[sacw] SACW Dispatch #1 | 20 Oct. 00

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch #1
20 October 2000
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

____________________________

#1. Amid the Pain and Isolation, Finally, a Friend
#2. [Just Published] Subaltern Studies XI: Community, Gender and Religion
#3. CBS Television program on Honour Crimes ( 19 Oct )
#4. South asians invited to global initiative to end violence against wome=
n
#5. Open-air play explores gender discrimination in everyday life (New
Delhi 22 Oct)
#6. Journal of South Asia Women Studies
#7. South Asian Women Empowered By Marriage [?]

____________________________

#1.

The New York Times
October 16, 2000

Amid the Pain and Isolation, Finally, a Friend
By BARBARA CROSSETTE

PHOTOS: 1. Sakhi, a Manhattan-based support group, helps women from South
Asia learn about their rights in America. The group's name means "female
friend" in Hindi. 2. Margaret Abraham, with her son Arun, works with
Sakhi. (Michelle V. Agins/ The New York Times)

She arrived in New York less than four years ago, a bride from India
hoping for a good life with a man who bragged of being a millionaire. The
reality broke her heart and nearly cost her life.

Pervinder Kaur, the hopeful bride, knew very little English and less about
America. Alone and vulnerable, she saw herself turned into a prisoner of
her in- laws' home, forbidden to make friends outside the family. Her
husband tried to force her to turn over money, then beat her, she said.

But two phone calls set her free. Finally, she called the police, who got
an ambulance and sent her to a hospital. Later, she called Sakhi.

"Sakhi is my family now," she said.

Sakhi -- the name means "female friend" in Hindi -- is a still-struggling,
10-year-old support group based in Manhattan and run by South Asian women
to help other women from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Indians in
the Caribbean. It is part of a growing movement led by young South
Asian-Americans who want to confront social issues that have often been
taboo in their homes and neighborhoods.

Sakhi teaches women about their rights and how to exercise them in the
United States. Among its services, the group helps women find places to
live. It also offers language assistance and legal advice in court cases
and dealings with city services. Sakhi volunteers, some of whom are
lawyers, sometimes accompany women to the courts, or to interviews with
the police or other city agencies.

Similar organizations have formed in recent years in Connecticut,
Pennsylvania, Illinois, Texas, California and Washington State. They all
offer not just help, but also the comfort of a familiar culture in an
alien world.

"They spoke so nicely to me," Ms. Kaur said in a soft voice, remembering
her first contact with Sakhi volunteers. "They talked in my language.
Until then, I could not talk about it, what had happened. I always started
to cry."

Now, there is a chronicler for the work of these organizations and the
issues they confront. Margaret Abraham -- born in India, a Ph.D. from
Syracuse, head of the sociology department at Hofstra University -- could
be just one more story drawn from the most successful new immigrant group
in the United States.

Statistically, Indians have the best educations and earn the most money
among new Americans. They enjoy an annual wage almost double the national
average, and wield buying power of as much as $20 billion each year,
according to the news magazine India Today.

But Dr. Abraham was troubled by something not readily discussed among
South Asians here, the domestic violence that arrived in the social
baggage of migrants from the Indian subcontinent. She began to wrestle
intellectually with what she called "the myth of the model minority."

"Any strong community is one that celebrates and takes pride in its
achievements, but also acknowledges and takes action against its social
problems," she said. "That makes for a stronger community."

In most of South Asia, the status of women, Hindu and Muslim, is
measurably the lowest in the world. Women like Ms. Kaur often arrive in
New York as brides in arranged marriages, strangers to American life and
to the men they marry.

Thousands of miles from home and family, they are easily victimized.
Fearful of summary deportation and unable to make themselves understood to
the police and the courts, where they sometimes meet derision if not
hostility, they endure abuse in silence. Some die.

As a sociologist, Dr. Abraham said, she saw abuse compounded by the
failure of social and legal services to deal effectively with poor, often
illiterate, non-English-speaking victims of any ethnic group. With the
encouragement of Hofstra, she set out to document the phenomenon of
violence in South Asian families. This year, her book, "Speaking the
Unspeakable: Marital Violence Among South Asian Immigrants in the United
States," was published by Rutgers University Press.

