Gender, Violence and Human Rights
Breakthrough recently conducted a 2 day workshop in Ladakh among a group of women under the auspices of the Women Building Peace project in Jammu and Kashmir, in collaboration with Wiscomp. In 2008, the group of women were gathered to form a socio-economic group called Samanbal and using this group as a platform they planned a proactive engagement with the voices in the Kashmir valley, since it was the epicenter of the conflict. The Samanbal was set up in the Chuchot Shama village, 10kms from Leh on the other side of the Indus.
The village has both Muslim and Buddhist populations. The Thundal Samanbal has thirty three women members who form three Self Help Groups. The SHG’s work according to the norms laid down by the members themselves. They deposit a fee of Rs fifty each, have regular meetings and lend money to members of their group. The members earn some money by spinning and knitting. In this space they use electrically operated charkhas and with the thread they hand knit socks and sweaters. An average a pair of socks on which they spend Rs. 30/ fetches Rs. 100/ in the market and they were already selling the products.
For the Leh group this was their first workshop on Gender and Domestic Violence. The two most important issues that emerged out of this workshop were: Firstly among the Buddhists alcoholism among the husbands seemed to be the major problem for the women. Secondly among the Muslims there has been a trend among husbands to give talaq to their wives by virtue of a letter which is sent to the anjuman, without the knowledge of their wives.
Most of the women in the workshop were illiterate, but they seemed to be quite aware of their rights. They knew about the rights of the disabled and were able to articulate women’s problems as well. Further, they were quite specific in their demand for quality education and health services.
In conclusion it may be said that they were able to relate the discussion to their personal lives, which helped in taking the workshop to its next level
Tagged domestic violence, gender
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