Sustaining the struggle in Bombay

This article originally appeared in T&S Issue 33, Summer 1996.

In their Annual Report for 1994-95, Bombay Women’s Centre demonstrate that uncompromising feminism is alive and kicking, able to combine political analysis, practical support and campaigning.

The year 1994-95 has been a year of major political changes in Maharashtra and in particular for all women’s groups in Bombay. The growth of communal forces and sentiments among large sections of Hindus in the country has been strikingly manifest in this state. Maharashtra, which has been considered one of the most progressive states in India with its history of social reforms and agrarian and commercial affluence has been a loyal Congress State largely. The 1994 elections truly marked the end of an era with the people of Maharashtra electing to power the ‘Hindutvavadi’ alliance of the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — two parties whose commitment to the democratic and secular values of post indepen­dent India have always been suspect. Though all political parties have an instrumental perspec­tive towards women as a possible constituency, the change from the Congress I to the Hindutva­vadis implies a change in state policy towards women, as a social group. This is a factor that women’s groups have taken into account in their political strategies.

Thus when the new Shiv Sena-BJP govern­ment proposes a Uniform Civil Code, women’s groups in the country are not convinced that they have a genuine interest or concern for women’s rights, but rather that they have their own agenda. A strong feeling is that it is a ploy to harass minority communities, using women’s rights as a politically correct reason. A genuine democratic process involving women’s groups working with grass roots communities, to evolve a gender-just family law, is what all women’s groups would readily agree to, rather than enforcing a law which will be seen by some sections as a threat to religious freedom and practice.

In June 1994, a State Policy on Women was launched by the then Chief Minister Shri Sharad Pawar, with much fanfare. This policy was seen as a step forward in the right direction. Many women’s groups and organisations discussed and assessed the policy. There was much lip service given in the text to concepts like women’s empowerment and self-reliance. But the lack of will on the part of the State to implement the policy was evident from the fact that close to a year after the launch of the policy, the implementing authorities at many levels had not received directives to implement the various provisions mentioned in the policy. Actually, Shri Pawar seemed to have announced this policy hoping to mobilise women for elections as a counter-strategy to what appeared to be an emerging OBC-Dalit alliance in the State. In retaliation, the opposition played up the Jalgaon sex and video scandal in which Congress I members were involved.

The State Policy had very little to say about violence against women except to propose some cosmetic changes in the police force.

The Women’s Centre’s particular concern and area of work being violence against women, especially within the family, it will be appro­priate to quote some statistics issued by the Crime Record Bureau of the Home Ministry:

A woman is raped every 47 minutes, another is kidnapped or abducted every 44 minutes, while a third is subjected to cruelty by husband or in-laws. Seventeen dowry deaths are reported every day. The number of reported crimes against women was 82,818 last year. In the last two decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the rape cases reported, nearly 40%.

Maharashtra reported the maximum number of crimes against women in 1993. This of course does not mean that Maharashtra has the highest incidence. Bihar reports much less; but in reality the incidence might be higher there. The reporting and registration of crimes against women are much higher here in Maharashtra because of the presence of a dynamic women’s movement here. The Jalgaon issue, where over a long period, a number of young women were sexually exploited by politicians and elected representatives, reveals another fact; that it is the nexus between the police, the politicians and other influential persons so that crimes against women are not only on the increase, but do not come to light immediately; and when they do, there is no immediate conviction, but rather a seemingly deliberate delay in booking the culprits. While the government talks of empow­ering women through various policies, its elected members blatantly perpetrate atrocities on women. The values imposed by a patriarchal society put further pressure on the women and their families as they face social stigma and ostracism. In spite of the wide ranging powers given to the State Women’s Commission, it did not involve itself in any way in enquiring into such incidents.

The other dimension of women’s lives, namely their economic life, has been affected very badly too, due to the World Bank-IMF dictated New Economic Policy which has been willingly accepted by our government. Structural Adjustment Programmes, privatisation of state owned ventures, and the cutting down of welfare measures have resulted in increasing poverty of 80% of the people, more than half of whom are women. Most of the women who approach the Centre are from this section and many feel the brunt of the steep rise in the price of basic foods. For instance, during 1991-94, the years of structural adjustment and liberalisation, the wholesale price index rose by 51.5%. During the same period, consequences for basic food items were worse and the foodgrain price index rose by 70%. This is a matter of life and death for many of the poorest in the country. To make matters worse, during the same period, the government withdrew its support from the Public Distribution System, resulting in its total collapse. These two developments have severely affected the availability of food to the poorest of the poor, 50% of whom are women. Many of them are forced to do more than one job, which in turn affects their health. All this has made life much more difficult for women, as they are still the home-makers, and are ultimately responsible for the welfare of their families.