Dr. Abraham's book, which not only tells a series of tragic stories but
also looks at ways women fight back, reinforces the experiences of Sakhi
volunteers.

They have seen women in New York who have been psychologically wounded,
physically battered, beaten and burned. In India, by its government's own
figures, at least 6,000 brides are burned to death every year because the
dowry they bring to a marriage is deemed too small =97 or because a husband
decides he does not really like the woman selected for him by his parents.

Megha Bhouraskar, legal counsel to Sakhi, said the organization grew out
of a demonstrable need. "Existing organizations were calling individuals,
saying, `We have such-and- such person in our office,' and there were
language issues or cultural issues =97 a communications problem." Volunteer=
s
were found to help.

"At that point, none of us had this expertise," Ms. Bhouraskar said. "Some
of the situations involved women we knew personally, and we would have
never known that they were in this situation except that we got a call."

Courts and welfare organizations frequently do not understand the dynamics
of an extended South Asian family, where an abused woman may need a
restraining order not only against her husband but also against her
in-laws, said Prema Vora, who was Sakhi's executive director until last
month.

It is hard to quantify domestic violence among South Asians in New York,
said Dr. Abraham, because the work of Sakhi and other organizations is
relatively new and Indian immigrants have been reluctant to explore the
issue.

With the help of research from Columbia University's Social Intervention
Group, Sakhi has begun to develop a local database. The organization gets
15 to 30 new calls for help each month.

The New York City Police Department is working with Sakhi to train
officers to deal with abuse in South Asian families. And in recent months,
Sakhi has moved into new territory, taking its campaign to Hindu temples,
Sikh gurudwaras and churches that Indian Christians attend, said Dr.
Abraham, whose South Indian family is Catholic, part of India's Christian
minority, from the state of Kerala.

Hindu temples are important institutions for women fighting domestic
violence because they are avenues for working within Indian culture, not
in conflict with it. Moreover, some temples here are susceptible to a
rising tide of Hindu fundamentalism in India. Indian-American women want
to deliver a different message.

"We are trying to take space in the community and not let the
fundamentalists define it for us," Dr. Abraham said. "Our community cannot
be defined by one group. We are a huge spectrum of people."

Dr. Abraham, who is married to an Indian and has a 7-year-old son, was
criticized at first for airing the subject of violence. "There was
negative reaction: `Why are you bringing this out?' " she said. "We have
not just addressed the issue of domestic violence, but challenged the myth
of a model minority and also addressed issues of class, race and caste."

Purvi Shah, a writer and graduate student in English literature at Rutgers
University in New Jersey, said her generation's job was to "provoke our
community not to accept violence."

"We spoke first of domestic violence because that was an easy, coherent,
immediate problem," she said. "But now, if we look at the directions we're
moving, we also look broadly at issues of sexual violence and incest,"
subjects about which there is still a huge silence in among Indians, she
added.

Young Indian women, and men, are showing a greater interest in social
issues, both here and in India, the women at Sakhi say. Gulab Bhouraskar,
a ceramic artist and Megha Bhouraskar's mother, recalls a time when New
York had only a few professional families from India preoccupied with
establishing themselves in a new country.

"We were building a community, and our thoughts were like, `Where do you
find a grocery store, where do you find a priest, where do you find fresh
cilantro' =97 it was those basic issues," Gulab Bhouraskar said. "But over =
a
number of years, the community has grown and all levels of society have
come, so all issues have come."

Most women in South Asia are illiterate, and as more are brought here as
brides or domestic laborers, the pool of vulnerable women grows. To them,
the outside world is strange and terrifying. Even taking a subway train
can be intimidating. That was Pervinder Kaur's story.

Her new husband =97 who, she soon discovered, had been married and divorced
three times =97 first put her to work in a gas station. Then, as she became
more confident, he confined her to the family home. They had a daughter.
"He knew I loved her," Ms. Kaur said. "He threatened to take her away from
me."

