Home » Sangam India: Blog > Category:Women’s Issues
Print this page

Archive for the ‘Women’s Issues’ Category

« Older Entries

With the Willing Women – FGD Experience

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

The women of the MGR Nagar slum didn’t hesitate to implement at a moment’s notice when the Sangam team went with the plan of conducting a Focus Group Discussion. Within half an hour an open terrace of Mr. Narayanasamy was offered as a place to conduct the discussion and Mrs. Kalai and Sivagami, women of local population and Ms. Yashoda of Pathai arranged for 20 women group along with the councilor, Mr. Perumalsamy.

Areas of concern from the people’s perspective was asked for and the key areas identified by the group:

  1. fire proof roofs
  2. women’s vocational training
  3. children’s education
  4. alcoholism in men
  5. common toilet and bathrooms for the community
  6. a crèche / balwadi for the kids
  7. a medical camp

Vandana and Gayatri facilitated the group and the councilor started the discussion by explaining the day to day problems faced by the women. The councilor gave the information that the community met with another fire accident and needs 1500 fire proof sheets of which 175 has been already managed by them so far. Children in the slum aren’t able to concentrate in schools because of the anxiety about losing their homes. Belongings in the form of clothes and important documents were lost by the people in the fire accident. The idea of Sangam supporting the community in building fire proof houses is left for further discussion among board members.

Women showed interest in vocational training. The various areas explored towards this were tailoring, pickle making, candles, computer skills, etc. A co-operative society is planned to be opened in future for marketing products and for micro financing.

A community center was proposed to be established in the slum so that it can function as a place for vocational training for women and as a crèche/balwadi for children in the day, as a study center for children in the evenings and a temporary shelter during rains, fire accidents etc. Two women volunteered for looking after the children as balwadi workers for a nominal pay.

Common toilets and bathrooms were put forth as a measure of hygiene by the councilor and the location for the same was also decided. Legal issues related to this will be handled by the councilor and Sangam will provide a part of the funding. The construction of the toilets, bathrooms and community center will have the local population as workmen and masons and that way community participation in the project is ensured.

A basic medical camp is planned to be conducted in the slum premises with in a month’s time for assessing the general health status of the population. 3 cases of filariasis were noted during the survey and hence need for public health measures were recognized by Sangam group.

Women were concerned about alcoholism in men folks and came up with the suggestion that a video show on ill effects of alcohol can be screened for awareness. The problems of alcohol in terms of the family being deprived of financial support from male members were voiced out.

Mrs. Yashoda from Pathai came up with the suggestion of spoken English classes for the children going to school as it was not possible for the families to afford an English medium education. Mrs. Amudha, a B.Sc graduate in nutrition and dietetics, volunteered for nutritional education and emphasized the need for English classes for the children. Computer education for the high schoolers and secondary class students was also proposed. Sangam promised that whatever is possible in terms of resources would be offered and made clear that community participation should always be ensured for implementation of the plans in future.

The discussion ended on a positive note with the women folks being more willing to give hands in their development which also gave the Sangam group more hope for future.

Posted by Dr. Gayatri in Women's Issues | 1 Comment »

Pictures fom July 24th, 2009 Visit to MGR Nagar Slum

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

Here are some pictures from our July 24th visit to the MGR Nagar Slum.  Pictures taken by Sriram, Nivedita, and Gautam.


Focus Group Discussion: Some of our members meet with women from the community to discuss their concerns and ideas for empowerment.

IMG_4006 IMG_4008


Continued Survey Work: Gautam briefs the surveyors, then they get to work.

IMG_0282 IMG_0285 IMG_0293


Tuition Classes: Ashitha and Gayatri work with the children helping them prepare for an upcoming exam.

IMG_3394 IMG_0303 IMG_0307

See the rest of the pictures in our Gallery.

Posted by The Sangam India Team in education, photos, survey, visits, Women's Issues | No Comments »

Focus Group Discussion and Day Two of Survey

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

Yesterday we went to the MGR Nagar Slum and were able to accomplish several things:

The first thing we were able to accomplish is the Focus Group Discussion that we had planned to conduct with the women in the slum. Through the discussion we were able to learn about the women and their perceived needs, and build a relationship with our most important allies in slum rehabilitation – the women of the community. This was led by Dr. Gayatri, Vandhana and Nivedita. More about this will be made available in a future post by one of the leaders of this project.

The second thing that we did was we ran a tuition class for the children. Because Sudha, the local Balwadi worker, was needed in the Focus Group Discussion, two of our members, Ashitha and Gayatri, took on the responsibility of running the tuition center for her in her absence. They had a wonderful time reading with the kids, and in this way got to know many of them better. This unplanned but fortunate event helped us to learn more about the children in the community.

