India faces many problems as a nation but internal differences reinforce the position of some of the most oppressed. In face of the discrimination faced by some members of society women have banded together to form the Gulabi Gang. All members are part of the Dalit class (the dispossessed, formerly known as the untouchables) who are routinely discriminated against. Unofficially they have adopted a candy-pink sari uniform. Their aim? To challenge Dalit discrimination including the Police’s refusal to log rape of Dalit women by other caste men, ensure education for Dalit girls and in other ways ensure women’s freedom for example from domestic and sexual violence.

Whilst men are welcome to join th Gulabi Gang, mostly it is women and they have armed themselves with lathi (traditionally a male weapon) to enforce the point. Now whilst I don’t condone physical violence, I do see the symbolic and practical power of the lathi and in particular the lathi in the hands of women. What strikes me as saddening is that to ensure their rights Dalit women have had to become vigilantes.

However their successes are clear:

Now there is something worth celebrating…

Posted by Louise Livesey on 28 January 2008, at 10:22 AM