Anger and Mourning in India

On Saturday, December 29th, the 23 year old New Delhi rape victim 'Nirbhaya' died in the Safdarjung Hospital, Singapore, after a thirteen day struggle for her life. 

Reading the newspaper today (The Times of India), it sounds as though the entire nation has erupted into turmoil as suddenly the issue of women's right's has exploded across the nation. Although the incident was atrocious, it did push people to finally send a message of "enough", and I have a feeling that, in terms of enforcing women's rights, some things might change to help protect women more. I already noticed that, aside from multiple articles about the victim 'Nirbhaya' and the increasing protests, there are more reports of rape victims coming in from across India. My guess is that this has caused a ripple effect, and by the time the New Year begins, things are going to change.

Back in Time

Today we are headed to our next location, Bundi. In the time I have been in India, I have visited about seven historical forts, all built in different time periods for Rajs in Rajasthan. One of the many things they hade in common was the use of purda windows. These were windows that were built in forts designed so that women could see out of them into the courtyard and city, but men could not see in. The designers did this by interlacing different patterns into the stonewalls of rooms.

Purda translates into modesty, and it was repeated many times, by tour guides, audio guides, or just guide books, that they were there for the protection of women from leering men. Whether it was just the wandering eye, to if there was an invasion of the fortress, these were made to ensure that women were protected by stares and kept modest. This made me question the history of women's rights in India. Were these purda windows put up because men really did care about the modesty and protection of women, or to remind them of their oppression, as if to say that they were stuck behind stonewalls, and were forbidden to be seen.


In my opinion, I think that it was a mixture of both, because although the men wanted to preserve the women's privacy and modesty, it was also oppressing to them in that maybe it was a bit too much privacy and modesty, which may have caused some insecurity. Although it was made with mostly good intentions, it was, in my opinion, oppression nonetheless towards women.

Standing by a purda window.

Merry Christmas from India

On the 22^nd of December, my mother and sister attended a cooking class in Jodhpur, to learn how to make Indian food. The woman who ran the cooking class in her home had two daughters, one 9 years old and one 10, and while the rest of my family was cooking, I spent some time playing with the two daughters. The mother told my family and I how when their daughters were born, many people felt sorry for them that they were girls. The mother and father, however, are happy and are trying to raise their daughters so that they are safe and have a good life. They also told us how they are investing in their education instead of dowries or jewelry, seeing it as a brighter future for them.

We are now in the city of Udaipur, and since it’s Christmas Day, and I haven’t been feeling too well, I have decided to take some time to reflect on the past week and a half. So far, some of the highlights of this trip have been the markets in New Delhi, walking through the streets of Jaisalmer, riding camels in the desert and jumping in the sand dunes, visiting the charity school, and talking with Govind. In terms of my project, being in India has given me an entirely different perspective on the topic of women’s rights, and has helped me to get a firsthand experience with this topic in another culture.

Interview with Founder of Sambhali Trust

I have just finished my interview with Govind Singth Rathore, the founder of the untouchable women's empowerment charity called the Sambhali Trust. He gave an entirely new perspective on my project and had lots of new information to share.

He started by describing in detail what the Sambhali Trust does. Their goal is to empower women in the Rajasthan community as much as possible. Their process is this: when women usually come to the charity, there is a good chance they have suffered from domestic violence. Domestic violence and alcohol are two of the main factors that lead towards the abuse of women. The Sambhali Trust helps these women by giving them emotional support and providing a sense of community in the charity. Once this is done, the charity tries to convince the women to attend their education programs. If they convince the women to attend, they begin to teach them basic reading and writing skills, and help them to gain confidence and integrity. Some reasons that women are convinced to get a proper education are that once that is done, they can work and get a job, and although they are from the lowest caste, the untouchables, once they start earning money of their own, they gain a new respect for themselves and from the community around them. Money in India is very important, and some people's greed for it can make them cast aside their prejudice. It's a relief that there are ways for women to get respect in their community, but it is also quite shocking how much influence greed has over such basic human rights issues.

In terms of word spreading out about the charity, workers go door to door in the slums of town and cities and tell families there about the charity, and that they should send the women in the family there. A problem that the charity often runs into is after two or three months of schooling and attending the charity, women and girls stop going. The charity went to find out, and apparently, after two or three months the women begin to get a sense self-confindence, and begin to say "no" to things they didn't want to do. The men in the family saw this as a threat, and stop them from going to the education classes.

