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January 2006
by
edward
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last modified
17-08-07 23:05
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A communications initiative for a balanced, planned and stable population. |
| E-NEWSLETTER |
January 2006 |
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| Turning to faith to save the girl |
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Final salvation or deliverance, it is believed is possible, only when the funeral pyre is lit by the son or the nearest male entitled. However, one does not find evidence of such prescription in any of the scriptures (July 2005 newsletter). The importance of son preference is reflected and reinforced in many ancient gendered blessings, like 'Putravati Bhava' or 'May you be the mother of a hundred sons'. One cannot thus dispute the fact, that religion plays a major role in endorsing male preference and thus needs to be recognised in any advocacy campaign on the issue. A recent trend has been the emergence of spiritual leaders, who interpret scriptures like Puranas and other religious books in the modern context. There are quite a few TV channels promoting such discourses. This has opened up a new opportunity for communicators to use religious leaders to reach out to the masses with socially relevant messages. A major communication challenge is to involve the spiritual leaders who have considerable following, particularly among the middle and upper classes to condemn discrimination against the girl child and sex selection as heinous forms of gender violence, without compromising the hard-earned reproductive rights of women, particularly her right to a safe abortion under certain circumstances.
A recent event in New Delhi marked such an attempt. Around 35 religious leaders (See list of participants) participated in a conference organised by the UNFPA under the aegis of the Art of Living Foundation on November 8, 2005. The event had 'Laadli' as the logo and the theme as sex selection at birth. After comprehensive discussions on the issue, the religious leaders also took a pledge to do their bit to promote the cause of the girl child and proactively help in stopping the practice of sex selection. It was also agreed collectively to take up Padayatras (marches) to spread the message among the masses. In the same month, Swami Agnivesh, president of the social reformist movement, the Arya Samaj, organised a 15-day padyatra spanning Gujarat to Punjab. (Read about Swami Agnivesh's March of a Million).
We at Population First are glad that Laadli has appealed to the conscience of the spiritual leaders and committed them to action to stop the practice of sex selection. The efforts of the UNFPA to bring together this group of religious leaders for such a sensitive issue are laudable. This initiative would be watched by many in the development sector who are sceptical of involving spiritual leaders in a campaign like Laadli.
There are many reasons why such groups advocate against partnering or working with religious leaders. Says Ms. Sandhya Srinivasan from the NGO, Cehat, "Religion according to me is not a reason for sex selection. It is the property and economic issues that are responsible for people not wanting girls. I am sceptical of involving the religious leaders because many of them are against abortion and other rights of women. I think the medical fraternity is more culpable and should be tackled first."
Even presuming that is the case, one cannot ignore the fact that religion is a major endorser of gendering a male and female role. Religions reinforce the dependence of women on men and portray desire for economic independence and personal aspirations in women as unwomanly. Since religion, particularly in India, is open to interpretation, wouldn't it make sense to dig out alternative models/values available in our rich tradition to counter the dominant perspective? Is it possible to put our differences aside and agree that sex selection at birth is a crime and should not be promoted under any circumstances. We have an example in Sophia College of Mumbai, a Catholic institution supporting Laadli as a women's rights and a gender issue not merely as a pro-life campaign. The college principal, Dr. Anila Varghese says, "Ours is a women's college and all issues concerning women are important for us. Falling sex ratio is an important issue because apart from creating an imbalance in nature, it reflects gender discrimination and a violation of women's rights. As a Catholic institution we are also against abortion, but we are working with Population First's Laadli campaign because it addresses a much bigger issue of gender inequality."
It is such enlightened discretion among religious institutions and leaders that makes us feel optimistic about working with them as our allies. |
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The text of the Pledge taken by inter-faith religious leaders at the conference of religious leaders organised by UNFPA together with the Art of Living Foundation on November 8, 2005
"A community of religious leaders, we recognise the declining births of girls as a matter of grave concern. This decline, threatens our very existence, and impairs the social, economic and moral foundation of our society.
We believe that actions, rooted in discrimination must not determine the destiny of the daughters of India.
We unanimously condemn misinterpretation of religion to deny daughters their equal rights.
We appeal to the collective conscience of all people to desist from pre-natal sex selection, we appeal especially to medical professionals to stop this practice.
We implore our devoted followers to restore the value of daughters and transform the mindsets that view them as a burden.
As women and men committed to equality, we pledge ourselves to the cause of missing daughters, and offer them the love and care that is their due."
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| Republic Day and Cleanliness Day at Thane Project |
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 On Republic Day on January 26, 2006, Population First organised a workshop on bio-composting in the 20 villages it has adopted under the Thane Project. The day was observed as 'Cleanliness Day' by the villagers, including women's self-help groups (SHGs), youth groups and men. Earlier, under the Project Population First has worked with the villagers to tackle the sanitation problem by showing them how to construct and use soak pits to drain the sewage water. This helped tackle many illnesses that resulted from allowing the water to stagnate.
Two resource persons from the NGO, Stree Mukti Sanghatana (SMS) Ms. Nirmala Ughade and Ms. Sushila Mokal explained and demonstrated the procedure of bio-composting to an eager gathering of over 150 women.(More)
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| Laadli at the Mumbai Marathon 2006 |
 Among the thousands that ran the Mumbai marathon on January 15, 2006 was one motley group of college students and team members of Population First. The Population First team comprised of Mr. Bobby Sista, Dr. A.L. Sharada, Ms. Pradnya Shinde, Ms. Preeti Gopalkrishnan, Mr. Samir Salvi, Mr. Devidas Shinde, Ms. Karin Haegg and Ms. Ragnhild Segerberg. Around 40 students of the B.D. Somani Institute of Arts and Fashion Technology, including two professors supported the Laadli campaign by running the dream run of 7 km. The students ran wearing Tata Sons' sponsored Laadli t-shirts and caps and waved Laadli flags that carried the slogans - 'My Laadli, my pride', 'Cheer for Laadli', 'She'll be there for you' and 'I love my Laadli'.
Collectively Rs. 50,000 was raised by the runners as pledges for the Laadli campaign. We thank all those who pledged funds to the campaign. Click here to view a list of all those who pledged money to the campaign.
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| Population First at Pune |
 As part of the extension activities with the NSS students of National College, Bandra, Population First was invited to Pingori in Pune district to address issues of women's health in the village. A two-day workshop was organised in which a session each on reproductive and child health (RCH) for the women, micro-planning and adolescent and reproductive sexual health (ARSH) for adolescent girls were conducted by the Population First team. The sessions were held on January 8 and 9, 2006.
The RCH training session was attended by over 40 women. A meeting with the various stakeholder groups of the village like members of the gram panchayat, gramsevak and anganwadi and school teachers was then held to discuss the reproductive health of the village women. A micro-planning exercise was also conducted to identify the existing problems and to prepare an action plan for the women regarding their health.
The session on ARSH threw up many questions on common myths regarding menstruation and guidance on how to tackle these misconceptions. The sessions seemed to be an eye-opener for the villagers. For us at Population First we became aware about their lack of knowledge on these issues.Observes Pradnya Shinde, programme executive, Population First, "For the first time, these women were sitting in the same group as men and openly talking about these things. A lot needs to be done to educate them on ARSH issues.." |
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| Laadli at Chaityabhoomi |
 On December 6, 2005, observed as Maha Nirvan Din, the death anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, CORO for Literacy, our NGO partner in the Laadli campaign organised an awareness programme on sex selection and girl child issues. The events were held at Chaityabhoomi, Dadar, where lakhs of people throng the whole day. It was an excellent opportunity to reach out to people and Laadli's informative banners and posters adorned the CORO stall. Members of CORO performed street plays on girl child. The performances were at various spots on the massive grounds to enable maximum reach. |
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Copyright © 2005, POPULATION FIRST
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