Life-cycle

The Hunger Project Online Briefing Program  The Condition of Women in South Asia Page 21 of 25

At a Glance

In the 1980s, a new sense of possibility for India's women began to surface across the country.  Although obstacles persist, India's women are showing themselves to be up for the challenge.

• In the 1980s, the most sensitive observers noticed that something new was bubbling up in the psyche of India's women.
• A series of United Nations conventions and conferences spurred a worldwide movement of awareness and action regarding women's rights and their contributions to society.  This movement stretched from government centers of power to the local level.
• At the grassroots, women began stepping forward from the system of subjugation that holds hunger in place.
• Women began organizing themselves into self-help groups, mobilizing for health care and education, and working to generate income for their families.
• At the national level, policies and programs shifted to reflect this growing trend.
• In India, the government officially overturned the "welfare mindset" that had characterized national programs for women. In the 1985 plan, India converted its Division for Women's Welfare - housed under Social Welfare programs - into a full Department of Women and Child Development - part of the Human Resource Development ministry.
• In Bangladesh, women came to occupy a central focus in development efforts, and specific objectives were implemented to reduce imbalances between women and men's development.

Village women's meeting in Uttar Pradesh.                                                                                            (Photo by Robin Romano)

Promise of local government

• Perhaps the most revolutionary step taken to formally acknowledge the power of women as key players in their communities occurred in India in 1992.
• India's government passed the 73^rd and 74^th amendments to the constitution, which formally instituted reservations for 1/3 women's participation in local-level democratic institutions.
• For the first time in its 5000 year history, India's women have had access to the resources and political power to make a real contribution to the affairs and development of their communities

• Even when progressive laws are passed at the national level, customs and traditions that subjugate women in local communities persist.
• Women who step forth in their communities must face enormous, daily obstacles. They encounter protest and violence from their husbands, fathers, or mothers-in-laws, who oppose their work.
• They must add the community work to the time-consuming and arduous daily tasks of providing for their families.
• They face the legacy of thousands of years of tradition which systematically deny them power and voice.
• The Hunger Project's new South Asia Initiative is dedicated to empowering women to step forth from this subjugation - as change agents for a new future for their villages, their countries, and our global community.

Life-cycle

The Hunger Project Online Briefing Program  The Condition of Women in South Asia Page 21 of 25

At a Glance