The Indian government advises that women should be paid about 1,100 rupees (about $22 Canadian) for their work that they sell each month. The store that Sambhali Trust owns that sells items b made by women in villages pays them from 3,500 to 6,000 rupees ($70 to $120 Canadian) each month. Some negative news is that the Indian government says that if you earn more than 26 rupees (52 cents Canadian) in a village, or 32 rupees (64 cents Canadian) in a town daily, you are not considered poor and therefore get no government support. This leaves lots of families trying to make a living while being paid very little.

I was able to learn some more information about the incident I talked about earlier in New Delhi. A 23 year old medical student boarded a city bus early in the morning, and was brutally gang raped and beaten by a group of men. As a result, there have been many protests in New Delhi demanding stricter laws against rapists in India. Rapists, along with murderers, serve a seven-year sentence in prison. But the protesters are demanding that the accused men serve a harsher sentence, some even suggesting capitol punishment. The sad thing is that every 42 minutes, an Indian woman is raped, and every 62 minutes, it is a child being raped. When I asked Govind why people are protesting now, when it is so common for it to happen, he said that most people don't want to start a protest over something that happens so much already, and don't want to get in trouble with the law. Already police forces have had to fire water cannons at crowds and beat protesters that have gotten out of hand. The thing, however, that makes this case so different is that it was on a public service bus, it was in the capitol of the country, and not only was the girl raped, she was also brutally wounded and beaten.

If you would like to learn more about the Sambhali Trust, or to read Govind's story of what inspired him to start this charity, I encourage you to visit their website

http://www.sambhali-trust.org/

Village School

Yesterday we left Jodhpur for the night and traveled over 100 km to spend the night in an Indian village, with a population of about 500 people. This was a great way to experience rural India.

Before my family and I arrived in the village, we visited a school run by the Sambhali Trust charity. There we met some of the students attending, varying in ages from 6 to 14 years old. It was there that I got firsthand experience with the education system of India. Although the school we visited was “private,” it is run by the charity so it doesn’t cost the children anything to attend. There were two different programs there. Some children were part of a program called the Peacock group, which consisted of those who already attend school, but who need to get more education, especially in English and Hindi. Another program is called the Butterfly group, which is aimed towards children who don’t attend school at all. Some of the subjects that the school focuses on are basic hygiene, English, teaching girls some basic sewing, as well as singing songs and playing games.

Most of the teachers are volunteers from around the world, who stay in the local village for a month. The main teacher was originally a student at the school, but graduated and now oversees all of the programs. Something I did notice when I visited the school was that even though the children were very young, there was a vast majority of boys, and few girls attending. I had already read about this being very common in India and other countries as well, but it was interesting to see it firsthand.

Once we arrived at the village, we were invited into one of the clay huts to watch our food being made. All of the cooking was done by one of the women, who kept her veil on the entire time and didn’t speak much. We learned later that it was for modesty purposes.

Walking through the village was very interesting. It seemed as though everything I had predicted about rural areas was true to my research. I noticed that men and women always seemed to be separated from each other in public. From getting water, to attending worship, I got the feeling that oppression was subtle, but was literally not more than footsteps away from me.

News from Jodhpur

Late last night, after boarding a train in Jaisalmer, we arrived in Jodhpur at about 10:30. Jodhpur is a city that is bigger than Jaisalmer, but smaller than New Delhi. It is also where we are staying at the Durag Niwas Guest House, which is owned by a charity that helps to empower women. The name of the charity is Sambhali Trust, and during the next week I will be interviewing it’s founder, Govind Singh Rathore.

This morning, while eating breakfast, I picked up a newspaper, and inside there were at least three articles about the raping of women in India, in response to an incident that occurred in New Delhi. From what I read in the newspaper, I gathered that people are starting to realize that this problem of sexism is getting out of control, and going as far as to say “Rape is not a sex crime; it is a gender crime.”

Standing inside the Sambhali Trust store in Jodhpur.

View From a Camel

Yesterday we departed from Jaisalmer and drove for an hour across the desert in a jeep. We stopped at a village next to a watering hole where we jumped on camels, and trekked across the desert for a couple of hours before we stopped for a night under the stars, before returning this morning, by same means of transportation. Although the trip was tiring, our guides were good, and overall it was a very enjoyable experience.