The final thing we were able to do was to complete the survey. A number of volunteers came on the trip and did a wonderful job of continuing the survey work. Thanks to their efforts, we’ve been able to increase the total houses surveyed to nearly 85%.  This project was led by Gautam Bagga, who has been in charge of the survey project, and he’ll be blogging soon about the process and the outcome of this work.  We’d like to thank Anwin for coming out for the first time on this volunteer effort!

Thanks to everyone again for their wonderful support, and more information about today’s trip will be forthcoming.

Posted by sriram in education, survey, Women's Issues | 1 Comment »

Focus Group Discussion Tomorrow, July 24th 2009

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Meeting before the survey, July 18th 2009Hi folks!

Tomorrow, we will be conducting a small focus group discussion with the women of the MGR Nagar slum. As you may have read on the SI website, women’s issues and women’s empowerment are a huge part of community improvement and development. Without sufficiently addressing the perceived needs of the community, pushing our own agenda onto the community is ineffective and inappropriate. Through holding a small group discussion with the women, we are hoping to bring out what the women themselves feel to be the issues that should be addressed. I am including the proposed agenda here. If you feel that there are things that should be added, please let me know by tonight, or latest, tomorrow morning around 10. We will go with the final agenda.

Proposed Agenda:

  1. What general concerns do you have about your life?
  2. What are your immediate priorities for issues for which you would like to seek solutions?
  3. Have you previously accessed, received, or attempted to access help in any of these areas?
  4. Do you have any solutions in mind?
  5. What – according to you – is being ‘empowered’?
  6. Do you think you need to save more (financially)?
  7. What is your current source of income and are you interested in any other jobs?
  8. Are you willing to form a group with other women in the community? What timing suits you?

I’m looking forward to receiving input from all of you!

Posted by nivedita in upcoming, Women's Issues | 1 Comment »

Visit to MGR Nagar Slum Tomorrow, July 23

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Tomorrow we are heading on another trip to the MGR Nagar slum where we have two goals:

  • Survey: Our survey last week covered approximately 65 of the 108 houses. We hope to cover more of the houses this week with a team that will be following up with those.  This will be lead by Gautam Bagga.  If you’re planning on coming, please check out the survey, the consent form, and the handout so you can get familiar with them before we start.
  • Focus Group Discussion (FGD): A focus group will be conducted by the ladies who come out tomorrow. We hope to involve the able-minded and proactive members of the community to come together and to discuss their needs and how they can overcome them.  We hope this will be the beginning to a dialogue with the women which will give them a forum to grow and progress.  More about this activity will be available in a later post.  The FGD is being run by Nivedita Gunturi.

We’re always in need of volunteers, so please contact us if you can come!

Posted by sriram in survey, upcoming, Women's Issues | No Comments »

MGR Nagar Survey

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

This past Saturday, we were able to conduct our survey at our new slum in MGR Nagar. It was an excellent chance for us to make a foray into the community and introduce ourselves to the members of the community as well as to become familiar with the issues in the community.

As the analysis of the survey data is carried out, we will start identifying important issues and trends that we should start addressing immediately.

We’d like to thank everyone who came out for the first time: Dr. Gayathri, Arti, Abdullah, Gayatri, Hari, Ester, Vijay, Anu and Salman. Without the help of all the surveyors, we certainly could not have covered the number of houses we managed.

This Friday, we will be conducting a small focus group discussion with the women of MGR nagar. We are also hoping to complete the survey. We need as many volunteers as possible, so please come out and bring your friends.

Posted by nivedita in survey, visits, Women's Issues | No Comments »

Survey!

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Hi, everybody, this is Gautam writing. I’ve been put in charge of the survey, and with regards to that, I’ve been cobbling one together over the last week or so. There are two purposes for this survey: the more obvious reason of data collection and incorporating that into future work we do in MGR Nagar, but additionally, we are looking to forge lasting bonds between ourselves and the inhabitants. Hence, I’ve tried to keep the survey as short as possible and have cut a lot of questions that were too difficult (and we’ve had to get rid of maternal health almost entirely…that’s something that we’ll do in the future). It should take around 15 minutes to do. We’re hoping to reach MGR Nagar at around 1700, and leave at around 1600. I’m going to be holding onto the Sangam India phone, so if there are any problems whilst taking the survey, then please give me a call.

We’re still not entirely sure on the numbers of volunteers that will be available, but if you have a few hours to spare, then please, PLEASE come down. I know that this isn’t particularly exciting work and there isn’t the direct feel-good factor that you get when helping at the camps but this work is just as important as it gives us a direction to work in over the coming months and years.

I’m going to do a quick breakdown of the survey, and its sections. Here it is:

We’re going to use census data to make things less confusing for you surveyor-folks. Each survey will have the occupants and a few details of theirs on the front page, to make it easier for me to decode the data.

