Empowerment, Strength, and Solidarity

After spending a couple of weeks in Bangalore, an expansive urban setting of over eight million people, it was tremendously refreshing to see another part of India in Wayanad, Kerala. The view from the windows of our temporary home revealed rolling hills, diverse forests, and expansive agricultural landscapes. Our visit was intended to show us how globalization had influenced the people of this region and how the area was responding to the changes happening around them. What we found challenged us to consider competing priorities, preconceived notions, and complex structures that influence the experiences of the rural populations.

One particular field visit that challenged and inspired me was a trip to a Women’s Self-Help Group in Wayanad. Throughout India, there is still a great deal of gender discrimination and gender division that exists. The expectations placed upon women in the country are often dictated by men, and the opportunities available to the women still trail far behind those of men. While this reality is shifting slightly in the more urban settings, the gender disparity is still quite prevalent in rural India. The Women’s Self-Help Groups are a way to challenge these oppressive structures through the empowerment of women to question the powers that be and gain the confidence to participate in society at a more equitable level. By giving the women a forum to step outside of their homes, communicate with each other, share their struggles, and discuss possible solutions, Women’s Self-Help Groups are taking radical steps forward in gender equality of rural India. The groups focus on teaching practical skills and promoting transferable knowledge to the women that they take into their lives as they build their social identities.

In our discussions and reflections that followed our visit to the Women’s Self-Help Groups, questions were raised as to the true impact of groups like these. We questioned whether or not the groups would really help and if the underlying structural injustices were really just being masked by these “band-aid” solutions to the deeper problems. While I do agree that there are a lot of problems that continue to exist regardless of the work for gender equality by these groups, I do think that this is a bold step forward in working for institutional change from the grass-roots. By building the assertiveness and self-reliance of the women, they are being organized to work for the change that they desire. We should never ignore that even taking the first step out of the front door of their homes to come to the group is something that women a few decades back could not even imagine. Furthermore, feeling as though they have a place to talk about things they wouldn’t be able to share with their husbands is a way for the women to further connect with others standing beside them. And even beyond this, having the skills to survive independent of their husbands changes the lifestyle of rural women forever.

Certainly, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to promote gender equality in Wayanad, but the work of the Women’s Self-Help Groups demonstrates what can happen when a group of passionate women decide to stand up for their rights and demonstrate the power of solidarity.