WOMEN SPECIAL Fighting for a Happy End Via Social Change

Women tackle gender oppression to emerge as leaders

Mumbai : Three women from different sections of society came together to speak of their experiences with the gender gap and violence against women and how technology played a part in bringing about empowerment.

Kirthi Jayakumar, Nitasha Sihag and Pragya Singh spoke of their experiences at the ET Women’s Forum on Friday. Jayakumar, an activist, artist, entrepreneur and writer from Chennai, founded and runs the Red Elephant Foundation, a civilian peacebuilding initiative that works for gender equality through storytelling. She spoke about how she came to crate the Saahas app after late-night phone calls from a friend with an abusive husband.

Sihag, from Haryana’s Khari Sureran, said her journey began when she heard stories of several women from her state and took it upon herself to address such issues.

Singh is an acid attack survivor, activist and social worker who is fighting for relief and rehabilitation for other acid attack and burn survivors. She told the audience how she and several other women are fighting back.

“I’m not what happened to me--I’m not my face. I’m what I think of myself and I have a story with a happy ending,” declared Singh.

There were several lifechanging events in her life but none came close to what happened to her when, in an act of vengeance, a man threw acid on her face for rejecting his advances.

“There was a darkness I faced in my life, darker than the most vivid imagination and most frightening nightmares,” said Singh. She was able to cope with the agony and endure the pain with the help of her family, mainly her husband, but she was not at ease.

“I was not at peace with just fixing my own life and moving on. I had to do something for others who were left alone to suffer in the darkness,” said Singh.

She founded the Atijeevan Foundation, an NGO that works with doctors for medical advice and treatment. She also counsels acid attack survivors on developing a permanent source of income by training them to create handicraft products and marketing them.

Sihag shared her experience of coming from Haryana, a state from where news about caste-based violence and attacks on women are commonplace.

“I do all the domestic chores and handle a gas agency which is about eight kilometres away from my home, where often women would come to me to seek help and I would try my best to resolve their problems,” said Sihag. However, she was often frustrated at her inability to be effective.

“My husband suggested that I join politics if I wished to bring about real change. I competed against three men to win the panchayat samiti elections with a thumping majority,” she said.

Sachin.Dave

ET19MAR18