My Choices is funding 15 PeaceMakers (fieldworkers) for 1 year to provide free Counseling, Rights Education and Legal Aid to victims of domestic violence and work with students and families to bring about holistic change. Between 40-80% of married Indian women face domestic violence. In India, it is seen as a sign of masculinity for men and a right of passage for women. We work to provide victims of violence choices that include working with their families to the break the cycle of abuse
Between 40 - 80% of Indian married women face Domestic Violence. On average, 54% boys, girls, women and Men agree think that a man hitting his wife is a justifiable expression of masculinity. Little boys who witness their father hitting their mother are 5 times more likely to grow up to perpetrate abuse against their wives than boys who never witnessed abuse. Around 50% of girls wish they hadn't been born girls. India needs solutions to gender-based violence that include every stakeholder.
We provide free counseling, rights education and legal aid to victims of abuse and violence and work with the perpetrator as well as extended families to end the cycle of the abuse. These services are crucial as the Indian legal and police systems consistently fail to implement the outstanding laws available to them to protect women and girls from violence. Without this support, victims and families experiencing violence are left with precarious option for recourse and little to no confidence.
Each PeaceMaker provides services to around 10 families each year. 15 PeaceMakers means 150 families' lives transformed forever. That's 150 women living free from abuse & violence, 150 perpetrators who have re-learned what it means to be a man, 150 families who have discovered the peace that homes deserve. Crucially, it also means 150 homes in which children are growing up learning that violence is never acceptable. Together with our awareness work, this adds up to a lot of community change!
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).