Since Jaisalmer is one of the more rural areas of India, I was looking out for anything that might be useful towards my project. Although I didn’t get any firsthand information, I did get to witness a little bit of village life for myself.

Rural India is quite different, even from rural Canada. There are multiple small villages, with populations ranging from maybe 15 people to 1000 or sometimes even more.  These villages will either have a watering hole in them, or a well nearby. Most people who work in towns like Jaisalmer usually come from these villages. The only women I saw in villages were the ones who were retrieving water from the wells. Although I didn’t get to talk with any of them, based on my conversations with the tour guide, there is still a lot of sexism occurring in the rural areas.

The impression I got was that men work outside the home, and women stay home and do all of the cooking and housework. That’s fine if that’s their choice, but I’m getting the impression more and more that they’re being suppressed and they have few options open to them. Tonight, we’re leaving to go to Jodhpur, where I’m planning on meeting with the Sambhali Trust, a charity that helps oppressed women. Hopefully there I can get some firsthand experience about this issue in the more rural areas. 

On a Rooftop in the Middle of a Desert

Today is our second day in the town of Jaisalmer, which is in the middle of the desert about 100 km from the Pakistan border. It is a more rural city, and is near to some villages. Tomorrow my family and I plan to visit some of those towns on the outskirts while we ride camels and spend a night in the desert.

Today, while wandering the streets in the fort (the city is built around it, but it's almost as if there's another city inside), we came upon a textile store that supports the empowerment of women. The name of the shop was Bellissima, and we spoke with one of the workers there, Bobby. She told us how the women in the shop give the proceeds of the textiles bought back to the women in villages. So, even in rural areas this problem is being addressed in the communities. If you would like to check out the shop's blog, click the link:
http://bellissimafort.blogspot.in/.

This is the fort in which our hotel is located.  

Our room is the window at the top

above my sister's head.

Sent from train 14659

As I type this, I am on the last few hours of an 18 hour train ride to Jaisalmer, in the state of Rajasthan. Yesterday, before I left in the evening, I managed to get an interview with Suruchi Bazaz, the wife of our guest-house manager in New Delhi. Some of the information she gave me was confirmation of research I had done prior to this trip, but quite a bit of it was useful and expanded my knowledge of this topic. One thing she said was that rural India is quite different than the big cities, like New Delhi, and that I should be aware that the problems that happen in the urban areas are quite different than the ones in rural areas. 

Mrs Bazaz explained to me how child marriages, now illegal, still happen, but more so in villages than in cities. Also, as soon as the girl is born, the family starts investing in her dowry instead of her education (a dowry is what the wife's family pays the husband's family when they get married). Also, the tradition of child marriages, especially when girls marry a man older than themselves, began in the past, because families wanted to protect their girl children from rape, kidnapping, and other liabilities, but now it usually only happens because the family is looking to get rid of the girl.

In India, gold jewelry is viewed as a woman's security. Often instead of saving for her education parents will put their money into jewelry for her instead. So, basically, parents of girls invest their money in a girls' 'security' and their dowry, and the parents of boys invest their money into his education, so he can get a good job and a good wife. 

In terms of the issue of widows, the government is not focusing a lot of their attention on this problem. Although 'sati', which is when the widow jumps into the funeral pyre with her husband, is now outlawed, the widow is expected to give up all worldly pleasures and lead a life of mourning. Remarriage is not encouraged or expected even if the widow is very young. If a man's wife dies, he is encouraged to get remarried almost immediately. Widow discrimination is more culture based than religion based, and apparently has been around for a very long time. In terms of marriage, most women stay in marriages even when they are not happy, just because there is nothing else they can do for themselves. Divorce in India is legal, but it is not common and not usually smiled upon.

The government is leaning more towards helping women get more rights and education. It is more common for children to attend private schools in big cities and public schools in villages. Private schools are generally better to attend, since children get more of an education there, but it is hard to send supplies and teachers to rural areas, since they are so out of the way and spread apart. Apparently, it is more common nowadays for girls, mostly in big cities, to go on to post secondary education. However, girls do still drop out as early as 8 years old. Child labour is one of the main reasons why children drop out. For girls, the labour is usually housework, and for boys, it is more working jobs at factories and sweatshops.

