Miss Getty and Women Rights in Tamil Nadu, India

Since today, Friday April 17, Miss Getty, a lawyer from the Netherlands, works as a legal volunteer at REAL organization, an NGO based in Puducherry, promoting women’s rights. ‘How successful are we? That is what you must find out for us’, told Mr. Lawrence this morning, when I was attending Getty’s first day at work in the office.

This is what is written about women’s rights one of the many websites covering this issue, http://www.indianchild.com/womens_issues_in_india.htm:

“INDIA has elaborate laws to protect the rights of women, including the Prevention of Immoral Traffic, the Sati (widow burning) Act, and the Dowry Prevention Act. Women and children have figured prominently in the government’s agenda of social reforms and initiatives. However the Government is often unable to enforce these laws, especially in rural areas where traditions are deeply rooted. Dowry, Female bondage and forced prostitution are widespread in some parts of India”

Miss Getty has to find out where REAL can still improve ‘the gap between the effective awareness of women’s rights and the lack of it’, as Mr. Lawrence put it.

Many obstacles to the realization of women’s human rights in India, are social and cultural in nature, deeply rooted in the traditions of its communities.

Women discussing women's rights

Filed under: Uncategorized, awareness campaigns, human rights, volunteering, women self help groups, women's rights