Dhaatri team undertakes frequent visits to the villages and interact with the women, youth and children of the communities. Recently the team met up with the adolescent girls and women to discuss about Adivasi rights and the rights of women. The team held sessions with over thirty school girls,their teachers, Adivasi women and also government employees. During our open group discussions, it became clear to the team that no adequate clarification or explanation were not given to them. Both women and the young girls were not educated on their rights or the laws that bind the Adivasi community.
It is essential for every Adivasi to know about their official identity as a tribal person and the rights that come therewith. It is essential to know about landrights and the rights to use and to protect the forest, ensured by the FRA (Forest Rights Act). Furthermore, there also is no awareness of the children's rights, like the POCSO or the JJAct among the schoolgirls which deal with the means to prevent sexual harassment and abuse of children. It is extremely important to be aware of these laws to safeguard the rights of a woman.
As these rights – just as the definition of who is considered a child – are often unclear, child marriage is still a huge problem. This often is easily dodged by just using own and wrong definitions for a child's age, although a child is actually clearly defined as a person below the age of 18. Between 6 and 14, children actually also are bound to attend school. Unfortunately due to domestic issues, work or a lack of support from the family, many of the children are dropping out of school before that age which decreases their chances to get a good job once they've grown up .
It can be said that in general many of the Adivasi's rights are neglected, women suffer more therefrom, as even the local decisions are made by only men, who hardly ever recognize the women's issues. In consequence, this influences their behaviour towards their daughters.
It was still a matter of grave concern even in this age that the daughters of the house do not have a right to the community land, whereas the boys inherit it automatically. Ironically, the girls invest their time, health and their whole life to the betterment of the family and community, they are deprived of their inheritance. They are forced to be dependent on the male members of the community. In polygamy, being a norm in some cases, it’s only the women who have borne boy children that are eligible to inherit the husband’s property if he dies.
Women are left helpless and gender equality is a thing unheard of among them; It leaves the young girls of today as vulnerable, dependent and powerless as their mothers before them.
So the importance of teaching girls and women about their rights, as children, their rights as women and their rights as tribals must not be underestimated, and Dhaatri is working on to elucidate and teach these to as many women and girls as possible, so they will eventually be able to get what they deserve!