The new economy’s other effect seems to be the growing consumerism which is being promoted through events such as Ms Universe and Ms World competitions, and our country’s so-called ‘image’ abroad and at home being measured by the so-called rise in the standard of the physical beauty of women. Our government and the decision makers of the country provide ample support and enthusiasm for such pursuits, but are taciturn about the growing violence against women. If anything, they only make token attempts for the genuine development and empowerment of women. This is a clear indicator of the value system that is being promoted in society.

Supporting Women

Support to individual women continues to be the Women’s Centre’s main work. This is necessary because despite women’s commissions and women’s policies being set up and initiated by governments, and women’s development being given top priority on all NGO agendas, the condition of women continues to deteriorate. The inclusion of women in every formal structure has become almost a norm, but the oppression and exploitation of women in the family and society still persists. Individual women find themselves in unbearable situations and support to such women becomes crucial to their survival.

The reasons women approached the Centre ranged from harassment by own family members to severe beating; from desertion to bigamy, and wife burning. A general breakdown will give an idea of the variety of ways women are harassed within the family, and despite the seemingly great strides in women’s development, the family environment and structure still hamper their development, restricting them from asserting themselves.

Very few women are really able to come to terms with divorce even now, although at the time they approach the Centre some of them express their intention to get out of the violent marriage. However, social conditioning and the reality of women’s lives is such that, even today, the label of being a married woman offers more social security and respectability than that of someone who fought for her rights and dignity.

Statistics for 1994-95:

The first category, namely severe beating accompanied by other forms of harassment, requires further explanation. Other forms of harassment include withdrawal of financial support by the husband, sexual harassment, and husband’s suspicious nature. Beating is seldom an isolated phenomenon in a violent marriage. Mental torture caused by withdrawing financial support to the wife, sexual harassment, not allowing wife to see the children, and the continuous threat of being thrown out of the house: any one of these culminates in severe beating. The suspicious nature of the husband, his psychological problems, his pre-marital affairs kept undisclosed, or his wanting to re-marry: these were some of the other situations where women tried to exert their rights, and got severely beaten. In one case, after a severe beating, the woman was thrown down by the husband from the first floor of the building. Fortunately, she survived with minor injuries. Extra-marital affairs of the husband, when questioned by wife, is another excuse for wife beating. The women who come to the Centre with complaints of beating believe that if the immediate situation, like the other woman, or the influence of mother-in-law, or the husband’s suspicious nature, or alcoholism is changed, their husbands would stop beating. Fourteen women who came to the Centre seeking help were convinced that it was their husbands’ alcoholism that drove them to beat their wives. It is through prolonged counselling that women were able to understand that it is the patriarchal society which has given men the right to view their wives as a piece of property, to beat them, to throw out or torture; curing them of their alcoholism or suspicious nature could only be a short term solution. Desertion by husbands is another phenomenon women face. In such situations the tendency of the husband’s family is to throw the women out thus denying them the right to matrimonial home. In some cases, it was found that it is the man’s involvement with another woman, or even a second secret marriage which has led to his deserting his first legal wife.

Single women being harassed by their families need special mention here, as society’s definition of family and domestic violence takes into account only marital violence, but not the harassment and sometimes even physical violence many women face from parents, brothers, sisters, sisters-in-law or even neigh­bours. Therefore, the victims are reluctant to talk about it; on the other hand, they are made to feel guilty. It becomes difficult and awkward for them to approach anyone for support, as they fear that they may not be taken seriously, especially by the state machinery like the police station and courts. This year, nine such cases came to the Centre, all of them facing harass­ment from parents. Parents think of the unmar­ried daughter as a burden. A daughter is denied property rights and made to feel like an outsider in her own house.

Again it is within the parental home that single women of another kind, viz. divorcees and widows, face mental torture and isolation. Widows are also prey to scheming neighbours and relations who try to grab their homes or property. Due to lack of support they feel victimised, and become vulnerable.

Nineteen women who came to the Centre this year were thrown out of the marital home due to the extreme possessiveness, jealousy, or the suspicious nature of the husband. Severe beating was present in every case, so much so in some cases the women themselves left the home, as it became unbearable to stay on. Almost all of them are back in the parents’ home now. Society has given total right and authority to the husband and his family over the wife, so that her life becomes restricted, and emotional and physical space is denied to her. Her personal and public life is so jealously guarded by the husband that any space or recognition she gains for herself is resented, and she is victimised. A strong mother/son relation­ship verging on abnormality is another reason a wife is made to feel redundant and unwanted and then thrown out. A widow’s right to the matrimonial home is not recognised and her in-laws throw her out. Again, a woman’s right and position in the family become shaky when the husband is out of the country; the in-laws throw her out. In the case of a woman living with her step-sons, due to constant and extreme harass­ment by them the woman opted to move out.

