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Guest Speaker : Mythili Sivaraman from
AIDWA, Tamil Nadu
contents Mythili Sivaraman is a well known women's movement activist and the working president of AIDWA - All India Democratic Women's Association in TN, one of the largest women's organization in India. She has been involved in village mobilization and social activism, particularly with factory workers, women and recently with dalits. She often writes in leading Indian journals like the Hindu and Frontline on women's issues and empowerment. The talk would focus on women's empowerment and the role played by grasroots women's organizations. AIDWA (All India Democratic Women’s Association) is a national organization with its presence in almost every state in India except the North –Eastern states. Ms. Mythili Sivaraman is an activist of AIDWA, Tamilnadu which has a membership of about 3 lakhs. Ms. Mythili Sivaraman gave a detailed and inspiring account on the activities of AIDWA The three main slogans of this organization have been :
Ms . Sivaraman stressed that the issues that are affecting the living conditions of women are :
Globalization has lead to women losing their livelihood and has resulted in economic oppression of women. AIDWA has dealt with most dramatic instances of violence like feticide, female infanticide, etc. It is a sad state to know that physical domestic violence is not being looked as violence. Ms. Sivaraman cited several examples to this point. She mentioned that a woman, who was interested in attending literary meetings was curbed by her husband and this lead to suicide by that woman. AIDWA deals with these issues by :
AIDWA has achieved significant success through the above methods, one example being the arrest of a policeman who was accused in a custodial gang rape case in TN. AIDWA not only persisted it efforts to arrest the culprit but also provide education to the victim. The literate victim was able to find a new life with a new life partner with the encouragement and support of AIDWA. Ms. Sivaraman pointed out that in spite of efforts from organizations like AIDWA, the incidence of rape of minors has gone up. Though victims are being taken care by AIDWA, there is none to take CARE of the offenders. In this context it was pointed out that AIDWA voted against death penalty for rapists, the reason being that what is required is rightful prosecution. Death penalty will lead to the culprit escape being convicted. There is a need to realize that women's issue is social issue. Ms. Sivaraman and her co-volunteers in AIDWA believe in collective action and are actively involving student bodies, unions, etc. They act as a pressure group to initiate action against those that indulge in women's violence. They are working towards judicial amendment processes to ensure legal equality in gender. It was sad to note that 3000 female babies die annually in TN .Ms Sivaraman also pointed out that consumerism is one of the roadblocks in raising the status of women in the society. One of the main problems AIDWA is focussing on is to ensure food security for women. Small land owners are being forced to sell the lands to big companies for setting up of large industries. Also, the products cultivated are decided based on the export market than the local needs. These products do not have minimum wages set for the working women. One example is a paddy field of 300 acres in Thiruvarur (TN) now dedicated to growing Jerkins. Women who were working on the paddy fields lost their employment and they try to earn wages by searching fields for dead rats. AIDWA is constantly fighting against Capitalism to improve the status of women AIDWA has set up a trust for women and children and through this trust provide scholarship to girl children. They also focus on entertainment by organizing street theatres and Sakthi groups to convey powerful messages to the society. Minutes recorded by Srividhya Venkataraman
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