Household – this is a section that you can fill by combination of simply observing the house (to see the quality of the walls, floor and roof) as well as asking a few simple questions. They’re fairly simple so all you need to do is circle the appropriate answer. It deals with their habitat and habits around it, including the bathroom status and water treatment/storage.

Environment – This deals with water sources for different activities and the source of lighting. It gives us an idea of how the average inhabitants of MGR Nagar are living, what they know about water treatment, and more importantly, what they don’t.

Hygiene – Basic hygiene questions about their washing habits. This is one of the most important segments, since rectifying any unsanitary habits is one of the ways that we can see a reduction in infection rates.

Health – A quick screening survey, just to find out what the prevalence of a few common conditions is like. Additionally, there are a couple of questions on access (where they’ve been and where they would go…both of these are important as we can identify which centres have earned the trust of the slum inhabitants). Rounding out this section are 2 questions: one is on smoking, and the other is on alcohol. In truth, we’re not expecting much statistical data from this, but we think that if anyone is likely to answer ‘yes’ to the alcohol question in particular, then it signifies the trust that we’re building between the people and ourselves. Still, it’s worth including.

Nutrition – Just to find out, roughly, what kind of society we’re looking at. Do they get enough fruits and vegetables? Are they eating enough in terms of calories? Does anyone take any supplements? An estimated 95% of the women will have anaemia. With that in mind…iron tablets, maybe?

Education – Finally, just a few quick questions on the adults’ level of education and whether they’d like to expand on that. Also, a quick note about the kids’ education level. This section is there since we’re trying to judge whether vocational programmes need to be put in place.

That’s about it. I’ll be filling in the front of the forms between 9pm tonight and tomorrow, so I hope you guys understood some of what was said above. I hope to see you tomorrow! Toodle pip!

Posted by Gautam in Healthcare, hygiene, information, survey, Women's Issues | 1 Comment »

Initiatives: Women’s Issues

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

an excerpt from our upcoming website
written by Nivedita Gunturi

Problem Statement
In developing countries like India, underprivileged women are frequently uneducated, which leaves them disadvantaged and financially dependent on their husbands, brothers, and other male members of the family. Women are at higher risk for reproductive health issues, as well as other physical and social hardships. Women’s health, emotional well-being, and ability to fend for themselves reflect a great deal on the socioeconomic indicators of a particular community. In fact, a community in which the women are not empowered cannot move forward until that deficiency has been remedied.

There are several factors at play, the most important of which is the cultural barrier which prevents women from reaching a state of independence and self-sufficiency. In many cases the women hold themselves back, having been born and brought up in a culture which does not value them as contributing members of society. They may devalue themselves, making their empowerment a matter of changing their attitudes in addition to changing their circumstances.

Education levels of women are usually much lower than those of their male counterparts. Female literacy rates are an important indicator of this disparity. As noted in India’s 2001 census, “the disparity in the male and female literacy rates among the slum population is pronounced in almost all cities and towns.1” It is estimated that only 65% of women are educated, compared to 77% among men2. Furthermore, many women are uneducated about matters that are essential for reproductive health; for example, almost one third of women in urban slums have no knowledge of contraception3. Given that culturally, women are given sole responsibility for maintaining households and ensuring the well-being of their children, educating female children is vital.

Other social issues such as alcoholism among men, domestic abuse, and inadequate female representation in policy-making and judicial bodies hold women back, keeping them in a subordinate position. Women need to be taught and encouraged, especially by other women, to protect themselves and their children from injustice, and to give voice to their concerns and apprehensions, demanding equal consideration.

Importance of Women’s Empowerment in Community Rehabilitation
Communities in which the women are given equal governing and economic roles have proven to be more successful in achieving stability and self-sufficiency. “Given the significance of women’s labour based economic contributions to the households among the poor,” notes researcher Preet Rustagi, “improvements… concerning their educational and skill development gain tremendous importance for poverty amelioration.4”

It is vital, especially in conditions where the men in the households are not taking sufficient responsibility for the well-being of their families due to alcoholism, gambling, or other detractors, to give women the confidence, tools, resources and support system that they need in order to take financial and political responsibility upon themselves. Empowerment of an entire community has to begin with the empowerment of its women. It is only when the women have the confidence and social mandate to play a part in – if not lead – community policy and financial decision-making that the community can truly move forward.

Our Approach
We feel that the ideal way to empower women, given Sangam India’s value system, is to help women to form self-help groups within the communities in which we work. These self-help groups will provide women with a sense of community and a support system to bolster their confidence. The self-help group model then opens doors across the board for better health practices for women, microfinance and microloans, community funds, and perhaps even a voice in policy-making and establishing rights.

