Understanding women’s plight

InternationalWomen’s Day is just a few days away. This day (March 8), on one hand, providesan opportunity to recognize the achievements of women and their overallcontribution to society and on the other, it is an opportunity to focus onthose areas of women’s lives where more can be done so that they are empoweredto take greater financial, political and physical control of their lives.

Let us take anoverview of status of women in Kashmir, especially in the last three decades ofturmoil, and what exactly needs to be done to power them with empowerment.Women being the most vulnerable, account for the vast majority of thoseadversely affected by the turmoil in Kashmir.

   

Here in J&Kwomen’s empowerment needs a tailor-made approach. The first thing while workingon measures to empower women in this strife-ridden geographically remote regionis to understand that initiatives taken for women’s empowerment in other partsof the country will not necessarily prove successful here. Here, the problemsconfronting women folk are totally different than rest of the country.

There is need tofocus on those areas of women’s lives where more can be done so that they areempowered to take greater financial, political and physical control of theirlives. Before tailoring solutions to help women to achieve empowerment in theseareas, one has to understand her position/situation in which she has beenplaced since 1988 when armed insurgency began here. It’s she who became thedirect victim of all sorts of violence which took place and is currently takingplace. Precisely, the impact of the armed conflict has rendered their emotionalstrength into weakness and has engulfed them into a constant state ofdepression. Frankly speaking, compensation, in whatever form is very low in comparisonto the psychological and economic costs suffered by them during all these yearsof turmoil.

Having deeperattachment with their families, Kashmiri womenfolk silently continue to bearthe brunt of violence directly as well as indirectly while caught in thetwilight of Kashmir issue. Whether a family member got killed or disappeared,it has been a continuous trauma for Kashmiri women to mourn or yearn for suchincidents. Cases are in abundance where many such women are living with theirpainful memories and now toil hard to feed their family. And there areinstances where they were forced to assume the headship, only to carry on withthe burden of their families, mostly comprising of orphans.

One of theaftermaths of this turmoil has also been the ever-increasing number of widows.These widows are witnessing worst socio-economic conditions as their onlybread-earners have been either killed or left brutally maimed or havemysteriously disappeared during the course of the bloody violence. Majority ofthe widows in the state are living a miserable life as the government and otherorganizations have not paid adequate attention to their problems. With theresult, their problems have compounded alarmingly.

Among the mostfrustrated are the half widows. Until their husbands are proved dead, thesewomen cannot inherit their property or come under the government’s compensationpolicy, if any. Often these half widows are thrown out of their homes, leavingthem to fend for themselves in a vulnerable environment around them.

While facing thebrunt of the turmoil, stress related disorders have been taking toll of women.More than 5000 patients per year, majority of them women, visit doctors forpsychiatric diseases and worst part is that most of the victims don’t havefinancial resources to undergo treatment.

Precisely, womenhere always bear the brunt of any disaster, whether natural, social orpolitical. It is they who have to suffer the most and at the same time keeptheir homes intact by gathering confidence and strength. So, what we need todayis that Kashmiri women should be empowered. When we talk of their empowerment,we need to do their segmentation based on their profile andaccordingly tailorempowerment solutions.

For example, theskillful craftsmanship of Kashmiri artists has made Kashmiri handicrafts asprized possession over the years and has captured the hearts of people acrossthe globe. Among the army of these skillful artisans, women constitute asubstantial number who are well trained in the arts and crafts and contributeto its glory in a significant way. Here the women segment of artisans in thesector are lacking resources to organize their trade in a professional way.Being unorganized and left to the mercy of middlemen in the trade, they are forcedto live in abject poverty.

A survey should beconducted to map these women artisans and segregated according to theirspecialties in the arts and crafts. They should be grouped in clusters throughself-help groups. Special finance schemes on the pattern of artisan credit cardshould be introduced for them. The scheme should be women exclusive and shouldcontain a scope of handholding them after they avail the finance facility.

Special healthinsurance scheme should also be tailored for them. Here prime minister’s BimaYojana can be clubbed with the financial package.

In succinct, thewomen who have been ruined by the circumstances created during all these yearsof the turmoil should be identified, rehabilitated and provided all amenitiesof life. Some initiatives that can be taken to empower these women can be:

–           A financial aid scheme should bedevised to support women who have been rendered widow or half widow during theturmoil and are struggling on financial front to run their domestic affairs.The scheme should be on the pattern of a family pension to be paid monthly.

–           There should be mainstreaming to thedistribution of financial resources in equal and required manner at theofficial level. We are living in a system which is plagued in many ways againstwomen and girl. Statistics reveal that child gender ratio at the moment is lessthan 900 and continues to decline alarmingly. Maternal mortality is higher than200. The most worrying factor is the alarming increase of crimes against women,which is over 30 percent in the past few years. This entire plight againstwomen summed up ignites urgent need of an honest effort to correct this throughfinancial outlays backed by legislation. What I mean to say is to go for genderbudgeting.

–           Gender budgeting is considered aperfect route to spot needs and priorities of women, especially those who arepoor. It leads to examination of existing policies, programmes and schemes todetermine whether or not they meet these priority needs. It simultaneouslyhelps in corrective reprioritization of budgetary allocations so that desiredoutcomes are attained.

–           Instances of girl child beingdeprived of education in the backdrop of poor economic background is very highin rural belts and this has been main cause of child labour in these areas.Make education free of cost for girl students in all the government runeducational institutions upto the higher secondary level. Fund the educationexpenses of girl students of government run educational institutions forprofessional courses after 12th class on merit basis.

–           Establish a chain of women policestations which should be run by women police. Having specific outlays forcurbing violence against women and girls is need of the hour. Over a period oftime, we have witnessed graph of violence against women going up and thevictims having very little means to get protection and justice. So establish achain of women police stations which should be run only by women police. Thiswould help to curb crime against women and at the same time would help thevictims to get speedy justice.

–           Career counseling centers in verydistrict should be established exclusive for girls/women and no fee should becharged.

–           As stated above, there is a hugenumber of violence affected women who are suffering from mental illness. Theyhave no financial support to fall back upon. Let such cases be identifiedthrough a survey and provided medical aid/ treatment free of cost.

–           A government backed marriage bureauhas a huge scope here. This bureau can facilitate mass marriages of girls whoseparents have no means to fall back upon for marriage of their daughters.

To conclude, letgovernment on the eve of International Women’s day roll out certain welfareinitiatives for the Kashmiri women who have been rendered helpless during thelast 30 years of turmoil. Now is the time to do away with cosmetic empowermentprogrammes.

(The views are ofthe author & not the institution he works for)

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