Empower 1500 girls in India to be Healthy & Safe!

Bharti is a 23 year old woman from Gangapur who has been a part of The Butterfly Project since 2017. This programme works with Dalit and Muslim girls from low income marginalised communities on issues of gender rights, discrimination and early and forced child marriage.

Bharti was married off when she was in the 5th standard, at the young age of 10. When she was in the 10th standard, despite her protests, she was sent off to her husband’s home in another village and they stopped her from studying any further. She was taunted everyday and treated very poorly by her in-laws. She also did not have any support from her husband.  She says she was not aware of any of her rights and assumed this was how things should be. Even though she has a son, she was not aware of her own body and how it worked and believed in many regressive myths about the same. Because of this lack of knowledge she was also not in control of her own body and choices related to her sexual health. 

In 2017, when Bharti started engaging in the Butterfly Project, she learned about her bodily rights and mechanisms, about gender discrimination, advocacy and laws and rights that apply to young women. Bharti left her abusive in-laws and learnt to advocate with government officials and disseminate information on issues of gender violence and rights, puberty, menstruation, livelihoods among many more. Bharti is now working with one of The YP Foundation’s partner organisations and has been involved in their work in ending child marriage, stopping gender discrimination and teaching young girls about their bodies and helping them with issues of puberty, contraception, safe sex etc. She is also working on attitude change towards adolescent girls and perspective building of the community to support their girls in their dreams and aspirations.

Your support has been instrumental in helping turn Bharti’s life around! Her and many like her are building their own lives and are happy because of this support!