Legal Aid

The legal aid programme of the Centre can be seen as an empowering tool when women feel that through legal recourse, they can regain something of what they have lost; custody of children, marital home or maintenance, not the least their freedom and dignity. The process itself helps them to gain some self-confidence. Though the legal system has its limitations, within its framework, women do have certain rights. However, even to assert these rights women need legal assistance.

Among those who approached the centre for legal support were women who faced severe beating and harassment from husband and in-laws, or parents, or were being cheated by the husband as he was already married, or for the custody of the children. The Centre tries to play an arbitrary role to settle disputes without in any way compromising the woman’s position, and always conveying to the husband, in-laws or parents the right of the wife or daughter to live in the family with freedom and without threat or fear of violence. Court proceedings are expen­sive and time consuming. A legal battle is advised as a last resort.

Approximately 60 women sought legal advice last year, and 12 cases are in court, out of which five cases were filed by the Centre. In two cases the women were the defendants as the husbands had already gone to court against them for divorce.

Campaigns

An essential dimension of the Centre’s work is to relate and link individual women’s lives and experiences within the family to wider issues facing women in society. The patriarchal system which subordinates and violates women within the family is strongly operative in society too, which results in taking away all her rights as an equal citizen. Any challenge to change, the system in favour of women is met with strong resistance from all sections of society — religious, political, and generally the propertied class. In such cases collective campaigning by women’s groups, if necessary, a nation-wide campaign, is the only way to stem the oppo­sition.

Women’s equal right to property, especially the parental property has always been opposed by patriarchal society. The Mary Roy case of 1986 is now well known, wherein after a prolonged battle, the Supreme Court judgement gave equal rights to the Syrian Christian women of Kerala, and the judgement made it applicable with retrospective effect from 1951. However, the Kerala legislative, supported by the male leaders of the Christian community and the Church tried to bring a new bill (Revival & Validation Bill) to strike down the retrospective aspect of the judgement. The Women’s Centre, at this juncture, initiated a national campaign to oppose this. Action Alerts were sent to all women’s rights groups and women’s organi­sations in the country, giving background information and asking them to lobby the state and central governments to withdraw the new Revival & Validation Bill from the Kerala Assembly. A spate of telegrams and letters flooded the offices of the State Law Minister, Chief Minister and the President of India. A deputation of women from Kerala met the President of India. As a result of all this, the ignominious bill was eventually withdrawn.

Sexual exploitation

The Jalgaon sex scandal which suddenly came to light was another issue which shook the people of Bombay and horrified women’s groups. Jalgaon, a big town in Maharashtra, was the scene of rampant sexual exploitation of young women by corporators and other such ‘respectable’ men of society. It was very clear that there was a nexus between politicians, the police and influential persons which kept this matter in the dark for a long time. The women were further victimised by social values, apart from the stigma. Many of them faced broken engagements, demands for additional dowry, and further restrictions of their mobility. This issue called into question the basic values of our society, the involvement of the government’s elected representatives in such degrading acts, the subsequent delay in booking the culprits, and the non-involvement of the State Women’s Commission. All this reveals that women’s issues are always pushed to the back seat. The Women’s Centre organised the first demon­stration in which many groups in the city participated. An open letter to the public was circulated, in which several demands were made to the State government. A deputation of women met the Secretary to the Department of Women & Children, Maharashtra State. The demands included the appointment of a Special Court for the trial and the case to be concluded within a month, the denial of bail to the culprits, the name of those involved to be revealed to the public and the immediate suspension of the police officers involved. Women’s groups also demanded that election law should be changed so that those convicted of sexual crimes and violence against women are barred from standing for election, and if already elected, are recalled.

The International Day of Protest against violence against women was observed by the Women’s Centre on 25th November. Banners were put up at several suburban railway stations to draw the attention of the public to this increasing malaise. A sit-in was organised with other women’s groups at a public place. Pamphlets giving statistics on violence against women were distributed. Songs and slogans affirming women’s right to freedom from violence, and that violence against them is a violation of human rights drew the public’s interest and attention to these issues.

Get-togethers

Monthly get-togethers have evolved as an integrated part of counselling at the Centre. Challenging family structures and inequality in it is one part of the struggle. To link up this struggle with the larger issues of economic and other inequalities is the other part of the struggle. Women’s involvement in these monthly meetings helps form interconnections between these two inseparable parts of the struggle. While counselling of individual women equips her to deal with her problems in a better way, get-togethers motivate her to get interested in larger issues which affect her in the society. For a woman who comes to the Centre with her problems, these get-togethers link her family with the society as such. Nearly 25 to 30 women attend these monthly meetings. Those who do not attend give the feedback that they feel happy when they receive a letter from the Centre regularly. They say they feel they are in touch with the Centre through these letters though they are not able to make it to the meeting. Of late, a group called Saheli Committee working at Behrampada, Bandra, has started attending these meetings regularly. This group has consolidated after the riots. Nearly seven to eight women have emerged as leaders. They say they receive a lot of strength from these meetings. This group handles family violence, ration cards, demolition etc. Six to seven Muslim women from Saheli Committee have become a regular feature of these gatherings. This is one way Women’s Centre is reaching out to the community. These women are keen on participating in any public event, meetings and Dharna.

