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THREE-DAY WORKSHOP ON EMPOWERMENT AND CAPACITY BUILDING
OF MUSLIM WOMEN
2-4 DECEMBER 2010, GREENWOOD RESORT,
OFF SARKHEJ-GANDHINAGAR HIGHWAY, GANDHINAGAR, GUJARAT
A
REPORT
A 3-day workshop was organised by the CSSS in
collaboration with Action-Aid from 2 to 4 December 2010
at Gandhinagar (Gujarat). The workshop was meant to
educate Muslim women on their rights not only under the
Quran but also on their civic rights as citizens of
India; the importance of secular education so as to make
the girls of the community capable of availing the
opportunities and the facilities available to them,
especially under the New 15-Point Programme of the Prime
Minister.
The CSSS had made provision for organising such workshop
of one-day duration in the programmes to be carried out
under the grant from Misereor/BFW (one-day) and Ford Foundation
(2-days). With a view to avoiding unnecessary
expenditure and making the workshop meaningful, the two
proposed workshops were held together as a 3-day event.
This also enabled the CSSS to avoid inviting
participants on two occasions.
It is well documented that the Muslim community of
Gujarat has suffered great injustice during and after
the 2002 violence that rocked the State in the aftermath
of Godhra incident. The wound might have healed but the
scars are still there,
 some
still sore. The extent of rehabilitation of the riot
victims falls much short of the needs of the survivors
and their families. The community has taken the
nightmare in its stride and has reconciled to the ground
realities. The workshop was meant to apprise them of the
measures introduced by the Government of India under the
Prime Minister’s New 15-point programme for helping the
Minorities, bring to their notice case studies from some
of the other States and sensitise them into making
efforts to avail the facilities available. The workshop
was also intended to make them aware of the importance
of secular education in today’s world; a necessary tool
for socio-economic upliftment of the community, and to
ascertain the reasons for their educational
backwardness, if any, besides poverty.
Participants
As many as 42 Muslim women and girls participated in the
workshop. Some of them were affiliated to NGOs in
Ahmedabad. A list of the participants is attached.
Resource Persons
The participants were addressed by the following
resource persons:
1.
Dr Asghar Ali Engineer, Chairman CSSS
2.
Mr Hiren Gandhi
3.
Mr. Hozefa U,
Aman Samudaya
4.
Mr. Prasad Chacko
5.
Dr Vasundhara Mohan
Proceedings of the workshop
Mr. Hozefa U of Aman Samudaya, Ahmedabad explained to
the participants the context of the workshop. He said
that the fact that the Muslim community in India is
socio-economically backward is well documented. Besides
poverty, the Muslim community is educationally backward
compared to other communities. While
 poverty
cannot be said to be the sole reason for the community’s
educational deprivation, the community is often found to
deny itself the opportunities available for its economic
upliftment by denying itself the benefits of secular
education. Secondly, Muslim community in Gujarat is yet
to rehabilitate itself from the atrocities it suffered
during the 2002 riots. However, the community has
reconciled itself to the realities and has been taking
steps to rebuild its lives. They should know the
opportunities available and the benefits extended by the
Government and try to avail them. This workshop was
intended to create awareness among the Muslim women on
these aspects.
Dr Asghar Ali Engineer, Chairman, CSSS brought home to
the participants the rights granted to women under Quran.
He exhorted them to fight for their rights, which cannot
be denied at the instance of self-styled religious
leaders.
Dr V Mohan, Executive Director, CSSS made three
presentations. Her first presentation apprised the
participants of the status of Muslim women in India,
with special emphasis on their socio-economic
conditions.
In her second presentation on education and employment,
Dr Mohan gave a
 background
of the status of education and employment of the Muslim
community, which is way behind other communities in
India. She referred to the study conducted by Zoya Hasan
and Ritu Menon and the report of the Sachar Committee.
She said that part of the blame for the socio-economic
backwardness of the community could be pinned on the
community itself and its religious leaders, whose fatwas
were affecting the education and employment
opportunities of Muslim girls to some extent. With a
view to improving the socio-economic status of the
community, especially after the release of Sachar
Committee Report, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had
issued a new 15-point programme for assisting the
minorities. She said that the programme offered a number
of schemes for the benefit of minorities, including
Muslims and cited examples of the actions taken by
States like Bihar, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. Even Gujarat
had taken up implementation of the 15-point programme.
She urged the Muslims of Gujarat to fight for their
share of the benefits emerging from the 15-point
programme, with the help of NGOs and other individuals
and by taking recourse to the Right to Information Act.
Dr Mohan’s third presentation dealt with the political
participation of Muslim women in India. While women, in
general, were fighting for their rightful share in
politics, the Women’s Reservation Bill has yet to become
a law. Even when the Bill
 gets
passed, will Muslim women get their due? Will the Muslim
Clergy and society allow Muslim women take to politics?
So far, while Muslim women have been showing interest in
politics and contesting elections, their success rate
has been abysmally low. As the male political leadership
of the community has not lived up to the expectations of
the community and
has not been showing any great interest in the
community’s problems, it is time that the Muslim women
take to politics. Apart from money, the women need the
support of their families and the society. A number of
women have gained experience in occupying
decision-making positions and in administration, by
contesting elections to the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
Dr Mohan exhorted the participating women to seriously
consider contesting elections.
Feed
back
The participants were unanimous in saying that they were
returning from the workshop an enlightened lot. They
were unaware of several aspects, including their rights
under Quran.
Of particular interest to the participants – both
mothers and college-going girls- was the various types
of assistance available under the various programmes of
the government. However, they complained that they
hardly receive any help from the bureaucracy when they
approach them seeking assistance. Some women narrated
that their children were either refused or discouraged
seeking admission in secular schools; for the simple
reason that they were Muslim children. The children were
 forced
to write the names of their parents even when there was
no need to do so, and once the children complied, they
were ridiculed (‘your father drives an auto rickshaw.
Why don’t you do the same thing? Why do you want to
study?’) No efforts were made by the government to open
decent secular schools in the rehabilitation localities.
The participant women said that they do not mind Hindu
women as teachers for their girls.
Dr
Mohan asked the participating women not to lose heart
and keep fighting for their rights with the help of
NGOs. To keep up such fight, once again, calls for
education so that they should know what to fight for and
with whom they should take up their issues.
It was heartening to observe that quite a few of the
participants were college-going girls or were employed
in the private sector. None of the participants were
wearing a hijab, although some wore head scarf.
What was surprising was that at the end of the workshop
on the 3rd
day, several of the participants were visiting
Vaishno Devi
temple nearby, before going home!
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