India Partners Assists Women in India Who Face Many Obstacles

Eugene, OR — Wednesday, February 25, 2009.

Nations around the world will be celebrating International Women's Day on March 8. Begun in 1911, it is a day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. India Partners has been involved in many activities to highlight and support the work of women in India.

Gurubari is a young tribal widow with one son who is 6 years old. Gurubari's mother is also a widow and they live together. Gurubari's late husband drank too much, would not listen to anyone, and contracted pulmonary tuberculosis. When he died, Gurubari's neighbors and her husband's relatives said that she killed him because he was a drunkard.

Gurubari was in a deep depression when the staff of a partner agency started to visit and encourage her. Now Gurubari is learning about Jesus and her son is learning how to read and write.

Women and girls in India - like Gurubari - face tough obstacles:

• The Dowry system is prevalent in India; it calls for a large sum of money to be paid to the groom at the time of marriage. Brides that cannot meet the husband's expectations are sometimes harassed after the wedding.
• Unequal share of inheritance -- in most families, only the sons inherit the wealth of the parents, as married girls are no longer considered part of the family.
• Ill-treatment of widows -- many blame the wife for an untimely death of her husband. She is then looked upon as "bad luck" by others, and socially shunned.
• Female infanticide in India is too common, as daughters are considered economic burdens because of the high cost of weddings and dowries. (Sons provide income, and are seen as a type of economic insurance by their parents.) When a woman gives birth to a girl baby she often grieves over her misfortune, and she may neglect feeding and caring for the daughter, until the girl baby dies.
• Female abortion -New prenatal sex-determination techniques, such as ultrasound, have led to an increase in the abortion of female fetuses. Researchers estimate there are as many as 500,000 "missing girls" each year in India due to sex-selective abortion and infanticide.
• Human trafficking – In 2004, UNICEF reported that 400,000 child prostitutes are located in India (with 100,000-200,000 in Mumbai), many of whom are girls who have been trafficked from villages into urban brothels and red-light districts.
• Lack of employment opportunities--If a woman is employed outside the home for necessity's sake, she will usually work for only one-third of the wage a man gets. In some families the men will prostitute their wives as a way to earn an income.
• Spousal and child abuse is common, especially in rural areas where alcoholism is commonplace, and these practices are accepted as normal behavior.

Here are ways that India Partners is combating these obstacles:

• Tailoring schools:teaching women a skill to make an income for themselves and their families, and leading to economic empowerment.
• Widow sponsorships:$30/month provides food, clothing, and medicine to one widow. Her self-esteem rises, as she does not have to beg for her daily needs.
• Child sponsorships: $30/month provides food, clothing, and education to girls and boys so they can grow up to be healthy educated adults.
• Hungry child project: for families who are unable to feed their children, this project gets beggar children off the streets and into school.
• Building and supporting schools: one of the best "answers" to address the obstacles listed above is to educate girls and boys so they are more self-sufficient and knowledgeable of various options available to them throughout their lives.
• Rescuing trafficked women and girls: we are active in assisting women and their children to come out of the sex trade in the red light districts of Mumbai.
• Health clinics: if women have easier access to basic health care that teaches family health practices and does not conduct sex-selective abortions, then maternal and newborn deaths will decline. We help build and support clinics like these.

India Partners is a Christian international development and relief organization that has been supporting self-help and disaster relief projects in India since 1984. All are served regardless of caste, religion, gender, or creed.

Contact: Kaytie Fiedler
Tel: 503.309.4217
Email: kaytie@indiapartners.org