This year current events like the announce­ment of Women’s Policy and Jalgaon scandal formed the topics of two separate meetings. The main features of the Women’s Policy and the process that led the formation of this policy was summarised. Then the discussion followed. Women felt that if equal rights to property was made effective many of their problems can be solved. It was observed that the gap between the demands of women’s organisations and the remedial measures taken by the state is widening.

While discussing the Jalgaon issue two questions were put to women. One, why do you think it happened to women in Jalgaon, two, why did these young girls not speak about the injustice done to their family members. The responses were: ‘such things will not happen to good women’, ‘it will not happen if we take care’, ‘the women involved may not be educated women’. As a natural reaction it came out that these things happen only to women of bad character and uneducated ones. Later they were asked to question their own statements by commonplace experiences of eve-teasing and harassment at the workplace. That sexual exploitation of women is so much part of our system was brought home to them. ‘Women did not speak, because it is a question of family honour’. ‘They were frightened because they were threatened’. The discussion focused on what is the role of the family. The kind of family that we create for out children, should it not give space for our daughters to speak out? These thoughts were put forward for women to react.

At one of the meetings, a film ‘I live in Behrampada’ was screened. The discussion can best be summarised in one response, ‘During the riots many Hindus and Muslims lost their lives. Where was Allah or Ram to save them?’

Instead of having the meeting at the Centre, women joined a dharna at Hutatma Chowk on 25th November 1994, as a part of the Inter­national fortnight against Violence Against Women Campaign.

At the next get-together on 24 December 1995, some of the women shared their exper­ience of dharna. ‘Passersby to whom we were distributing leaflets were asking us questions. We felt very good. But some did not even look or bother to read the leaflet. We should have many such campaigns’, they said.

Two meetings were devoted to ‘Women & Health’. Activists from the forum for Women’s Health shared their experience. They gave information on different types of contraceptives, particularly the least hazardous contraceptives for women. (The concept of self-help was not welcomed by the women.) Women expressed their powerlessness within the family to decide on the number of children they would like to have. Women were cautioned against going to (family planning) camps run by government health authorities for reasons like a) the contraceptives offered are target oriented. They do not take into account an individual woman’s need, b) The standard of hygiene is very poor, c) No follow-up is done.

These get-togethers act as collective sharing and consultation platforms. It is a ‘woman’s own’ time and sharing, with freedom.

Training & Intervention

For several years now the Women’s Centre has become a training place for students from SNDT who are doing their masters or graduation in Human Development. The students are placed for 3 weeks to 6 weeks, and participate in every activity of the Centre. This year, a young student from the University of Pennsylvania was placed for a month’s internship.

This year through the Centre’s intervention and help, Praveena Patel residing in London was able to get custody of her children. The agency in the UK which was dealing with Praveena’s case, requested the Centre to collect information about her family background and the educational and other facilities being provided to her children in Surat, Gujarat, by her parents. A centre member travelled to Surat, met with local authorities and the family. A detailed report of the family’s status, the children’s home and school environment, was sent to the agency. Subsequently, it was reported that the London court granted Praveena the custody of her children. The information sent by the Centre, it seems, contributed to a great extent.

Renovation and redesigning of the office this year has given a new look to the centre, at the same time adding more work space, and providing a warm and cheerful atmosphere.

Sustaining the struggle

As we look back over the year’s work, we feel that what we have done is to sustain our struggle — a struggle which was many dimen­sional and at many levels. At the individual level it has been a struggle to retain our personhood within a patriarchal structure. The struggle for equality and justice also had to be maintained while interacting with the state and its machinery. Women need to be empowered so that their struggle against oppression is kept alive and sustained, and a political and social environment is created in which women’s rights become a reality and women’s space within the family and society is guaranteed.

Our experience in recent months also tells us that women’s groups locally and nationally now have a responsibility to come together and with one voice express clearly their demand for a gender-just family law, which takes into account the reality of women’s lives and experiences. When fundamentalist and commu­nal forces keep harping on a Uniform Code which gives no guarantee of justice to women, women’s groups must come forward to press for laws that will ensure justice and equality for women within the family. Another responsibility of women’s groups would be to see that the democratic processes in the society which seem to be getting endangered now are kept alive, and that the concept and practice of secularism are not diluted. In a context of both democracy and secularism being in constant danger of being set aside, women’s liberation will become a casualty. The women’s movement must thus take upon itself to strengthen its position and make its voice heard on these issues so that women’s struggle for equality and justice is maintained.