Challenges faced by Musahar women

We've almost completed the third round of our survey, in which we meet with women's groups to discuss domestic violence and inform them of a new domestic violence law passed in 2005. As we spoke with them, we realized that abuse is a daily part of the lives of almost all the women. The terrible thing is (aside from the violence), many of the women believe that upon marriage, they are the property of their husbands/husbands' families and that it is their husbands' right to beat them. It was quite difficult to explain the concept of individual rights and freedom from a life of abuse--something completely alien to the women. We informed them about the new law, and how they have legal recourse to the state. However, they strongly feel that they cannot report their husbands for a host of reasons: they are economically dependent on their husbands (Musahar women generally earn one-half to one-third of their husbands' incomes); they have nowehere to go if they leave because they are no longer welcome in their own parents' home; and they fear retaliation. In Sahpur, a village we visited last week, the group (shown right) told us that a woman from a different Scheduled Caste had been driven to commit suicide due to her husband's cruelty (daily beatings). Although she told other women in the village, nobody helped her because it was considered a family affair. The police are not part of the picture because they are corrupt and distrusted by everyone. The community in general is quite alienated from the government, and they are regularly discrimated against. We learned more about challenges faced by the Musahars when we met with some UNICEF officers this morning. They asked us to write up the results of our survey in a report that they want us to present to the local government before Nicole and I leave in August (Francesco leaves this Sunday, sadly). Hopefully advocacy will help this community receive the services they're supposed to be receiving, such as sanitation systems, health services, and so forth, which will in turn help them surmount the many challenges they face. But perhaps the greatest challenge is changing societal attitudes towards women and gender equality--something that may take a generation or two.