The story could have ended in violence and death, as others have. But
Sakhi helped her through her husband's arrest (the case is pending), a
divorce, English lessons and training as a medical assistant. Living alone
with her daughter now, she is a new woman. To prove it, she shows
photographs of herself as a frightened immigrant, taken only a few years
ago. The contrast with the confident woman she has become is startling.
Ms. Kaur is so self-assured that she continues to worship at the Sikh
gurudwara her ex-husband attends. It sets an example for others, and is an
act of bravery, Dr. Abraham said.

Less than two years after those two fateful telephone calls that changed
her life, Ms. Kaur said, "I feel very good. And now I know a lot about
this country."
_______

#2.

JUST PUBLISHED
B Y P E R M A N E N T B L A C K

Subaltern Studies XI:
Community, Gender and Religion
edited by Partha Chatterjee and Pradeep Jeganathan
360pp / Hardback / Rs 575.00 / distributed by Orient Longman

comprising essays by
Aamir R. Mufti on Manto's Women
Pradeep Jeganathan on Anthropology and Masculinity
Nivedita Menon on Sexual Violence and the Law
Flavia Agnes on Women, Marriage and Subordination
Tejaswini Niranjana on Nationalism in South Indian Cinema
Satish Deshpande on Hindu Communalism and Nation-Space
Qadri Ismail on Tamil Nationalism and the Woman Question
David Scott on Tolerance and Historical Traditions
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak on The New Subaltern

IN ALL GOOD BOOKSHOPS
IF YOU DON'T SEE IT,
ORDER IT!

Permanent Black
D-28 Oxford Apartments
11, I.P. Extension
Delhi 110092
phone: 91-11-2721494
email address: perblack@n...
_______

#3.

CBS is broadcasting in its 48 HOURS
a program on "Honor Crimes" under the title of " Forbidden Love" on
October 19 at 8 p.m. eastern and pacific time and at 7 p.m. central
time.

http://www.cbsnews.com

_______

#4.

Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 09:29:16 -0700
From: shabnam Hashmi (New Delhi)
Subject: V Day 2001

CONTEST OPEN TO WOMEN LIVING IN SOUTH ASIA (INDIA. PAKISTAN, BANGLADESH, SR=
I
LANKA, NEPAL, MALDIVES, BHUTAN) AND AFGHANISTAN

Dear friends,

I am writing to introduce you to V-Day 2001 and invite you to take part in
this global initiative to end violence against women.

V-Day is a movement to end violence against women. It is a vision of human
life in which all women and girls live free, equal, and safe and with
dignity. The V-Day 2001 Gathering to End Violence against Women will be hel=
d
on February 10, 2001 at Madison Square Garden, New York and will bring
together activists from around the world working to end violence against
women. The Gathering is being hosted by the V-Day International Steering
Committee, which is being facilitated by Equality Now and is comprised of
twelve Regional Coordinators, and a number of international organizations.

The Gathering will precede a gala V-Day 2001 performance and rally that wil=
l
take place at Madison Square Garden that evening. Past V-Day performances
have included such celebrities as Glenn Close, Clarista Flockhart, Whoopi
Goldberg, Alanis Morisette, Rosie Perez and Susan Sarandon. Our goal is to
reach the world with one message: Violence against women must stop.

The Gathering will bring together activists from around the world to Madiso=
n
Square Garden for a day of activism and strategizing to end violence agains=
t
women. The V-Day 2001 Gathering to End Violence against Women will
highlight/feature actions to stop rape. To this end, V-Day is seeking idea=
s
for strategies to stop rape through a Contest. Information on the Contest
is attached. In addition, at this Gathering, activists will have a chance t=
o
share their experiences and to generate activism through campaigning
activities such as letter-writing, petition-signing, and other
demonstrations of protest.

As Regional Coordinator for the South Asian region, I would appreciate your
assistance in spreading the news about the V-Day movement in the region. A=
s
a global movement, V-Day seeks the involvement of as many women as possible
from our region. Please also help me in representing our region at the
Gathering with innovative entries to the Contest. I welcome your involvemen=
t
in the V-Day movement.

