In the previous article about Bhumika Women's Collective we gave an overview about the general issue of violence against women as well as the Collective's approach and vision to combat that violence - and strive for an equal society.
If you haven't read that one yet, it explains the basis for these interventions - just click here!
As explained, all of these interventions aim to promote a violence-free society for women - through direct support as well as awareness programs to ensure a sustainable development.
Helpline
In 2006,
Bhumika started its work with the first helpline for women in distressed situations.
Women can call the toll-free number to get support
from a counsellor of Bhumika 24 hours a day, 7days a week.
The cases are mostly related to domestic violence, but can also reach from love affair cases, issues with the sexual orientation to forced marriages and suicidal women.
According to that individual case, a woman's wishes and needs, the Bhumika counselor offers adjusted advice and adequate help.
The aim of Bhumika is to empower the woman by herself. Thereby the focus of the counselling is not telling her what she has to do, but on giving her emotional support and expounding all her possibilities. The counsellor illustrates the possible next steps, e.g. suggesting her to attend a counselling session at one of Bhumika’s Support Centers, referring her to a local police station or support system - or just listens to her. After the woman decided how she wants to go on further, Bhumika offers individual guidance and support. If there is need for an immediate action, e.g. the rescue from a dangerous situation, Bhumika acts instantaneously.
The helpline counselling is important and influential because the woman can talk to an outside person she doesn’t has to face directly so that she can speak openly about her situation and issue.
The cases are mostly related to domestic violence, but can also reach from love affair cases, issues with the sexual orientation to forced marriages and suicidal women.
According to that individual case, a woman's wishes and needs, the Bhumika counselor offers adjusted advice and adequate help.
The aim of Bhumika is to empower the woman by herself. Thereby the focus of the counselling is not telling her what she has to do, but on giving her emotional support and expounding all her possibilities. The counsellor illustrates the possible next steps, e.g. suggesting her to attend a counselling session at one of Bhumika’s Support Centers, referring her to a local police station or support system - or just listens to her. After the woman decided how she wants to go on further, Bhumika offers individual guidance and support. If there is need for an immediate action, e.g. the rescue from a dangerous situation, Bhumika acts instantaneously.
The helpline counselling is important and influential because the woman can talk to an outside person she doesn’t has to face directly so that she can speak openly about her situation and issue.
Since the
helpline of Bhumika is the only one of its kind in the states of Andhra Pradesh
and Telangana it has exceptional success and reaches women countrywide, even receives international calls.
Support Centres
With the same objective of empowering women through counseling, Bhumika runs four Support Centres in Hyderabad, Telangana. These Support Centres are located in police stations, where women can attend individual counselling sessions. Here one can see Bhumika's approach to work within the governmental structures to provide and ensure an appropriate treatment of women there.
Victims, survivors
or complainants of any violence or any other issue can receive the counselor's support. Similar to the helpline counseling, they firstly offer information and advice for her proper case
and the woman decides by herself on how she wants to continue further.
If her wish is to file a case at the police station e.g. in case of domestic violence, the counselors accompany her with her decision and support her with the following bureaucratic and juridical steps.
The whole family system, its importance and influence on individual members as well as their dependance on it is different to the one in Germany. In many cases, the violence, either physical or emotional, happens within the family, e.g from spouses or in-laws. Thereby a group counseling with the family member, or other offenders, is required in most of the case.
Within the German cultural and social system, one would rather assume that distance or separation from the family is the best solution in many of these cases. But because of that different family system in the Indian society, the main attempt is to solve the problem within the family structures, even though the family might be the whole cause of her situation, of the violence she faces.
That may seem strange to someone, to us at first, who is not familiar with these different family values and social system. The reasons and social interrelations are manifold and exceed the framework of that text here - it is just important to be open and not directly judge from our socially different shaped point of view.
With this procedure the woman is not obliged to directly make a complaint at the police station, which is a huge obstacle, but can try to change her situation at home with the support of the counseling of Bhumika’s counselors.
If her wish is to file a case at the police station e.g. in case of domestic violence, the counselors accompany her with her decision and support her with the following bureaucratic and juridical steps.
The whole family system, its importance and influence on individual members as well as their dependance on it is different to the one in Germany. In many cases, the violence, either physical or emotional, happens within the family, e.g from spouses or in-laws. Thereby a group counseling with the family member, or other offenders, is required in most of the case. Within the German cultural and social system, one would rather assume that distance or separation from the family is the best solution in many of these cases. But because of that different family system in the Indian society, the main attempt is to solve the problem within the family structures, even though the family might be the whole cause of her situation, of the violence she faces.
That may seem strange to someone, to us at first, who is not familiar with these different family values and social system. The reasons and social interrelations are manifold and exceed the framework of that text here - it is just important to be open and not directly judge from our socially different shaped point of view.
With this procedure the woman is not obliged to directly make a complaint at the police station, which is a huge obstacle, but can try to change her situation at home with the support of the counseling of Bhumika’s counselors.
20 to 30
days after the last counseling session, the counselor gets in
contact with the woman through phone calls or house visits to make sure that her
situation has changed and her problem is solved.
Special Prison for Women
In
Chanchalguda Prison, Hyderabad, Bhumika Women’s Collective provides counselling
for women inmates. The women are either under trials or convicted for having
committed different crimes.
The aim is to give emotional support to the women to enable them to have self-confidence and believe in their strength and abilities so that they can start a life by themselves after their discharge.
Looking at their cases, it is important to take the general social situation for women into consideration. Many cases are direct or indirect results of the patriarchal structures, the discrimination and oppression, the violence. For example if a woman and her children are left by the husband, on whom they were economically and socially dependent, and she, being denied of a sufficient education, indulges in sex-work, which is an offense. Or if a women murders her husband on impulse in a violent situation after he had been violent for decades. The social situation is no excuse or complete justification, of course, but needs to be considered from us, from the families while looking at the cases and women.
It is of major importance that the social surrounding and family of the woman accepts her so that she is able to start a different life - referring to the previously explained family system. Therefore Bhumika offers counselling to their families and relatives. The counsellors aim to raise awareness and sympathy for the inmate’s situation, facilitating and creating a secure and supportive surrounding for the inmate after her release.
Furthermore the counsellors ensure the well-being as well as the school attendance of the children of the imprisoned woman. Many are neither properly taken care of nor attend school.
Looking at this intervention, one can see both levels of Bhumika's work: Firstly the direct help to the inmates as women in a distressed situation and secondly the counseling to families and communities to raise awareness, seeing the crimes as part of a social issue.
The aim is to give emotional support to the women to enable them to have self-confidence and believe in their strength and abilities so that they can start a life by themselves after their discharge.
Looking at their cases, it is important to take the general social situation for women into consideration. Many cases are direct or indirect results of the patriarchal structures, the discrimination and oppression, the violence. For example if a woman and her children are left by the husband, on whom they were economically and socially dependent, and she, being denied of a sufficient education, indulges in sex-work, which is an offense. Or if a women murders her husband on impulse in a violent situation after he had been violent for decades. The social situation is no excuse or complete justification, of course, but needs to be considered from us, from the families while looking at the cases and women.
It is of major importance that the social surrounding and family of the woman accepts her so that she is able to start a different life - referring to the previously explained family system. Therefore Bhumika offers counselling to their families and relatives. The counsellors aim to raise awareness and sympathy for the inmate’s situation, facilitating and creating a secure and supportive surrounding for the inmate after her release.
Furthermore the counsellors ensure the well-being as well as the school attendance of the children of the imprisoned woman. Many are neither properly taken care of nor attend school.
Looking at this intervention, one can see both levels of Bhumika's work: Firstly the direct help to the inmates as women in a distressed situation and secondly the counseling to families and communities to raise awareness, seeing the crimes as part of a social issue.
SHE-Teams Counselling
The SHE-Team program was launched in 2014 by the police of Hyderabad with the aim to
harness eve-teasing in the city. Eve-teasing describes various forms of public sexual harassment. 100 Teams of five to six plain-clothed police officers observe crowded places where sexual harassment happens often. They take photographs or videos when harassment happens to a woman and catch the offender. The offender has to attend a counseling by Bhumika’s counselors at a police station (Gachibowli, Rachakonda).
This sanction is mandatory, otherwise the police will file a case.
At the counseling, not only the offenders get counseled but they have to bring a family member with them – preferably a woman. At the beginning the offender gets counseled on his own. The counselor asks him about the offense and according to his awareness of misbehaving, she act and e.g. explains the consequences of harassing a women to him, legally as well as on his work and private life, or call him for a follow-up counseling. In the second phase, the family member joins the session.
This special form of counseling is new and unique.
The aim is not only to sanction the offender but create an understanding, why that sanction is necessary, why his behavior was violating towards women. Thereby a whole change of mindset is targeted, which also prevents future violence.
To achieve that, the counseling with the family members utilizes the importance of the family in the Indian society. By having to attend the counseling along with the family, the severity of harassing a women is stressed. Furthermore, they ask questions like "What would you feel, if your sister was molested or raped?" to enable the offender to change his perspective.
This is a new and effective way of making changes in the society towards a violence-free surrounding for women.
When we attended one of these counseling session, we saw many parents cry. When we reacted not too sympathetic towards them since we thought that the parent's upbringing and attitude towards women has had a major impact on these offenders and may be one of the reasons for their behavior, our mentor showed us that we should consider the whole picture here. Most of the offenders come from working class families, where there is little time to spend with the children, the parents mostly work and don't have too much influence on the children. The main socialization is done by other influences. Again, that is no justification for any form of harassment. But if one wants to change the situation sustainably, the complete picture and reasons have to be considered. Awareness Programs
To make their vision of a violence-free society for women a reality, Bhumika Women’s Collective not only provides immediate help for women in distressed situations but also works on building a gender-sensitive base in the society so that a change towards equality between men and women is possible.
It is important to raise awareness about women’s equality for people in powerful positions in official institutions, e.g. police officers and judges, so that the given law basis and acts can finally be implemented sufficiently. In special programs Bhumika raises awareness about gender equality and gender sensitization to these officials.
Furthermore,
Bhumika provides sensitization programs in schools, in urban and rural areas,
and for refugees. And lastly, they connect widely with other organizations, talk at conferences and support other projects to spread their work and build a comprehensive network of women's support.
They organized a 'One Billion Rising Campaign' on the International Women's Day in March 2016, discussing the topics of nationality, democracy and women's empowerment in a colorful cultural program.
Working on Prevention of Child Marriage
In July
2015, Bhumika expanded its work to the rural area (mandals of Maddur and
Damaragidda of Mahabubnagar district, Telangana) with the
aim of preventing child marriages and strengthening the structures for girl's empowerment.
The legal age of marriage in India is 18 for girls and 21 for boys. Despite being a violation of the child's rights, the custom of child marriages is prevalent in many rural areas all across in India.
Again, the reasons are diverse.
They can be of economic nature with the hope to save money, for example in case of poverty or because of the custom of dowry. Furthermore, the handling of sexuality - with the wish to save the virginity for example -, the caste hierarchy and the poor implementation of the law contribute to its prevalence. And of course, the whole system of patriarchy, denying women to be capable of making self-determined decisions, but treating them as objects that obey to the patriarch's wishes, e.g. if he decides to marry his daughter to someone without considering her wishes.
To increase the awareness about the legal age of marriage and the consequences of child marriages, to sensitize the communities to recognize girl's issues and especially their wishes and aspirations before performing a marriage and consequently initiate a sustainable change of mindset and behavior, Bhumika runs different programs and activities.
They target both adolescent girls and boys themselves to enable them to be vocal about their wishes and concerns, to sensitize them on gender-issues and stakeholders on various levels, in the schools, communities, religious leaders. They act as an interface.
In Addition to that awareness work, they also stop child marriages directly through talking to the families, schools, communities, and if needed, also stop the procedure while performed.
The work on the rural side, within a community, brings different challenges. In some cases, the governmental institutions, the police denies their support, the families may react aggressively.
However, Bhumika has achieved to stop or at least postpone around 60 child marriages.
Furthermore, changes in the attitude of the targeted groups, the support of several stakeholders can be seen.
We hope we succeeded in giving you a clear but well-founded overview on Bhumika's interventions.
We could have and we wanted to write so much more on every intervention.
But we don't want to overwhelm you completely!
Gina and Donata
The legal age of marriage in India is 18 for girls and 21 for boys. Despite being a violation of the child's rights, the custom of child marriages is prevalent in many rural areas all across in India.
Again, the reasons are diverse.
They can be of economic nature with the hope to save money, for example in case of poverty or because of the custom of dowry. Furthermore, the handling of sexuality - with the wish to save the virginity for example -, the caste hierarchy and the poor implementation of the law contribute to its prevalence. And of course, the whole system of patriarchy, denying women to be capable of making self-determined decisions, but treating them as objects that obey to the patriarch's wishes, e.g. if he decides to marry his daughter to someone without considering her wishes.
The
consequences for the child are equally diverse,
including a variety of responsibilities towards the husband, family,
society while being neither physically nor emotionally capable. That
impacts both the physical and emotional health, with sometimes severe
consequences.
To increase the awareness about the legal age of marriage and the consequences of child marriages, to sensitize the communities to recognize girl's issues and especially their wishes and aspirations before performing a marriage and consequently initiate a sustainable change of mindset and behavior, Bhumika runs different programs and activities.
They target both adolescent girls and boys themselves to enable them to be vocal about their wishes and concerns, to sensitize them on gender-issues and stakeholders on various levels, in the schools, communities, religious leaders. They act as an interface.
In Addition to that awareness work, they also stop child marriages directly through talking to the families, schools, communities, and if needed, also stop the procedure while performed.
The work on the rural side, within a community, brings different challenges. In some cases, the governmental institutions, the police denies their support, the families may react aggressively.
However, Bhumika has achieved to stop or at least postpone around 60 child marriages.
Furthermore, changes in the attitude of the targeted groups, the support of several stakeholders can be seen.
We hope we succeeded in giving you a clear but well-founded overview on Bhumika's interventions.
We could have and we wanted to write so much more on every intervention.
But we don't want to overwhelm you completely!
Gina and Donata
0 Kommentare