Empowered Women: India
[Canmore, AB 12-01-09] My life partner, Corey, and I watched “Silk Ceiling” Pt. 1 on BBC News Channel regarding the inability for most women in S. Asia to break through the barrier imposed by culture to gain gender equality. This documentary is hosted by Ritu Bhardawaj who herself grew up in a rural village but has become a well-known journalist on News X in India. There is one story in particular regarding African Indians who live in Jambur, Gujurat, India. This one woman nicknamed “Forest Diamond” started a cooperative and basically a trust bank for women all on her own… incredible. Corey and I were very moved and so sense that this is what the journey ahead is… empowerment and sustainability. Below is an excerpt from the documentary website: "When the girls of our village went to the forest to collect firewood... the forester used to harass them a lot... It is from this incident that I realized that we should not go into forest to collect wood anymore! Instead we needed to save our money up! But at that time the bank would not open accounts for us since some of us could not read or write. They asked us ‘who will fill your deposit slips?’ I was outraged and I told them that tomorrow my colleagues will fill the slip." The Forest Diamond and her friends formed a co-operative. Their savings fund businesses - their own businesses. Now - unusual in South Asia - 900 village women hold assets in their own names. Money from the co-op even helps the village school. If more women went to school - and got paid jobs - it’s been estimated the Asia-Pacific region could be ninety billion US dollars a year better off. Says the village headmaster: "If a poor and uneducated woman can do so much, if women are educated and they come forward, this will bring a great change in society." A local woman tells Ritu: "Thank God I am a woman. If I were a man I would have done nothing. It is because I am a woman that I can accomplish so much. I am happy to be a woman, I don’t want to be a man…" (Source: www.tve.org/lifelines) POWERFUL!!
Back in India, Ritu visits the area in Gujarat where the Siddi tribe are descendants of migrant workers who came hundreds of years ago from Africa. She goes to meet the woman they like to call Hirbai Ben Lobi – the Diamond of the Forest. The Forest Diamond tells Ritu about the old days – when the Siddi lived in the forest – and women were harassed and exploited.
