Sexuality and Feminity

India's Single Women Resist Stigma, Demand Rights

Efforts to get rights and resources for single women have been gaining ground in India. Single women"s organizations have formed in eight of the country"s 28 states, and advocates are now looking to build political power at the national level. Page 2 of 2Need for Dignity, Respect, Voice "We will recommend that the poverty alleviation programs adopt new guidelines in order to ensure that single women get their rightful entitlements. Being a single woman, I know every woman needs dignity, respect and a voice," Hameed told Women"s eNews. The commission is conducting a mid-term appraisal of the current plan for 2007-2012 and will be consulting with state ministers to review the steps taken by them to fulfil state obligations for gender empowerment, including single women, she says. Srivastav, a 57-year-old Canadian who married an Indian activist, is a powerhouse in the movement. In 1970 she co-founded with her husband, Astha, a nongovernmental group focused on empowering marginalized people. During that time she came to regard widows and other single women as some of the most vulnerable and oppressed in Rajasthan, which led her to form a team that mobilized widows in 25 of Rajasthan"s 32 districts to form the Association of Single Strong Women. "We started by telling single women about their rights," Srivastav, who was widowed in 2003, told Women"s eNews. "Now, the leaders and membersspread the word across Rajasthan themselves: how to claim their rights to land and property, how to break with the traditions in their caste or community. We also train them in that and they, in turn, train others." The Association of Single Strong Women claims a long record of achievement. The group played a pivotal role in lobbying state legislators in 2007 to increase widow monthly pensions to $8 from $3. It also helped secure drought-relief work for low-income single women that entitles them to manual labor at a minimum wage for as many as 100 days a year, considered crucial for low-income rural widows and other single women who are prevented by custom from migrating to find work. The guaranteed wage, equal to that of men, helps them afford food, better nutrition and shelter. Local government statistics indicate women"s work force participation in the state rose to 69 percent of all women in 2008-09, from 67 percent in 2006-07. Countrywide Advocacy Rajasthan advocates have also developed a technique for helping single women hang on to inherited land that relatives--in defiance of federal law--often try to seize. After verifying that all the legal documents are in place and alerting police against any signs of family intimidation or seizures, advocates organize a ceremony where a land transfer certificate is given to a widow or daughter. The group invites family members, local officials, journalists and women"s groups to attend. Srivastav says this approach often inhibits relatives who might otherwise take the woman"s property. If the land transfer ceremony doesn"t succeed, advocates also facilitate legal help in case the matter needs to go to court. In Maharashtra, Saheli, a single women"s association for Muslim women in Mumbai, prevented 40-year-old Ruksana Sheikh from becoming homeless. Sheikh, who never married, faced constant verbal and physical abuse from her brothers to give up her right to their father"s house after his death. The organization aided her in registering a police complaint and facilitated legal aid, as well as helped her open a bank account and deposit the money she received after signing a deal for the house. In Himachal Pradesh, a mountainous northern state, advocates have persuaded local officials to issue separate food ration cards to single women. In the past, the cards had gone to predominantly male heads of households, who then held sole power over a family"s access to grain, rice and sugar at subsidised rates. In the tribal-dominated state of Jharkhand, advocates have helped single women charged of witchcraft to bring lawsuits. Widows or separated women are more likely to be labelled as witches, putting them at risk of abuse and death. About 700 Indian women were killed in the last three years under suspicion of being a witch, according to newspaper media reports. Swapna Majumdar is a journalist based in New Delhi, India, and writes on development, gender and politics. For more information: Astha http://www.astha.org/ The Association of Strong Women Alone/Widow Separated Women http://widowseparatedwomen.org Note: Women"s eNews is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites and the contents of site the link points to may change. * First * Previous *1 *2

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