Women's Empowerment Program in India with G.V.I.

In India, women experience a different lifestyle to what us women in the United Kingdom are used to. Their rights are limited and their voices are not heard. They face gender discrimination, even before they are born. Discrimination cuts across class, religion and geographical location. Women in India still play a role based on the home, husbands and children, despite recent economic growth. India has 1.3 million elected women representatives in local bodies with only around 10% in ministerial positions and national parliament respectively. A lack of awareness regarding their rights, insufficient family support and illiteracy can prevent them from performing their duties. Sexual and domestic violence towards women is still on the increase, despite legislation to prevent both! For example, in 2009, 89,546 cases of cruelty by husband or relative and 21,397 cases of rape were reported to the National Crimes Records Bureau of India. Through G.V.I., I will be given the opportunity to help empower women in Fort Kochi, Kerala, South India whereby the Government of Kerala are already keen to adapt various strategies to enhance the status of women and to empower them to address the negative social and economic impacts. Some inspiring initiatives in Kerala include: 'She Taxi' which is a taxi service run by and for women, 'Pink Patrol' which is a police department with exclusively female employees and the Women Initiatives Network which is a coastal network uniting 1300 groups striving for better lives for women and for their families. The duration of my trip to India will include raising awareness of their potential role in society, support services for women and young girls, working in the home for pregnant girls aged 16 and under of whom are abandoned by their families and teaching English, sewing and general life skills. The program is to be fund-raised due to it being beneficial internationally for the women of India and the overall cost for the program is £1120, and this is my first port of call. With your help, volunteers like myself can help to empower women in India. The program cost does not include my flights, visas etc, the fundraising aspect is for the program alone for the resources necessary. Thank you very much.