AKSHARA AND THE LOCKDOWN
The corona virus, invisible to the eye, actually visibilised so much for us. As a society, we have given little thought to issues which have always been with us. The virus turned the microscope towards us and is said – look at yourself, look at the problems in society. Everyone has been impacted, some more than others. As a women’s organisation, Akshara looked at the impact on women and intervened to address some of their problems, with a particular emphasis on violence against women and relief.
A PUBLIC CAMPAIGN AGAINST CHILD MARRIAGE #JUSTACHILD
Shuttered schools, rising poverty and social isolation during the Covid 19 lockdowns nudged many families to marry off their young daughters. Child marriages, though against the law, started increasing.
One in ten of India’s child brides lives in Maharashtra. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the situation for young girls. Over the year 2020-21, 790 child marriages were averted across the state of Maharashtra through the joint action of Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), CHILDLINE, the Police and Civil Society Organisations.
Taking note of this surge in child marriages, Akshara Centre initiated a public awareness campaign in collaboration with the Department of Women and Child Development and UNICEF. A state wide campaign was held from 5th August, 2021 to September, 2021 to spread awareness, share information and success stories through social media, reach out to parents, rope in front line workers, communities and civil society to prevent child marriages. The campaign was launched by the Minister DWCD, Advocates Yashomati Thakur and Nirmala Sawant Prabhavalkar along with Akshara Centre and UNICEF.
Do click on these links to see the video:
Hear Actor Sakshi Tanwar’s personal appeal to prevent child marriages here
The impact of the campaign became clear from the number of the calls received. Within three months of the campaign breaking, 150 child marriages were stopped from taking place in Maharashtra.
A PUBLIC CAMPAIGN CALLED ‘LOCKDOWN ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE’
On 23rd March 2020, the Prime Minister urged people to draw a ‘lakshman rekha’ at the doors of their homes to protect themselves against the coronavirus. All over the world, similar restrictions were being imposed to stop the contagion. But these words and strategy impacted women in quite a different way. In a matter of weeks, there was a surge in the reported cases of domestic violence. In Delhi about 2,500 women called the state emergency helpline numbers. The National Commission of Women recorded 250 domestic violence complaints between March 25 and April 22, 2020. But there was also a deafening silence. Many were not reporting out of fear of their abusers and no alternative solutions. Queer and trans persons faced a different sort of violence without access to their support networks.
If the govt asked women to stay at home, it should help in making home a safe space for them. Both, the women reporting violence as well as those silently suffering, needed support and alternative systems.
Akshara, in collaboration with the Special Cell for Women and Children [TISS], and supported by the Govt of Maharashtra and Maharashtra Police launched a two-pronged campaign: (i) to disseminate info so women could access the police number 100 [not usually associated with domestic violence] for complaints and support during the lockdown. Reporting acts as a deterrent to domestic violence and reinforces it as a crime. To get a wide coverage and ensure outreach, we appealed to the government and celebrities such as Bollywood actors and sportspersons, requesting them to lend their voice and encourage women to ‘report domestic violence’.
Please see the videos in English, Hindi and Marathi.
https://youtu.be/y0fgSE9nS2k (Hindi)
https://youtu.be/AXkZYDQX3cM (Marathi)
https://youtu.be/v2e3JwxFmw8 (English)
(ii) As a backup plan, a district wise directory of the mobile phone numbers of over 550 service providers – social workers, Protection Officers, one stop crisis centres, and NGOs in Maharashtra – was compiled and given to all district control rooms. This was followed by an online training on phone counselling and protocols during COVID 19 lockdown, attended by over 350 service providers in the State. This online campaign reached 5 million viewers through social media.
THE SECOND PUBLIC CAMPAIGN ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ‘NO COVER UP’
The campaign #NoCoverUp was launched by Akshara Centre in collaboration with Mullen Lowe Lintas Group, and supported by MTV India and Saregama.
The initiative’s objective was to create awareness about the issue as well as reach out to the victims/survivors of domestic violence, reassure them that they are not alone and encourage them to take the first step – not cover it up.
Watch the video:
LOCKDOWN ON POVERTY: SUPPORTING SINGLE MOTHERS
COVID 19 magnified another issue – that of women’s work. Most women, even if they are employed, still engage in unpaid housework. They put in an estimated 297 minutes every day compared to 31 minutes by men. With the lockdown, the home became a school, workplace and a nursing home. Women ended up doing more housework than before.
Women workers in urban areas belong mainly to the informal sector providing services like office help, domestic workers, daily wagers etc. The lockdown severely impacted them as they lost their jobs and their meagre wages and their family’s’ standard of living suffered. Imagine if some of these women were the sole earners with a couple of children? Their situation will be dire poverty. Women who are heading households mostly do so because of the death of their husbands or family members or if they are separated. They have been called ‘the poorest of the poor’. In most of the cases, women have been catapulted from being housewives to being earners and with little skill or experience they usually get the lowest paying jobs in the labour market.
Akshara has been engaging with youth from underprivileged sections, including girls from woman- headed households. Families of many of these youngsters were in financial trouble as the parents could not go out to work during the lockdown. Other organisations working with the urban poor also contacted us for donations because single mothers desperately need support.
The number of our recipients was small in comparison to the efforts made by large organisations and the State. We choose a niche group of the poorest amongst the poor which required effort to trace, contact and deliver. We were able to locate 250 such extremely poor families and disbursed about Rs 12 lakhs to them.
Petitioning the government
During the pandemic, hundreds of NGOs and informal groups stepped in to deliver food, rations, and hygiene products to migrants and the poor. The scale of their work was small compared to what the govt is capable of given its massive networks of institutions and people. Both have important roles to play and need to work in tandem. It is also the constitutional responsibility of the govt to arrange for basic requirements to all its citizens in a crisis.
Akshara along with other women’s groups put together a Petition for the Chief Minister of Maharashtra which was endorsed by 86 women’s groups.
Below we reproduce or refer to some of the petitions and statements issued by different national and international organisations on gender and the COVID 19.
A Petition by Women’s and Other Organisations in Maharashtra
✶Several civil society organisations wrote a petition to the Gujarat Chief Minister
✶ Oxfam India’s Charter of Demands provides policy asks for a humane and human rights based response to COVID-19 and the lock-down measures with a feminist approach, which uses an explicit analysis of gender power relations, in responding to the pandemic.
LOCKDOWN ON COVI-BOREDOM: CONNECTING WITH YOUTH
With the lockdown in place, life came to a standstill for everyone but more so for youth who are used to mobility and activity. Confinement in a single space had an adverse effect on one’s mental health. We, at Akshara, lent our support to students.
We arranged for free telephonic counselling and therapy services for all students.
“I was so scared about what will happen, whether we will have enough provisions, about my future, about my family that I started getting palpitations. My family started scolding me and that made it even worse. I was so relieved to talk about my fears to someone and it helped me get a perspective.”
Weekly WhatsApp messages were sent to the Akshara alumni, present students and volunteers on
– How to understand and resist the Corona virus along with info on hospitals and clinics.
– How to make masks?
– How to avoid getting infected?
Moreover, to keep youth engaged, we encouraged learning and creativity. We shared the artworks created by the girls we support on our social media handles.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-hQe5wn_rs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_CQ1S7n9tj/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
We provided them with resources to upgrade their existing skills or earn a new skill set altogether by sending them links for learning apps. A free ‘How to Improve your Spoken English’ training was provided.
GET IN TOUCH
We would love to hear from you! There are several ways we can help each other. You can volunteer with us or you can donate money. In case you would like to contact us, do drop us a line at: akshara.frea@gmail.com
If you would like to assist Akshara’s efforts by volunteering or interning with us, please get in touch by filling in the attached form and emailing it to us. Give us an idea of what sort of time and skills you have, so we can hook you up with one of our programs. Your expertise is needed for our growing organisation.
We welcome individual and organisational donations. Choose which program you would like to donate to? Read our Annual Report and decide to support youth as gender advocates, sponsor underprivileged girls’ education or make the city safer for women.
If you are looking to working with us. We offer full time and part time or freelancing possibilities. It’s a great small and friendly team. Please send us your resume.
Our postal address is:
Akshara Centre
Dhuru Bldg, 2nd floor, opp Bank of Maharashtra
Gokhale Road, Dadar West,
Mumbai 400028, India
Tel: 022 24328699
Email: akshara.frea@gmail.com