Yours sincerely

Shabnam Hashmi
Regional Coordinator V-Day 2001
South Asia
F-71, CSIR Scientists Apartments
Maharani Bagh
New Delhi-110065
Telephone 00 91 11 6326245
Fax : 00 91 11 3343500
e-mail: vday_2001@h..., shabhashmi@h...

CONTEST RULES
An initiative To End Violence Against Women
Background:

V-Day is a movement to end violence against women. It is a vision of
human life in which all women and girls live free, equal, and safe and with
dignity. On February 10, 2001, V-Day will hold its first Gathering, a
meeting of activists from around the world working to end violence against
women. This year, the day of activism to stop violence against women will
highlight/feature actions to stop rape. To this end, V-Day is seeking ideas
for strategies to STOP RAPE.

Purpose: To come up with a concrete action plan to STOP RAPE.

Eligibility:
Women and girls of any age can enter the contest. Any application form fro=
m
more than one woman or girl must clearly indicate the name of the group
leader, as only one person is eligible to become a finalist. By entering
the contest, entrants agree to abide by the following contest rules.
Employees, contractors and immediate family members of the V-Day Gathering
2001 Steering Committee members are not eligible for this contest.

Deadline for Submission:
Action plans should be no longer than 2 pages and must be received by a
Regional Coordinator by December 31 2000. Action Plans must contain
relevant contact information: name, age, full address, e-mail, fax,
telephone. They can be submitted in English*. Strategies should be creative
and inexpensive. They can be long term or immediate, strategic or
improvisational. They may be unconventional, outrageous, funny, or daring.
Most importantly, they should be effective.

Judging:
Finalists will be selected and announced by January 10, 2001. Only
finalists will be notified. Judging will be done by activists from around
the world, who are working to stop violence against women. Of the
finalists, three winners will be selected and announced on February 10,
2001.

Prizes:
The sixty finalists will attend the V-Day Gathering to end Violence Against
Women in New York on February 10, 2001. All finalists will receive a round
trip economy class air ticket to New York City, hotel accommodation, food
and local travel costs. The sixty finalists will be given free tickets as
special guests of honor at the V-Day gala evening performance on February
10th at Madison Square Garden directed by Eve Ensler. Finalists under the
age of 18 must have a parent or adult guardian sign a release form for the
entrant to attend the Gathering in New York and must be accompanied by an
adult, whose costs will be paid for by V-Day.

The sixty finalists will present their action plans at the Gathering. Idea=
s
must be presented in a short and creative manner, no longer than 3 minutes.
>From the sixty finalists, the panel of judges will choose three winning
ideas that will be announced on February 10, 2001. The three winners will
have the opportunity to see their action plans implemented in their
countries by women's organizations or networks of women, selected and
supported by grants from the V-Day Fund.

Obligations:
The Prize winners grant the right to V-Day to use their winning entries and
names and likeness for any advertising, promotional, trade or other purpose
without compensation or permission, except where prohibited by law. By
entering the contest, entrants represent that their action plan to stop rap=
e
is their original work. The Prize winners agree that V-Day and any of the
contest sponsors, and persons connected with the use, marketing, or conduct
of this contest shall have no responsibility or liability for any injury,
loss or damage of any kind, arising out of participation in this contest.
The Prize is not transferable unless agreed to by Contest sponsors. The
contest will be subject to local laws in all jurisdictions. Void where
prohibited or restricted by law.

All entries must reach: SHABNAM HASHMI, REGIONAL COORDINATOR FOR SOUTH ASIA
, V-DAY 2001, F-71, CSIR SCIENTISTS APARTMENTS. MAHARANI BAGH, NEW
DELHI-110065 TEL- 00 91 11 6326245/ FAX 00 91 11 3343500 E-MAIL :
vday_2001@h..., shabhashmi@h...

For South Asian region entries can be submitted in English, Hindi,
Bengali, Urdu, Nepali or any other officially recognized language in the
region.
_______

#5.

