ERADICATING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN VIJAYAWADA CITY: MAHILA MITRA

 

INTRODUCTION

Women in India continue to witness a growth in violence against them, both domestically and in the streets (Verma et al., 2017). In 2014 alone, there were 337,922 reported cases of violence against women, and many more unreported, a 28,000 case rise compared to 2013 (ibid.). Genderbased violence (GBV) is considered a global health problem; women who have encountered physical or sexual abuse are 16% more likely to bear underweight babies, twice as likely to suffer an abortion and to have depression (WHO, 2013). Yet, the issue is not a lack of information on these survivors of violence, but rather the perdurance of silence towards the ‘patriarchal conservative society’ that allows this abuse (ibid.). In spite of women’s rights in India being protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Indian Constitution, the Dowry Prohibition Act (1961), the Equal Remuneration Act (1976), and Medical termination of Pregnancy Act (1971), among others, women still face infanticide, honour killings, domestic violence, street harassment, dowry deaths, child marriage and acid attacks (Verma et al., 2017; Gangoli and Rew, 2018).

MAHILA MITRA

Vasavya Mahila Mandali launched Mahila Mitra on the 24th of January 2017, an initiative fighting to make Vijayawada a women-friendly city. Mahila Mitra, which means a ‘friend to all women’ in Telugu, was inaugurated in partnership with the Vijayawada City Police to help empower women in a number of issues that are key to achieve their equality in the city, and more broadly, India. 

 The main objectives of the initiative are creating awareness on the rights of women and girls, forming women support groups to cooperate in the solving of problems, empowering women from all backgrounds to get rid of social stigma, and instilling confidence and self-security among the women. It aims to achieve this by turning Police Stations into women-friendly spaces, with Mahila Mitra Committees at every police station in the city. Each of the stations also counts with Mahila Mitra coordinators whom act as women constables and coordinate with the leading inspector. By becoming a ‘bridge’ between the community and the authorities, Mahila Mitra volunteers hope local women’s fear of the police will mitigate, and more victims of genderbased violence will feel comfortable enough to speak up. 

This brief is based off the findings of a questionnaire and series of discussions carried out in 2021 with Mahila Mitra women, men, and reformed eve-teasers on their experiences with Mahila Mitra.  

GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

‘They silently suffer’ (Mahila Mitra woman) Patriarchal norms that place men above women in Indian society maintain the popularity of various types of GBV (Talboys et al., 2017). Women are meant to remain at home, care for the family and not speak up when they suffer from domestic violence, sexual harassment or other atrocities (Mathur, 2007). Women are expected to be silent and obedient, those who decide to seek help about abuse often face societal scrutiny, resulting in their reduced mobility, access to education, ability to work, and affecting their psychological wellbeing. While the police are the first source of contact for victims of abuse, ‘people are very scared to go to the police station if they have any issues’ (Mahila Mitra woman). Seen as biased and unapproachable, studies have concluded that as little as 3.1% of victims or harassment and violence seek police help when they wish to speak up (Talboys et al., 2017), a trend Mahila Mitra strives to change.

 

ACTIVITIES OF MAHILA MITRA 

 Women deserve a women-friendly city, education on their rights, and a safe space where they can report violence. Mahila Mitra has developed the following activities alongside the Vijayawada City police, to advance equality in the city: o Self-defence and safety training lessons o Training against harassment in public spaces, eve-teasing and stalking o Training against gender-based violence o Training against child marriages o Training in cybercrime o Training in law o Community peer support groups o Sessions with the police o Awareness-raising programmes o School talks o Eve-teaser counselling o Family and domestic abuse counselling 

ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR 

Findings show that in its short history, Mahila Mitra has done a lot to improve women’s rights in Vijayawada city: o All questionnaire respondents saw educating people on women’s rights and equality as necessary in their communities. o Participants reported more than 6,000 eveteasers had been reformed, and that none of them had been brought to the police station again for molesting women. o Many women stated that ‘the relationship with the police is definitely better now’, and that people increasingly trusted he authorities to take care of GBV cases (figure 1). o All participants agreed that counselling and school talks were an effective way of reducing GBV in the streets. o Most respondents reflected that trainings in cybercrime and law are useful to make the community more aware of available resources for GBV victims (figure 2). o During participant group discussions, Mahila Mitra members expressed how they believed women felt increasingly comfortable speaking out about GBV since the start of the programme

     

 

 

Through their ‘no silence for violence’ approach, Mahila Mitra is slowly changing attitudes and behaviours among the community, and empowering women and girls to be confident in the face of crisis. All activities were viewed in a positive light by participants.

 

CHALLENGES 

Despite the undeniable positive impact of Mahila Mitra, participants expressed certain concerns: 

• Many women voiced that they believed not enough people were aware of the existence of Mahila Mitra. ‘We have to publicise. We have to announce that there is Mahila Mitra’. They expressed concern that ‘there is a lot more people who don’t come out to complain or to seek counselling’.
  
• Patriarchal household structure was highlighted as one of the main issues preventing equality. Following girls’ harassment, Mahila Mitra participants expressed how ‘sometimes the parents will say, okay let’s stop the studies. Don’t go to school, or college, just stay in the house’. They reflected that action must be taken against victim-blaming. 
• Shockingly, while Mahila Mitra is a programme created in partnership with the Vijayawada City Police, women placed the police as the main obstacle to tackling GBV cases. ‘Those who have to protect women, they are against women’, expressed a woman. ‘Mahila Mitra need to fight against the police’, said another. This came as a response of two cases where Vijayawada City police were believed to have blamed women for being harassed in the streets. Mahila Mitra women defend that the organisation should be given more agency in harassment cases.

COVID-19 

Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has added complications to the fight against GBV: 

• The pandemic has disproportionately affected marginalised and vulnerable women. GBV has intensified, with 243 million women and girls aged 15-49 facing violence from an intimate partner in 2020 (UN Women, 2020). 
• Due to lockdowns, India saw a 2.5 times increase in domestic violence cases between February and March 2020 (UN Women, 2021). 
• COVID-19 kept programs such as Mahila Mitra away from the women they help. ‘During pandemic Mahila Mitra is in silence’ ‘We are helpless. We can’t solve that issue by telephone’ expressed two Mahila Mitra women.  

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Mahila Mitra has done an outstanding job at empowering women in Vijayawada City. Nevertheless, GBV is far from eradicated, and the programme should continue to focus in the following areas: 
• Continue to expand the programme, and publicise the initiative in the media, newspapers, and local communities. During group discussions, many participants voiced that Mahila Mitra should reach more rural areas, and marginalised women who have no resources to respond to GBV. Seeing the success in Vijayawada City, efforts should go towards reaching more areas. 
• Many women participants expressed that ‘it should start in schools’ ‘then the next generations will be better than us’. Mahila Mitra should encourage local schools to have regular discussions and talks about women’s rights, eveteasing and GBV, an improvement from sporadic events. 
• Family and parent counselling. Because families were mentioned as one of the main obstacles to eliminating GBV for future generations, school talks should not only be delivered to students but also in parent evenings, where the children’s tutors are taught about women’s rights and GBV. 
• Improving the police’s approach. Drawing both from Mahila Mitra participants’ opinions and studies that demonstrate the police’s tendency to uphold patriarchal views, Mahila Mitra must rebuild their relationship with the police. Vijayawada City police officers must be re-educated on GBV and women’s rights in order to provide unbiased and adequate support for victims of GBV. Police officers should be closely monitored by their superiors on their treatment of GBV cases and victims. While it may be difficult, the cooperation and transparency between Mahila Mitra and Vijayawada Police is vital to ensure the success of the programme.

Mahila Mitra is a leading example in the global fight against GBV. Not only does the programme provide comprehensive support to empower women and reshape the communities’ attitudes, but participants (women, men and reformed eve-teasers) were unanimously satisfied with the programme and their participation in it. With constant improvement and expansion, Vasavya Mahila Mandali will continue to pave the way for women’s equality in the region.  

 

References

 Gangoli, G. and Rew, M. (2018). Continuities and change: the Law Commission and sexual violence. Journal of Indian Law and Society, 6(3), pp.112–124.

Mathur, K. (2007). Body as Site, Body as Space: Bodily Integrity and Women’s Empowerment in India. Institute of Development Studies, 148. 

Talboys, S.L., Kaur, M., Van Derslice, J., Gren, L.H., Bhattacharya, H. and Alder, S.C. (2017). What Is Eve Teasing? A Mixed Methods Study of Sexual Harassment of Young Women in the Rural Indian Context. SAGE Open, 7(1). 

UN WOMEN (2020). COVID-19 and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls. 

UN WOMEN (2021). Your questions answered: Women and COVID-19 in India. [online] UN Women.

Verma, A., Qureshi, H. and Kim, J.Y. (2017). Exploring the trend of violence against women in India. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 41(1- 2), pp.3–18. 

WHO (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence.