OBR India coordinators Sangat and Jagora Grameen, lead International Women’s Day efforts in Delhi, together with other leading women’s and people’s organizations – Rising to resist Patriarchy, And Rising Against Hatred and Violence!

Together For Equality, Dignity, Safety, Freedom And Employment!

This Women’s Day we come together to celebrate our solidarities and our resistance to the brazen patriarchal, casteist, communal and regressive forces that are operating with utter impunity in the country. Together we reaffirm our commitment to building a violence-free, just society.

Together we confront many manifestations of violence – from domestic violence to sexual assaults at home, in public spaces, workplaces, institutions or the conflict areas to communal and caste-based violence to violence faced by women with disabilities, sex workers and of marginalized sexualities. There is suppression of dissent and resistance in the name of development, national security and nationalism; denial of our Constitutionally granted freedoms and rights – be it Dalit women resisting the casteist forces, university students struggling for a culture of free debate, women in conflict zones fighting the repressive State; or the women from Haryana to Nagaland whose are losing ground in their fight for their place in Panchayati Raj Law and Urban Local Bodies.We stand in solidarity with the fight of women in Chhattisgarh, for the deaths and injury caused

We stand in solidarity with the fight of women in Chhattisgarh, for the deaths and injury caused during sterilization and the acquittal of those responsible! We fight with tribals facing brutal violence by the state in the name of development.Unequal wages, harassment at workplace,

Unequal wages, harassment at workplace, the absence of maternity benefits, no social security and declining employment opportunities for women are challenges all women face, especially those in the unorganized sector. Problems further aggravated by the ill- famed‘demonetization drive’ of the government that has severely impacted small scale businesses, the poor and working class people. And caste-based occupations like manual scavenging continue even after a legal ban on manual scavenging.

While it all looks bleak, we take strength from our collective gains, the strength of our solidarities across many struggles for justice and equality.

Together we demand

• Equality before the law for women from all communities.
• Constitutionally granted 33% representation of women without threat or intimidation.
• Development policies that create more employment, better working conditions, less displacement and an end to development-related violence.
• The creation and implementation of more effective policies for the health and education of women and young girls.
• Implementation of the ban on manual scavenging, mechanization of processes.
• Freedom from fear for minorities and marginalized communities, and women with disabilities.

Organisers

Bhor Foundation, Feminism in India, Jagori, Sangat, Sama, TARSHI, Saheli, Nirantar, AIDWA, AIPWA, Joint Women’s Programme, Kamkaji Mahila Samanvay Samiti (CITU), Nari Shakti Manch, NFIW, Purogami Mahila Sangathan, Society for Labour and Development (SLD), Stree Mukti Sangathan, Swastika Mahila Samiti, YWCA, Action India, Azad Foundation, Domestic Workers Union, National Alliance of People’s Movements, Delhi Solidarity Group, Solidarity and Action Against The HIV Infection in India (SAATHII), RAHI Foundation, Shades Of Happiness Foundation.