Dear friend,=20=20
Jana Natya Manch is performing its new play, 'Woh Bol Uthi' at 6.00 p.m.
on Sunday, 22 October at 14 Ashoka Road. This 50-minute open-air play
explores gender discrimination in everyday life. This will be followed by
performances in National Institute of Immunology (near JNU) on Monday 23
October at 5.45 p.m. and JNU (Jhelum lawns) at 9.00 p.m. the same night.
On Tuesday 24 October, we perform at Kirori Mal College auditorium at 6.00
p.m. Do come if you are in town.=20=20
Best wishes,=20=20
Moloyashree Hashmi
* * * * *
Jana Natya Manch
J 147 RB Enclave, Paschim Vihar, New Delhi, INDIA
Phone: (91-11) 558 4822
Email: jananatyamanch@y...

_______

#6.

H-ASIA
October 18, 2000

Table of contents: Journal of South Asia Women Studies Vol. 6 no. 1
********************************
From: Enrica Garzilli <garzilli@s...>

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the publication of vol. 6, no. 1 of the
*Journal of South Asia Women Studies*. On October 1, 2000 the journal
has celebrated its 6th year of life. We celebrate its birthday by
publishing a paper on the same topic we started this publication: dowry
and bride burning in India. This paper intends to provide an economic
rationale for the dowry system in India.
http://www.asiatica.org/publications/jsaws/vol6_no1/toc.asp

The issue will be free for 3 days. You will be able to read the previous
JSAWS issues by becoming a member of the journal. Life membership until
Dec. 31, 2000: US$ 50.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:
Our Sixth Year

PAPER:
*Dowry and its Effect on Marital Choices in India*, by Sonia Dalmia

NEW TITLES:
*Ashes of Immortality: Widow Burning in India*, by Catherine
Weinberger-Thomas
*Light in the Crevice Never Seen*, by Haunani-Kay
Trask
ABSTRACT OF THE PAPER

The marriage market can be viewed as an implicit market in bride and
groom attributes. The resulting market equilibrium associates a price
with each match. Dowry is then the price of a good match in the marriage
market. The theory of equalizing or compensating differences originally
developed by Adam Smith in 1974 has only recently been assessed using
labor market data. The theory of equalizing differences is particularly
suitable for the analysis of marriage markets, once price differences
among grooms are recognized as equalizing differences for the
alternative bundles of characteristics they possess. Dowry is a "payment
for the establishment of socio-economic alliances valuable to the
bride's family," where the value of these alliances to the bride's
family is not balanced by a comparable value to the groom's family. In
other words, dowry compensates the groom's family for the creation of an
unequally valuable alliance. The potential spouse with the most to gain
from the married state pays a surplus to the spouse who gains less. The
surplus paid is dowry if the less eager spouse is male, and a bride
price if the less eager spouse is female. In the empirical investigation
of marriage markets, one issue of interest is determining how the price
of grooms varies as their characteristics vary. The other subject of
interest is estimating structural demand functions for attributes of the
grooms; but the absence of directly observable attribute prices poses a
problem for such estimation. In a seminal paper, Rosen in 1974 proposed
a "two-step" procedure whereby attribute prices are estimated first as
derivatives of a hedonic price function and these are then used to
predict the parameters of household demand functions for attributes. The
results of consistent parameter estimates support the hypothesized,
equalizing differences, role of marital arrangements. Measurable groom
characteristics on which compensating price differentials have been
shown to arise empirically include groom's age at marriage, education
and height. In regions more to the north, dowries were found to be
higher. Most importantly, contrary to popular belief, I find that
holding groom characteristics constant, real dowries have decreased over
time. In the period 1971-1994 real dowry payments decreased with the
grooms' age and level of education suggesting that social and economic
changes have increased the attractiveness of grooms as potential spouses
more than that of the brides in India. Finally, in estimating the
parameters of the demand functions for a set of groom attributes,
results show that the most important determinants of demand for various
groom attributes are price of the attribute, bride's traits, and the
socio-economic status of the bride household.

