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Background

Women are the losers in a society with such deeply engrained patriarchal attitudes. Powerless, marginalized and vulnerable, they face discrimination and violence at the hands of the community and their family, and are deprived of even the most basic human rights.

Neglect of the girl child is commonplace here. Girls are denied the same food, healthcare and education given to boys, as a result of which they have a much slimmer chance of survival. A girl in Rajasthan is three times more likely to die before her fifth birthday than is a boy, even though medical research has long shown that girls are generally biologically stronger as newborns than boys.

Life doesn't get any easier for a typical Rajasthani girl as she gets older. Married long before she is an adult, she has no control over her fertility and faces a high risk of early pregnancy, at the end of which she and her child may not survive. With hardly any money in her name she is unable to make her own decisions about her healthcare, nutrition, and the well being of her children. She not only works long hours in the fields but also has to do all of the housework with no help from her husband. She must fetch fuel and water (both of which are often several kilometres walk away), cook, clean and care for her family. If she fails in any of these tasks or performs them too slowly, it is likely that her husband will beat her.

Every year the police record more and more incidences of violence against women - everything from wife beating and mental torture to rape, witch-hunts and dowry deaths. Countless other cases go unreported, with women suffering in silence behind closed doors. What's more, many females in Rajasthan fall prey to violence even before they are born. In a society where girls are seen as a strain on scarce resources because of the crippling expense of paying dowry for their marriage, some families take tragic steps - either killing their newborn daughters, or selectively aborting female foetuses. These all too frequent occurrences are major causes of the low sex ratio in Rajasthan, where there are only 922 women for every 1000 men.


Objectives

To bring about change in the attitudes and behaviour of people towards gender equity and equality.

To create a mass movement to prevent sex selective foeticide and infanticide.

To encourage the government to form policies and laws which reduce gender discrimination and increase women's participation in decision-making processes.

To study, examine and analyze the implementation of various policies and acts in favour of women, and to advocate more effective delivery by the stakeholders.

To support community groups and promote advocacy efforts to fight violence against women.

To initiate community-based programmes which promote the socio-economic-political and cultural empowerment of women.


Activities

1. Programme to address the declining sex ratio

Rapport-building with communities to put Prayatn in a position to tackle sensitive issues relating to gender discrimination.

Training and workshops for men, women and children on gender equality and the rights of the girl child.

Organizing women's groups to provide an opportunity to develop skills in leadership, marketing, alternative health care and negotiations with public authorities.

Development of a cadre base of women activists (called 'Balika Sathi' - Friends of the girl child) to take up the cause of gender discrimination.

Establishment of resource centres in villages, providing information about reproductive health, gender equality and women's legal rights.

Alliance-building with like-minded organizations and individuals.


2. Programme to stop violence against women

Women's groups set up in over one hundred villages to support victims of violence and campaign for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Training programmes for group leaders on women's rights and laws against gender violence.

Facilitating a network of women's groups so that women can share information and experiences and strengthen their negotiating power.

Capacity-building of the Balika Sathi women activists, with training sessions covering topics such as leadership skills, community organization and campaign planning.

Life skills workshops for adolescent girls to increase their confidence and work towards a dignified existence in society.

Village forums for adolescent boys, with the aim of creating a more positive attitude towards women and the girl child among future generations.

Village meetings organized with men to sensitize them to women's issues and to encourage them to take a pro-active role in changing the attitudes of their peers towards women.

Rallies against alcoholism - a major cause of domestic violence.


3. Capacity Building of Women Groups

The insights gathered from the programme to stop violence against women helped us to identify the areas where the groups working on violence against women needed support and capacity building. These were:

Addressing and Reducing Domestic Violence
Combating female feticide and PCPNDT Act
Addressing HIV/AIDS related issues
Anti Trafficking
Understanding the Panchayati Raj System
Gender Just Budgeting

The capacity building inputs emphasized on building up of knowledge base of the issue; evolving community based strategies to address the issue and development of action plan and measurable goals.


4. Training Programme for Assistant Public Prosecutors

A large number of Public Prosecutors lack gender sensitivity in in-depth analysis of cases related to women which is reflected in their expression of legal arguments, reasoning and conclusions. The training programme by PRAYATN is the first comprehensive training of Public Prosecutors on latest legal developments, gender issues, laws and interactions with various stakeholder agencies.

The core objectives of the training are:

Gender sensitization focusing on appreciating problems faced by women in rape trials, recognizing the inadequacy of law in providing adequate relief in cases of crime against women, controlling court interaction that prejudice the victim and spreading legal provisions regarding crime against women;

Enabling Public Prosecutors to coordinate with police, medical jurists, forensic experts and litigants etc;

Till now ten training courses have been facilitated in the various districts/ divisions of Rajasthan.


5. Micro Credit Groups

Prayatn believes that women's lack of access to cash and loans is an important reason for their low status in society. With this in mind, we have facilitated the establishment of self-help groups for women.


The groups set up joint savings schemes and decide collectively how much money they will put aside from their incomes, to whom they will make loans and for what purpose. Women learn how to manage funds, assume leadership and develop collective strategies to change their lives. The financial independence they gain from their husbands increases their self-esteem and helps create more respectful relations between them and their community.