In this week’s blog, Nisha Ghosh, Project Action Chair and Past President of SI Pune Metro East (India) writes about the club’s work on violence against women and introduces Flavia Agnes, a pioneering women’s rights lawyer and activist, who has worked for over twenty five years on issues of gender and law reforms in India. Flavia co-founded the MAJLIS centre in Mumbai, which addresses issues of gender and human rights advocacy and provides quality legal services to women and children. MAJLIS has helped secure the rights of hundreds of women affected by domestic violence and, for the last two years, it has also run a rape victim support programme in Mumbai and Pune.
The recent rape and subsequent events across India have brought the issue of violence against women to the very fore. As Soroptimists, we will not let up the pressure and seize the moment in waking up women to keeping their struggle alive.
In its 3 years of existence, SI Pune Metro East has kept the issue of violence against women very high on its programme action agenda. As a small group of aware women we feel that educating women is vital; enabling them both to be instrumental in bringing about attitudinal changes as mothers, wives, sisters, and to believe in themselves to be worthy of equality. In all our workshops and seminars we have tried to awaken the strength of a woman – enabling her to reach her potential.
It is important to point out that in India, courts, lawyers and police are not looked upon with favour. An abused woman, in the clutches of ignorance of the law and poverty is further violated by those who are supposed to be the executors of law. Through our work we have tried to explain the laws, their interpretations and their usage and educate groups of women to understand what the law can do for them.
In March 2011, advocate and activist Flavia Agnes took part in our seminar, Women In Court Revisited, and interpreted the Domestic Violence Bill 2005 for the audience. Along with Advocate Abhay Apte, she explained several intricacies of the family court laws.
Flavia Agnes has done pioneering work for women, domestic violence, and family court laws. She has a learned approach in her lawyering practice at the Mumbai High Court and has been able to get several landmark judgements in her cases.
A very inspiring woman, she was herself a victim of severe domestic violence who rose phoenix-like from being a home-bound wife to a leading women’s activist and advocate with an organization (Majlis) of her own. Her autobiography My story – Our story of building broken Lives is gripping and at SI Pune Metro East we circulated it for every member to read.
Writing in the introduction to a recent edition of the book, Flavia writes: "a quarter of a century has passed since this book was first published. Since then it has been translated into more than eight languages and has been widely circulated to women in violent marriages all over
"This book will not make the struggle of individual women less painful or less daunting. But hopefully, it makes it believable that the goal is achievable. It helps to keep alive the ray of hope in their hearts. "
More information
Full article: "No Shortcuts on Rape: Make the Legal System Work"