_____

#7.

Associated Press
Oct. 16, 2000

South Asian Women Empowered By Marriage

By BETH DUFF-BROWN
Associated Press Writer

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- The world's first woman prime minister died
just minutes after casting her ballot in national elections. She was
survived by her daughter, who is president of Sri Lanka, and her son, an
opposition leader.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike's death at 84 last week came also on the 60th
anniversary of her marriage to another former prime minister, who was
murdered in 1959.

Her story is not unique. In South Asia, where women are for the most part
treated as second-class citizens, they have often been thrust into power
by the slaying of their husbands or fathers, or named as figureheads by
male power brokers -- but in practice have turned out to be far from
pliable.

Similar modern matriarchies exist in neighboring Bangladesh and India, and
Pakistan has also had a woman leader.

Women in the subcontinent can be sold into marriage, banished if they fail
to produce sons, and consigned to spend their lives serving men.

Yet the daughters and wives of many politicians in this region, where
political power is often defined along family lines, take over countries
when their husbands or fathers fall, even though they have little
political or professional experience.

''The people feel that the wife is the best to carry on,'' Bandaranaike
told The Associated Press in an interview in 1988. ''They trust the wife
to carry on the husband's policies more than anyone else.''

Bandaranaike added: ''There is a certain amount of sympathy for the widow.
You can't deny that also helps.''

Bandaranaike was transformed from shy housewife into a political dynamo
after her husband, Prime Minister Solomon Dias Bandaranaike was killed by
a deranged Buddhist monk in 1959.

She campaigned for her husband's party and was elected the world's first
woman prime minister on July 20, 1960. It was six years before Indira
Gandhi became India's first woman leader; nine years before Golda Meir
took over in Israel, and 19 years before Margaret Thatcher began her
three-term premiership of Britain.

Bandaranaike went on to serve as prime minister in this island nation off
the southern tip of India for three terms until she stepped down in
August. Her daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, is Sri Lanka's president.

''People trust women from dynastic families. They have a certain
charisma,'' said Kumari Jayawardena of the Social Scientists Association
in Colombo.

Indira Gandhi, daughter of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru,
was known as the Mother of India. She was loved, hated, feared, respected.
She abolished the princely estates of the maharajahs, intervened in
Pakistan's civil war to create the new nation of Bangladesh in 1971 and
led India into the nuclear age.

Gandhi was installed as prime minister in 1966 by men who thought she
would be pliable. She soon proved them wrong and stayed in office for 11
years, but governed with heavy-handed emergency powers for the last 20
months. Voters threw her out when democracy was restored, but she
rebounded in 1980 to serve four more years as prime minister until Sikh
bodyguards assassinated her.

In neighboring Bangladesh, Sheik Hasina and Khaleda Zia both came to power
following family murders.

Hasina's father was the country's first president, Sheik Mujibur Rahman,
assassinated in 1975. Her archrival Zia sought a role in politics only
after her husband, President Ziaur Rahman, was killed.

Both women were installed by male politicians in need of party leaders who
could unite the ranks by invoking memories of once-popular presidents.

But their bitter rivalry is often blamed for the legislative deadlocks and
strikes that paralyze one of the world's poorest countries.

Sunila Abeysekera, director of INFORM, a human rights center in Colombo,
said women are often thrust into power as figureheads for male power
brokers behind the scenes.

''In order to salve the male egos, selecting the widow or daughter of the
assassinated leader becomes the way of defusing tension within the
party,'' Abeysekera said.

She doesn't like it.

''Politics in South Asia is quite feudal and the political power still
lies in the hands of families,'' Abeysekera said. ''The work of
individuals is still not recognized. That's a terrible thing.''

In Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto became the first woman leader of a modern
Muslim nation when she won office in 1988. Her father, former prime
minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was removed from power and hanged by
military dictator general Ziaul Haq in the late 1970s. Twice elected prime
minister, she now lives in Britain and has been convicted in absentia of
corruption. Her male successor, Nawaz Sharif, is also accused of
corruption.

______________________________________________
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