Another topic was revealed to me in this interview, and this was the killing of baby girls. Often, parents who see the girls as a burden to them, will either get multiple abortions (Mrs. Bazaz told me of her friend who got twelve of them), or will kill them at birth. For this reason, it is illegal now for doctors to tell patients the gender of their child before birth, but often doctors will tell patients without really telling them. The doctors use a strategy where there are two sweets (candy) that are given out to family and friends at the birth of a child; one associated with boys, one with girls. A doctor will tell the patient to stock up on one of these particular sweets, basically telling them the gender of the baby.

Apart from my interview, things have been pretty good. We spent yesterday walking through the Qutib Minar, a historical mosque complex, and wandering through some markets before we got on the train. I have come down with a cold, but apart from that, the trip is going as planned and we only have a couple of hours left till we get to Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer is in the Thar desert, close to the border with Pakistan.
　

Old Delhi

We spent this morning in Old Delhi, a section of Delhi. There we visited a place called the Red Fort, which was a palace built in about the 17th century. I have begun to notice a system in India, as in places where there is security checks involved, men and women are often seperated and are checked by separate people. Another thing I noticed was in the New Delhi subway system, there would be a section of seats, or even an entire section where only women were allowed to sit. These were probably set up, so that women would feel more comfortable, especially in an environment full of so many men. 

Things like this confirmed in my mind that this problem of sexism is being adressed in the bigger cities of India, especially since New Delhi is the capital of India. What I want to find out when I leave tomorrow into the province of Rajasthan, is whether this problem is being adressed in more rural areas of India.

First Day in New Delhi

 We have officially arrived in India (approx. 1:30 a.m., New Delhi time), but before I begin to go head on into my project, I figured I should give some background information on my three topics, in regards to women’s rights.

In Indian culture, the husband is regarded as the status role in the family, whereas the wife is in a lesser position. Therefore, once the wife loses her husband, she practically becomes an outcaste in her society. Although she might try to live with her family, chances are that they won’t be able to support her, or they will not want anything to do with her. This leaves her little option to either spend her days begging while living in seclusion, earn a living through prostitution, or to flee the country. No matter which situation, none are easy to make and will most definitely result in regret, guilt, and pain.

Child marriages are an extremely big problem in India. Though illegal now, children, mostly girls, are often married off at a very young age; either to another young child, or to an older man. This often happens, because girls are seen as burdens to their families, and therefore they invest very little in their education or future, leaving them very little option but to marry them off at a young age. Usually, when they’re first married off, the girl stays with her parents until she hits puberty, then she goes to live with her husband. She will often bear children at quite a young age, and at some times, her husband will die while she Is still young, leaving her to become a widow, which results in more problems.

Some of the main reasons why girls never attend school or stay in school are the cost of education, or they are not interested in education, or they don’t consider it necessary or needed for work around the house. In India, about one quarter of the population cannot read or write.  And to make matters worse, without education, women lack the ability to speak out about their discrimination.

Arriving at 1:30 this morning, and waking up at about 9:00, I was very jet lagged today (see the picture of me asleep at the Frankfurt airport en route to Delhi). Nevertheless, my family and I still managed to visit central New Delhi, and see some of the sights. So far, I have not witnessed too much gender discrimination in New Delhi. In fact, when I stepped out of the airport this morning, I saw in the parking lot a case of handicrafts made by women entrepreneurs, to show their growing empowerment. I found this interesting to see, as it showed me how people are starting to realize and focus on these issues, seeing them as a major problem. 

The Night Before....

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step-Chinese Philosopher

           

Hello! It’s my final post before leaving Canada, and so far, I am excited. Stressed, but still excited nonetheless. My living room looks like a clothing bomb went off in it, but we are nearly ready nonetheless. Our flight leaves tomorrow (Wednesday) from Ottawa at 5:30.  But, before I leave Kingston I must give my final performance as Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night.  “If music be the food of love, play on!”

I am starting to get nervous even thinking about going to India. Personally, I am most excited to experience Indian culture compared to Canadian culture. Specifically, how women are treated. I am not sure exactly how my project will unfold and what I will see once I arrive, but my guess is that, no matter what, their culture and treatment of others will be quite different from ours.

I am mostly looking forwards to meeting with Indian people and hearing them share their experiences with women’s rights issues they’ve had to deal with in their lifetime. I am also looking forwards to basically the entire time I’m there, from when the plane departs from Ottawa, until I touch down again in Ottawa. Except, of course, spending six hours in the Frankfurt Airport.