By Rimsha Ali Shah

Travelling back by bus from the Soomro Taluka Hospital, Hanifa Chauhan thought about the telefilm she watched the night before.  It was about a woman from a modest background like her, who rose above societal pressures to spearhead change in the lives of the women around her.  Chauhan was inspired but worried that her ignorance on women’s rights was holding her back from making any real change.  Suddenly, a fellow bus-rider, Maleeha, interrupted her thoughts and informed her of a training workshop that was focused on empowering women with their legal rights.

Ecstatic at the news, Chauhan asked Maleeha to enroll her in the workshop.  The next day as she entered the community center, Chauhan was pleased to note that she was not the only woman attending.  Midwives, like her, teachers, housewives, social workers and students, in fact women from all across Soomro had shown up for the training.  Chauhan was relieved to be surrounded by such amazing women eager to become more informed and active against the violence and discrimination they had all witnessed in their lives.  She knew she would now no longer be a passive bystander.

These workshops entitled “Women empowerment through knowledge and organization,” were organized by Global Undergraduate Semester Exchange Program (UGRAD) alumus Raj Kumar, from Umerkot. Trainings were held in the four sub-divisions of Umerkot including Kunri, Pithoro, Samoro and Umerkot city.  Each workshop was designed to impart basic working knowledge of different laws present for the protection of women.  Participants learned about the First Information Report (F.I.R.), when and how to file an F.I.R.,  Child Marriage Act, Minority Rights, Hindu Marriage Act, Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act 2012, role of women in education,  the role of media and community leaders in working towards women empowerment.

Explaining his motivation for the project, Raj said. “I wanted to empower women because I had seen the impact it had on a nation’s development while I was on my exchange program in the U.S.” The project was made possible with the help of $5,000 USD grant from the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network (PUAN).  All alumni of various U.S. government sponsored exchange programs in Pakistan are eligible to apply for the grant to enable them to give back to their communities.

Learning the Law, One Step At a Time

However, Raj Kumar wanted to not only inform the participants, he wanted to inspire and engage them. As a result, many of the activities were designed to  boost participant engagement.  Gulnaz Nohri, a primary school teacher said, “Raj asked us to think of a word that added up to 100.  We all kept thinking.  Some said ‘confidence,’ some said ‘empowerment’ but the correct answer was ‘attitude.’  It was a great way to make us think of what was the key to empowering ourselves: our attitudes.”

Gulshan George, Missionary Village School Teacher in Kunri said, “I have previously attended many trainings but they have always been segregated by religion.  This was the first time that Muslim, Hindu and Christian women were learning about their rights together.  Not only did I learn about the Child Marriage Act, but I also had the chance to meet one teacher who had used that law for the rights of her student.  Her story gave me more confidence as well, since child marriages are so commonplace in our society.”

Commenting on the enthusiasm of the participants, Allah Buksh Arisar, a journalist and trainer on the role of media said, “Through these workshops, we have changed passive women activists to active women activists.  We have empowered not only this group of women, but the women of Umerkot because now all these powerhouses of activism will go on to teach others in their locality about their rights.  What is good to note is the spirit of volunteerism present in all these activists.”

The looming question now is:what is the way forward for these women?  How will they continue to strive to empower others?  Mussarrat Liaquat, Kulsum Sindhu and Gulshan Ara are already strategizing on how to use the platform of the District Women Action Forum to carry forward what they had learned.  “We are not going to sit on the information.  In our personal capacities, we will continue to organize training workshops for women in our localities and enroll more women to join us in our cause to empower ourselves.”

Click here to view photographs from the closing ceremony.