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Two-day
Workshop on awareness creation and capacity building of
Muslim women, 1-2 December 2011, Ahmedabad.
The CSSS
organised a 2-day workshop at Pastoral Centre, St.
Xavier’s School, Indira Bridge, Ahmedabadon 1-2 December
2011 in collaboration with Ahmedabad-based NGOs Janvikas
Manch, Niswan, and Aman Samudaya. Mr. U. Hozefa of
Janvikas Manch acted as the coordinator.
This is the
third workshop organised in Ahmedabad since November
2010, targeting Muslim women who have suffered immensely
during the 2002 communal violence in the State. The
intention was to make sure that the Muslim families have
derived benefit from the last two workshops and made
progress in accessing the benefits available under the
PM’s new 15-point programme. Have
 they
also picked up the courage to face the Mullahs and
Moulavis in case they feel that the advice tendered by
them is wrong and is against the rights granted to
Muslim women under the Quran? Are they seeking the
assistance of the local NGOs for getting their problems
solved? Do they still entertain any doubts?
The workshop
was attended by about 52 Muslim women and girls from
Ahmedabad, Anand, Baroda, Kalol and other areas of the
State. Most of them belonged to families that suffered
during the 2002 carnage; mothers, wives, children or
victims themselves.
The State has not made much headway in implementing the
Prime Minister’s new 15-Point Programme for the
minorities, on account of which the extent of awareness
of the programme in the Muslim community is poor. This
despite the fact that the State Government has been
stating in the print and electronic media that it has
been making great strides in promoting education of
girls.
Inaugurating the workshop, Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer
reminded the Muslim women of the rights granted to them
under Quran and said that they should fight for these
 rights
and not those offered to them under the Shariah. He
brought home to the participants their rights with
regard to marriage, divorce, maintenance upon divorce,
child custody etc. It is essential they read and Quran
themselves instead of blindly following the advice
tendered by the Mullahs and Moulavis. He stressed that
until and unless Muslim women get educated, they can
never get rid of poverty nor can expect to get
empowered.
Dr. Trupti Shah, formerly Professor at the Baroda
University and a Social activist spoke about the impact
of globalization on daily-wage earners, suggesting the
ways and means of coping with the issues arising out of
globalization. She also dealt with the victimization of
women and children during incidents of communal violence
and the need for NGOs acting as pressure groups to solve
the problems of the victims and their families.
Dr. Vasundhara Mohan, Executive Director, CSSS stressed
on secular education of Muslim boys and girls; the only
mantrafor overcoming poverty and achieving better
socio-economic status. This, of course, needed the
opening of more and more schools in minority-dominated
areas and appointing of teachers, both of which are
 contemplated
under the 15-Point Programme. She also stressed that
Muslim women should adopt various techniques of
protecting themselves and their families during communal
incidents.
The participants took great interest in understanding
the points made out by the resource persons and raised
questions to get their doubts clarified. The
participants were divided into groups, with instructions
that each group should discuss the issues among
themselves and come up with group decisions/suggestions
outlining the causes and remedies in the matter of
women’s empowerment. All the participants were unanimous
in citing education as the only way out both for boys
and girls. They also cited instances of injustice meted
out by the community to married women and unmarried
girls and declared that they would fight such injustice
at any cost. It also appeared that Muslim settlements
continue to lack in hygiene and sanitation. The
presentations by the groups were discussed and the
participants were suitably advised by the resource
persons.
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