{"id":9765,"date":"2020-11-07T14:58:21","date_gmt":"2020-11-07T09:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=9765"},"modified":"2020-11-07T14:58:21","modified_gmt":"2020-11-07T09:28:21","slug":"women-empowerement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/women-empowerement\/","title":{"rendered":"WOMEN EMPOWEREMENT"},"content":{"rendered":"

How defending Rewa villages against dacoits EMPOWERED WOMEN<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

villagers<\/strong> have opened businesses, many headed by women<\/strong><\/p>\n

Years ago, when Soundarya Adivasi was handed a 12 bore gun for the first time, her arms, which had mostly heaved logs and carried toddlers since childhood, dropped with a quiver under its weight. But she held on, realising only women could guard the village in Rewa district against the terrorising dacoit \u2018Dadua\u2019.Women, children and the old and infirm were left behind every year as Majhiyar\u2019s men travelled miles looking for agricultural labour, except in the rainy season, often not returning for months. \u201cMard toh pardes chale jaate the (men used to go to different areas). And \u2018Dadua\u2019 and his gang members used to barge into our houses, abduct and harass women and girls, and even steal cattle,\u201d Ms. Adivasi, 45, told The Hindu over phone.<\/p>\n

Over the years, villagers have opened businesses, many headed by women. Still, small landholdings impel families to migrate for work. \u201cWe can now accompany the men to other areas to earn better income which was not possible earlier. Families feared houses would be pillaged in their absence,\u201d said Ms. Adivasi, whose family owns less than a bigha land.\u201cNow there is unity among residents who trust one another with belongings,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

What showcased the women\u2019s courage and leadership for the first time was an incident in neighbouring Kakaredi village, days after they were given guns. As the gang, which operated in both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, lurked at the village\u2019s edges, a woman who saw their approach shouted to alert others who assembled clutching their guns. \u201cWe fired in the air, and they fled. That moment felt empowering. It felt women can make a difference,\u201d recalled Ms. Adivasi.<\/p>\n

Men stood behind women in protecting villages in their absence,<\/strong> said Shyamkali Saket of Majhiyar. Earlier, women kept their faces veiled in front of strangers and weren\u2019t allowed to step outside if not for farming. But seeing the women sentinels confidently wield guns, hold mock drills, and patrol around the villages\u2019 perimeter with alertness at night, startled the men. \u201cBut it inspired other women to step out, sell timber in markets miles away, where they secured a better price,\u201d said Ms. Saket.<\/p>\n

Practised on their own<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

During the Chief Minister\u2019s visit to the district in 2004, women had requested for guns which were handed over to them under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). A guns dealer initially gave lessons in handling and firing the guns, but eventually the women practised on their own \u2014 shooting at tree trunks, and fruits hanging from trees.\u201cSecurity of women was the primary focus at that point,\u201d said Ajay Singh, District Programme Manager, NRLM. \u201cWe identified their requirements and what livelihood options are available nearby.\u201dHas years of peace rendered the guns unusable now? \u201cWe fire them for celebration during marriages and political functions,\u201d said Ms. Adivasi.<\/p>\n

Majhiyar sarpanch Saroj Singh, who recalls being fearful of being married in the village 40 years ago, believes that as long as women stay united no baagi (rebel) can touch them. \u201cI encourage women to shoo away any miscreants with lathis now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How defending Rewa villages against dacoits EMPOWERED WOMEN villagers have opened businesses, many headed by women Years ago, when Soundarya<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9766,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9765\/revisions\/9766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}