Nature of Support

Raising Awareness is the cornerstone of all activities undertaken wherein a woman is looked upon as an independent individual. For this, emphasis is laid on workshops, the durations of which span over two to five days and stress on the key issue of women’s independence, individuality and need for social justice. Following this, a dialogue and discussion on the concerns of each particular group takes place locally. The idea is to raise awareness of women about their human rights and individuality. As a group passes through these workshops, some women emerge as leaders and a committee is organized. Gradually, they become active on issues like supporting a woman who is victimized, either at home or in society, or helping a woman reach out to get medical help, or lead a demand for removing dung heaps from their villages as well as urging parents to send their daughters to school. All activities that are undertaken rest on the fundamental premise of women’s rights and autonomy.

Policy change and institutional reforms are key to tackling social injustice and bringing long term relief to the oppressed. In India a lot of domestic violence cases go unreported due to the apathetic attitude of the police and other state bodies. Our research on domestic violence abuses led to re-evaluation of the criminal justice system in Gujarat in 1995. We worked on sensitizing the police force of Gujarat to the plight of these women and have succeeded in incorporating the following procedures to the police manual: