What does freedom mean to women and girls in South Asia?

This Independence Day we ask: what does freedom mean to women and girls in South Asia?

For many women in South Asia, the freedom to stand up as a survivor is an act of courage.

The Karuna family have supported the Voice of Women project since April 2019. It provides training and legal advice to Indigenous women survivors of violence in Northern India. The work focuses on legal support for these survivors, as well as training grassroots organizations and women's self-help groups on sexual and domestic violence.

During the global pandemic, the need for projects like this increased, with women and girls in particular at an increased risk of domestic and sexual violence in rural areas where it is already high and normalised.

The lockdown has meant women and girls can be trapped with their abusers, unable to escape and unable to report the crimes - of which less than 1% are ever reported, even before the lockdown. Likewise, with people staying indoors, and many parents stuck in cities, children sadly became easy targets for predators. While things have improved since then, this is far from being the end of the story.  

In the majority of rape cases, the abuser is known to the survivor, and often they are a member of their own family. In the case of Sukanya, 20, it was a neighbor from the very same village. While working in the fields, she was approached by a man under the guise of a desperately thirsty villager, asking for help.

When she tried to give him some water, he attacked her. Though the tall wheat field blocked her from view, the attack was heard by her sister who intervened and the two were able to escape

Distressed and shaken. Sukanya reported the crime to her parents. However, they were hesitant to act. Traditionally, men will be believed even over multiple female witnesses. Further, women who are victimized are commonly held responsible, and risk bringing shame to their families, despite being victims. Sukanya's voice fell silent.

Sukanya's story did not go completely unheard though - it was picked up by the community project team working with Voices of Women, whose skillset is specifically tailored for work with families that suffered from discrimination.

After reaching out to the parents, they explained that as long as this man was free, it would only happen again to another family - and the protection of their community was more important than people's wrong perceptions. Convinced that it was not their daughters fault and that they should seek justice, they accepted their help.

Providing legal assistance and representation, the team guided Sukanya through the process of filing charges, resulting in the arrest of the perpetrator, who is currently awaiting trial. They provided rations and financial support too, so that they could process the event properly and not about how they were going to survive the pandemic

Over 8,000 women and girls have already been helped in this way. We have set up several different support networks and groups for victims of violence, as well as those at risk, so that women and girls know their rights and how to seek help if they are being abused. For those unable to join these groups, local campaigns, spreading legal information, have reached 30,000 people. That’s 30,000 women and girls who can live their lives feeling freer from violence.  

While we are not always able to prevent the abuse, we can help survivors seek justice and stop other women and children suffering the same.