To finish the rest of this article, check back on our upcoming website, releasing July 2009.
  1. Census of India 2001 – http://nuhru.in/?q=disknode/get/2/Slums%2520in%2520India%2520-%2520An%2520Overview.pdf&download
  2. Shraddha, Agrawal and Bharti BM (2006). Reproductive health in urban slums. The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in India Vol 56 No 3 pp255-257. http://medind.nic.in/jaq/t06/i3/jaqt06i3p255.pdf
  3. Chandramouli, Dr C (2003). Slums In Chennai: A Profile. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Environment and Health, Chennai, India, 15-17 December, 2003. Chennai: Department of Geography, University of Madras and Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University. http://www.yorku.ca/bunchmj/ICEH/proceedings/Chandramouli_C_ICEH_papers_82to88.pdf
  4. Rustagi, Preet et. al (2009). India: Urban Poverty Report 2009. United Nations Development Programme. http://www.undp.org.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=540&Itemid=646

Posted by The Sangam India Team in initiative, Women's Issues | No Comments »

Women’s Camp with CanSTOP, Ramavaram, September 21, 2008

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

The Women’s Camp was held on Sunday, September 21st, and was quite successful. The camp began from 10 and lasted till about 1 in the afternoon.

We were honored that the CAN-STOP Organization joined us in conducting this camp. This organization, run by Sundaram Medical Foundation, focuses on cancer screening camps as well as general medical camps for underprivileged populations in Chennai. We would like to thank Arjun Rangarajan, an intern at Sri Ramachandra University, for his immense help in arranging this project.

CAN-STOP’s gynecologist, Dr. Sunantha came for the camp. She was a very kind and understanding doctor who treated not only a variety of gynecological complaints but also general medical complaints for the women who came to the camp. In addition, she also screened the women for cervical cancer via a Papanicolaou (PAP) smear. Accompanying her was a nurse, Sister Jeevitha. We were also glad to have with us doctors from Sri Ramachandra University – Dr. Shihas Salim, Dr. Prabhu, Dr. Ashmitha, and Dr. Arjun Rangarajan who saw cases as well.

In addition to the medical work, we also provided reproductive health education to each of the camp visitors. Lalita and CAN-STOP’s social worker, Ms. Sujatha, instructed a group of female volunteers on teaching points for sexual and reproductive hygiene which included important topics such as breast self exam, menstrual hygiene and sex education. These lessons were given individually to the women who utilized the camp.

We arranged the camp tent this time in a way to create a fully enclosed area to guarantee the highest amount of privacy to the women being examined. In addition, we insisted that the male volunteers coming wear lab coats and that no cameras be used during the camp time, to guarantee privacy with the women, establish a professional atmosphere, and build trust.

Our main problem was with camp attendance. Though we anticipated this and tried to improve the attendance by publicizing it for it twice and distributing a flyer, we were able to treat about 20-30 people. This forces us to confront some of the difficult cultural realities of the camp – that women are undervalued members of their societies, that they will not take the opportunity to serve themselves without having finished their duties of cleaning, cooking, and laundry work, and that women are scared of coming to see a doctor for a gynecological exam though they are aware of the health benefits. These are all aspects of culture that, despite the difficulties, will have to be confronted head on. Despite this, we consider the camp to be a success because we did treat a significant number of people and we were able to learn more about the community from it.

Due to our rule regarding photographs, there are few pictures from this event, which are included below:


Sriram, Nivedita and Sivaprakash stand with visiting Drs. Arjun, Ashmitha, Shihas, and Prabhu


Group photo of the Sangam India and CanSTOP volunteers

Thanks to everyone who came out and volunteered! We saw a lot of new faces, including Nimeshika, Vaishnavi, Swetha, Sivaprakash, Priya, Mulatu, Kivina, Nandini, Ritika, Jaba, and Varna. We were also excited to have a guest from England, Gautam Bagga. Lalita, who organized this camp, did an excellent job in terms of research and with the immense practical work involved in running a camp.

For more information on CAN-STOP, please visit their website at http://www.canstop.org/ and their blog at http://can-stop.blogspot.com/.

Posted by sriram in camp, events, Healthcare, hygiene, photos, Women's Issues | 3 Comments »

Women’s Camp Tomorrow

Saturday, September 20th, 2008

Tomorrow is our women’s camp at the Ramavaram slum. We are going to be addressing issues including gynecological complaints, PAP smearing for cervical cancer, general medical complaints, as well as explaining to women about maintenance of proper reproductive hygiene.

Today a group of us went again to the slum to spread the word about the camp and to make sure everybody knew about it. We hope that this will increase the attendance at the camp.

In other news, our Sangam India flyer has been updated with the new phone number and with updates to our past events. Please feel free to print it out and share it with anyone who might be interested!

Posted by sriram in events, Healthcare, Women's Issues | No Comments »

« Older Entries
The URL of this page: