming and systematic efforts, Gender responsive budgeting, Strengthen the capacity of women and girls, increase their access to assets and opportunities through employment, etc

 

After having a chance to get acquainted with the facts on the historical context and current challenges facing women in Ghana, the participants were asked to get into groups to engage more deeply on the 3 themes discussed. The grouping was done with each participant numbering 1-6, where all persons who numbered 1, formed one group and same applies to the other groups. Groups 1 and 2 answered questions on Politics and Governance, Group 2 and 3 answered questions on Economic rights whiles group 5 and 6 answered questions on access to social services, Education and Health Services.

Each group selected a chairperson and a rapporteur to report back during plenary. Facilitators were assigned to the various groups to guide the discussion. The groups were task to come up with issues under the three thematic areas that were not captured by the resource person, or something that they would have captured differently and provide measures to address issues identified by the group. The exercise lasted for 45 minutes.

 

KEY OUTPUTS FROM GROUP WORK

 

Our team at Youth and Women Empowerment looks forward to continuing to grow our coalition of community members to put the excellent ideas put forth by the workshop participants into action through our advocacy and training initiatives. We continue to seek funds to help enable this work, and welcome partnership inquiries.

Mumbai traffic is legendary. It gives a new meaning to the adage, “The journey itself is the destination”. You could be stuck for hours between traffic signals. The city dwellers use this time to catch up on their emails and make phone calls to friends. As a visitor, I enjoy soaking in the sights and sounds of the different areas I drive by. Mumbai is a study in contradictions—huge skyscrapers jostle for space alongside crumbling shanties and plush neighborhoods morph seamlessly into crowded tenements. The roads are packed with luxury cars but look through the tinted windows and you’ll glimpse the underbelly of the city. Each traffic signal has its own ecosystem of children selling newspapers and toys, and handicapped beggars trading blessings of prosperity for some money to feed themselves. As the sun sets, you might find young girls standing in dark corners of seedy neighborhoods, conspicuous by their garish outfits and vacuous eyes. These are the dehumanized victims of human trafficking.

 

India is one of the fastest growing economies, with a burgeoning middle class. It’s also a global hub of modern-day slavery. The country is a source, destination, and transit point for people who are trafficked for forced labor, illegal organ harvesting, and sexual exploitation. The victims belong to the most disenfranchised sections of society—tribals, lower caste communities, migrants, minorities, and the poor. Entire families could be working as bonded laborers for generations to pay off a debt. Children as young as eight years old are made to work in factories, on construction sites, and as domestic help. Some are even maimed and made to beg or peddle drugs. Unregulated employment agents lure them into metros with false promises of well-paying jobs, only to push them into a life of servitude.

Hidden behind India’s story of growth are statistics that are a cause for concern. There are around three million prostitutes in the country, out of which 40% are children, according to the Guardian. The city of Mumbai alone generates 400 million USD annually from the commercial sexual exploitation of women. Girls from Bangladesh, Nepal, Burma, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe are also caught in this vicious web. Lured away from their poor families with promises of finding a good job or a good match, many of them are trafficked to India and the Middle East as domestic or sex workers. Their passports are taken away from them and going back home is impossible. India has also emerged as a favored travel destination for foreigners who indulge in child pornography and pedophilia, giving a boost to traffickers, especially in tourist-friendly destinations like Goa. Even though the government has strong anti-trafficking laws in place, their implementation leaves much to be desired.

 

In 2018, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) conducted an audit of 110 shelter homes across 35 districts in the Indian state of Bihar. The report details widespread physical and sexual harassment, corporal punishment, neglect, and humiliation by both privately run and government funded homes. In a shelter home in Muzaffarpur, all the girls had been sexually abused by the male staff and even trafficked to influential people, including local politicians and policemen. Underage girls were found to be pregnant and some even had their babies living with them. Many young boys had also been violated.

 

A counterbalance to these grim stories are NGOs that are doing commendable work for the prevention, upliftment, and rehabilitation of human trafficking survivors. International Justice Mission (IJM) is an organization that is at the forefront of the fight, and they have a strong presence in India with multiple branches. After speaking to Ms. Joanita Britto, an advocate working with IJM Mumbai, I learned about the organization’s successful five-pronged approach:

 

Social workers rescue victims through close collaboration with local police officers and the Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU).  Since the year 2000, they have successfully rescued over 940 victims of commercial sex trafficking.

 

Counselors form a rehabilitation and social reintegration plan for each victim and continue to work with them for four years. They partner with several aftercare homes in India to ensure that survivors have a safe place to live, and provide ongoing trauma therapy and vocational and educational support. Their advocates provide legal representation to victims and facilitate the convictions of traffickers by working with the police and public prosecutors.

 

Across India, since 2012, IJM has trained more than 64,000 police officers, judges, government officials, and other people in the anti-trafficking space. IJM has also been appointed to assess government programs related to commercial sexual exploitation.

IJM assists and trains community members to be vigilant in identifying instances of trafficking. Community members are also encouraged to participate in rehabilitation and reintegration programmes. IJM partners with grass-root NGOs and community based organizations to empower vulnerable community members through awareness programmes on trafficking and the legal recourse that is available to them.

 

A particular case that stood out was that of a minor girl who was trafficked from Bangladesh to Mumbai’s red light district. The team at IJM Mumbai not only helped the government rescue her and reunite her with her family, but they continued to fight for justice on her behalf. After persevering for three years, they helped convict the girl’s two traffickers to a rigorous imprisonment and a hefty fine, a major portion of which was sent for her rehabilitation. In Ms. Britto’s own words, “The police additionally requested the assistance of Rights Jessore, an anti-trafficking organization in Bangladesh to make arrangements for the victim to testify. On June 6, 2015, the minor victim deposed before the court through video conference. She identified and implicated the accused in the case as her traffickers. This testimony along with the witness testimonies were relied on as evidence against the accused. It was a good example of how the Public Justice System can work together with NGOs to bring justice to victims of sex trafficking”.

 

While I’ve focused on trafficking in India, it remains a global endemic that needs to be tackled aggressively. We need strict laws and even stricter implementation. We need better coordination between law enforcement agencies across different states and different countries. Cases related to trafficking and abuse should be tried in fast-track courts. On a more fundamental level, we need to use education and public service campaigns as tools to sensitize people to issues related to human rights, gender, and children. The objectification of women in mainstream media needs to stop, and there should be tighter controls in the area of cyber security. While most of us cannot be on the field rescuing and rehabilitating victims, we can definitely contribute in a small way to organizations working for this cause. It’s time we put an end to modern day slavery.

 

Article by Nidhi Bhatt

Nidhi Bhatt is currently a senior at Millburn High School. She is an avid reader, enjoys writing, swimming and playing the piano. Fluent in French, Hindi and Gujarati, she loves exploring history, food, and culture through travel, books, and chance encounters with people.  Nidhi is actively involved in community outreach and hopes to study Political Science, French, and Statistics in college.

 

By Shruti Sriram

 

Growing up in the capital of India, New Delhi, I was acutely aware of the gender ‘norms’ that existed in my country, especially in the northern part of India. Women had to wear ‘appropriate’ clothes in public so as to not attract lewd comments and attention from the opposite sex, there was little point in educating a girl as she was ‘paraya dhan’ – akin to wealth that would not stay within the family as she would get married, men were the breadwinners whereas the women had to take care of the household.

 

This understanding of the phenomenon that is patriarchy isn’t novel, nor are the instances put forth. It is unsurprising that such tenets form the basis of our cultural dogmas and are as common and widespread as our belief in the existence of an ideological deity. Having said that, what is indeed surprising and unanticipated is, the ubiquity and extent to which such constructs are reinforced in every aspect of life in India’s villages.

 

Working with government primary schools in rural Rajasthan, northern India, I started to notice patriarchy and gender inequality in every aspect of village life. I saw veiled women and young school-age girls busy with household chores while men and teenage boys ambled about or played cards. Arriving at the government school, I observed that the girls and boys sat in separate rows with absolutely no interaction. The girls lacked confidence and refused to speak up while the boys dominated the discussions. In the higher grades, I noticed that some of the young girls were wearing bangles, sindoor(vermillion) on their forehead and toe rings – all markers of married women. These girls at the tender age of 13 and 14 were victims of child marriage.

As I frequented the villages, I realized the intent of all the actions -women were to have no agency of their own and all decisions were to be dictated by the men of the household. This was evident from the diktat for women.Married women were always veiled in front of family elders, they were not allowed to speak in front of men. They were to always sit on a level lower than them and were not allowed to leave the village on their own. More often than not they were made to drop out of school after the 8thgrade to get married.

Unfortunately, young impressionable minds grow up observing and learning these norms and unquestioningly adopt them. I remember an incident where 6-year-old school girls refused to hold the hands of boys, as a part of an activity, as they had been instructed against it by their parents. It seemed bizarre that these children, who had no idea of gender or sex, were taught that touching a person of the opposite sex was wrong. On relaying this incident to teachers, they told me to refrain from conducting such activities as it would only enrage parents. Unfortunately, government school teachers don’t have the time, ability or will to break these norms and encourage critical thinking. They would rather respect the wishes of the community and be silent spectators to patriarchy than create a storm in trying to change gender norms, which may put their jobs in peril.

While there is no doubt that education is an essential medium through which such norms can be uprooted, there is also a need to increase awareness among the communities to support such an education. Community members believe patriarchy to be a part of their culture, which ‘western’ minds, such as mine, were trying to corrode. Unfortunately, it’s not just the men who hold this belief, it’s the women as well. As a part of my project, I worked on a construction site in order to understand the difficulties that labourers face in villages. At the end of just 2 hours, I had received calls from every important person in the community to not ‘disrespect’ the norms of the village by performing such an ‘unwomanly’ task. Oddly enough, the people who reprimanded me for my actions were women while the labourers at the construction site treated me as their equal.

 

While I came face-to-face with such extreme inequality, there were bright spots too. I stayed with Sunitaji who educated her 3 daughters against all odds and started her own sewing businesses. I also interacted with Khan sahab, who had ensured that his 2 daughters obtained their master’s degree against the wishes of his family. These stories make me believe that the village mindset will change but such examples alone will not be enough. Providing children the space to question societal norms is, without doubt, imperative to uproot gender inequality and I believe that quality education in government schools is going to be the game-changer.

 

 

About the Author:

Shruti Sriram is a first year MPA student at SIPA, Columbia University. Prior to joining, she was a Gandhi Fellow in Churu, Rajasthan (India) where she worked with upper primary government schools to improve student learning outcomes. Her experience with the education bureaucracy led to her interest in policy and public administration. She is interested in exploring how behavioral insights can inform development interventions, particularly on how it can be used in the area of bureaucratic reform.

 

There are now more than 80 girls enrolled in the Mahbubnagar ICT Center in our various courses. The courses range from learning conversational English to learning computers. The happened in a short duration of 3 days. It required a brief introduction of the computer course at the Government residential hostel nearby. The deluge of girls started to flow in our center in the evenings.

 

Amongst the girls who joined our Center is Sangeeta. She came 30 minutes before our class time to quietly sit on one of the computers. She wanted to go unnoticed and not make eye contact. Later on, we found out that she didn’t want anyone to stop her from using the computers. The girls were welcome anytime to use the computers.

 

Sangeeta’s screen was an excel sheet. She was learning how to type on her own. She has made a list of her friends in one row, with another row as the serial numbers. On top of the sheet was written- “B.Com Computer Science”. This stands for a Bachelors degree in Commerce with a focus on Computer Science. I tried to talk to her, and she became very nervous. I wanted to make her comfortable by cracking some jokes. She joined the class.

Today’s practise session was about writing a letter to the District Collector about the status of their village. This was more of a typing exercise and students getting familiar with the keys and opening and saving a word document. In one hour some students could write 3 lines others could write 2 lines. There was one girl who wrote about 5 lines. Sangeeta was somewhere in between. The class ended at 6:30pm when everyone was asked to leave. Sangeeta said, “madam 5 minutes please”. I smiled and said okay. She was trying very hard to type. After 20 minutes I asked “Sangeeta, are you done?” She said, “Madam 5 minutes please”. The Computer Center instructors became busy with planning the next day’s activities. I asked “Sangeeta?” She reluctantly got up to leave.

 

Next day Sangeeta was early again and by this time saw us more as friends than people who would ask her to leave. As she started to open an excel sheet and I got a chance to know more about her. Her village is 5 hours away. She lives in the nearby Government Hostel like other girls. Her College is very close to the Hostel. Even though she is enrolled in a Bachelors Degree Program with Computer Science focus, Sangeeta had not worked on a computer. The academic year was almost about to end. I asked her if she learnt about Computers in her classes. She replied that the College Principal is her class teacher so “he is very busy”. There have been hardly any theory classes with zero computers practical work. But she is very interested in learning Computers. That night again, Sangeeta stayed back late to finish the class assignment on her own. Although she didn’t learn much in her college, she required very little help to figure out things. She typed slowly but was able to do everything on her own.

 

One more day went by. Sangeeta asked her first question- “Can you teach me English?”

 

#genderequality #letgirlslearn #empowerment #education