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Wake up call
Women were able to commit as much as they could to BailanchoSaad
By Venita Coelho
When my domestic help turned up with bruises and scratches and a story
of how her brotherin- law had beaten her, the first person I called was
Sabina Martins.
We have been colleagues in the GBA for a long time, but this was the
first time I was seeing her in her Bailancho Saad avatar. It ended up
being a very intriguing discovery for me, because the organization that
she set up goes against everything that you would expect an organization
to be. It has no leaders and no hierarchy. In its 25 years of existence
it has never taken money from any corporation or industry. It has never
allowed a politician to share its stage. No leaders, no money, no power
– and yet BailanchoSaad has had a huge impact on the condition of women
in the state - part of the reason it has survived and is so effective
are these very feminine choices. No leader meant that everyone
contributes quietly and unsung. The lack of a rigid hierarchy actually
gave everyone much more freedom.
Women were able to commit as much as they could to BailanchoSaad,
leaving to go off and have babies, juggle earning and households,
returning when time allowed them. The refusal to align with or rely on
political power meant that they had to build networks from scratch,
which they did so effectively that their achievements outside of the
political system have been the subject of a study.
One of the most endearing sounds of a village is the wake up call of the
rooster – which gives BailanchoSaad its name. It started as a small
discussion group in 1986 about the same time that the Shah Bano case was
being heard, and its first battle was to fight to maintain the Uniform
Civil Code that Goa already had – and the rest of India didn’t. There
were odd battles to fight in Goa. The Goa Dowry prevention Act came into
being in 1961 a few months before Goa joined the Union. So it did not
apply here. It was only when BailanchoSaad started a campaign two
decades later that police stations began registering dowry cases. But
there was no system to deal with the cases.
Getting the law implemented in Goa was a long hard task. And it
continues to be the biggest task. Having fought and won rights – the
struggle then becomes to set up systems to protect those rights. And
then the bigger battle is to prevent those systems being h.acked.
For those who think Goa is a state where women are treated well, here is
your wake up call.
Our state comes after Punjab in having the least girls to boys ratio. It
has the highest school drop out among girls in rural areas. Domestic
violence rates are among the highest in India – a direct fall out of the
alcoholism in the state.
From setting up self help groups, to giving martial arts training, to
climbing up hoardings to paint out offensive ads – BailanchoSaad has
seen empowerment coming from a range of activities. And it has followed
simple principles. The conviction that economic policies should not be
based on vices led to them fighting casinos and the alcoholism that has
brought such misery to the women of the state. Empowerment is very
difficult to quantify – but it can be seen in the fact that today the
state has many organizations dealing with women’s issues, a majority of
them run by women who’s first experience was with BailanchoSaad.
http://www.epaperoheraldo.in/Details.aspx?id=1686&boxid=41629625&uid=&dat=10%2f12%2f2011
