:: Social and Gender Equity Issues

An oppressive social environment and unjust social practices were identified as being the major causes for disempowerment of women. Sangham women have successfully rallied together to address social injustice for the achievement of gender equity by: Resisting domestic violence Preventing child marriages and early marriages Opposing and preventing girls from being dedicated as joginis, working in cotton and mirchi fields Organizing protest rallies and dharnas demanding justice against rape and murder of women in their areas Campaigning to ban arrack sale and manufacturing Participating in the traditional Caste Panchayats and playing an active role in supporting women's rights Working towards elimination of child labour Creating an enabling environment in support of girl child rights at family, village, mandal & district level Emerging into mandal level informal socio-legal justice mechanisms and counseling centres to address and resolve cases brought to them with women’s perspective Building a cadre of Nyaya Karyakrthas for campaigning on women's rights and spreading legal literacy Capacity building to Nyaya Karyakarthas and facilitating establishment of support systems for their effective dealing with social and gender issues Convergence and setting up linkages with existing judiciary and police institutions to take their support in resolving cases Identification and skill building to identified Sangham women as paralegal volunteers by the District Legal Services Authority A total of 327 cases were resolved by Sanghams and federations as on date