Stop Violence Against Women in South Asia

Shweta is 52 years old and is a community leader in a slum Mukhed, Maharashtra.  She is the fifth child of ten siblings - five brothers and five sisters. Her parents got her married when she was one year old to a boy who was 5 to 6 years old. She never had the opportunity to attend school as she was teased by those from upper caste backgrounds, so although she was enrolled she never turned up to school.

Her family were forced to migrate because of drought to a slum. Every day was a struggle to get their basic needs met of water, food and livelihood. As soon as she was old enough she joined the government's Employment Guarantee Scheme where she saw the exploitation of the labourers. She raised her voice for minimum wages and became a leader of the women labourers. Since then till today she reaches where ever she finds injustice to people. Her work was in areas like water scarcity, electricity, road, drainage, and atrocity. Mobilizing people on these issues and fight for their rights has become her aim in life.

In 2014, Shweta came in touch with the Maitri network where the campaign 'Stop Violence Against Women' was being run in her local area. She attended regular meetings, training and learned the technical advocacy tools especially with the govt. Through Maitri she particularly got an opportunity to learn Domestic violence Act 2005 and the mechanism available to implement the Act. After attending training on Domestic violence she organized a training program for the government officials in the Mukhed as a part of the campaign. The second year she organized the campaign on domestic violence and mobilised women's community leaders on this issue.

In 2016, she formed a group of 20-25 community leaders to continue the campaigning work. She participated in two paralegal trainings where she could learn about judicial systems and effectively using the law to take the cases up to the court. Now she is familiar with the government mechanisms available to work on those Acts. She knows how to access the district legal service authorities for legal help. She continues to run this group in 2019.

 “Because of the Maitri project I learned how to involve government officials in a more systematic way and make them accountable. We could increase the work of the protection officer by 40 %. This now many more women can access their rights.”

 The training and work have brought change in her own perception especially about the men’s involvement in the work. She learned about gender equality and realized that it is necessary to work with men including men’s responsibility to share household activities. Today she encourages men and boys to help at home. This was not her thinking earlier. 

Her next area of focus is to end child marriages in her district. She has developed a good rapport with the government officials and is confident of stopping any child marriage. Shantabai feels empowered and enriched with knowledge, skills, and confidence to make a difference in many other women’s life.