‘If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with women.’

                                                                                          – Mahatma Gandhi

 

SOON after the riots in Ahmedabad when I met our sisters in the relief camps – Jetunben, Sharifa and Saroj – they did not complain or grieve but asked, ‘Didn’t you bring work? We don’t want to sit idle here; work will be our healer.’ Even after some major attacks in Kabul, not once did it make us question the commitment to continue our work as the focus was clear – work will bring normalcy.

Perhaps the best peace makers are women, but they are rarely invited to lead peace efforts. Women make peace within the family, across families, across communities, and yet few names among the best-known peace makers are of women. Neither do women lead peace missions nor do peace missions meet with women in most peace efforts. Perhaps for most, peace is something that can only follow war or conflict. What goes into preventing war or building cooperation is not seen as peace. As if peace cannot precede war; as if peace must always follow.

Perhaps the best way to build peace is through work that brings income and supports lives. But work is hardly on the peace agenda. Look up any peace accord and search for what it has to say about women and work. If women are mentioned, it is as victims. If work is mentioned, it is in the context of macro-economic functions. By and large women and work are bypassed in most peace agreements or programmes. All this is odd. Let me draw from the experience of the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) about how women, poor women, are showing a better way ahead to build peace, across communities or countries, through work that fights poverty.

I am no expert on gender studies; nor am I a scholar on peace or employment. What I do have, however, is my experience of the past couple of decades working with my sisters in SEWA, fighting poverty and exploring ways to pursue prosperity. What I write here comes from what we have worked on. SEWA is small, but the world of poor women helps you look at many issues, at many levels, with many partners. This may not be specific to SEWA alone, I think, but to many women, and men too.

 

When we reflect upon and extrapolate from our experience, the words of Elaben that ‘Poverty is violence with the consent of society’ come to mind. She further explains, ‘Poverty is wrong as it is violence perpetuated in a silently accepted way.’ Where there is violence, we find hunger. Hunger takes many forms – it is not just lack of food, but also lack of freedom. Poverty makes humanity experience vulnerability, helplessness and frustration. It melts down peace within family, across families and across communities. And yet, the poor are complacent towards this violence of poverty perpetuated on them by society. It is the peacefulness of the poor that delays eruption of conflict. In this sense, the poor are a peace-keeping force of the developing societies.

There is a need, therefore, for the poor to organize, build their collective strength and bargaining power. We must equip them to fight poverty, the root cause of all kinds of violence, and violent movements that lead to riots, conflicts and war. Thus we at SEWA believe in building the collective strength of the poor as part of a peace building process.

Riots, conflicts or wars do nothing to remove poverty; in reality, they only perpetuate it further. Each war leaves the poor more impoverished and makes many more poor in both the victorious and defeated countries or communities. And yet, someone does profit from conflict and becomes rich. How is it that we know so little in terms of the impact of war on poor women and who becomes rich from keeping war ongoing?

At SEWA, a union of 1.3 million women workers, all poor but economically very active, we strive to achieve this freedom from poverty in a peaceful way. We have called this doosri azadi, second freedom. It is economic security that enables our sisters to experience economic freedom, to live with dignity and self-respect. Our sisters do this by building women’s own economic organizations that keep women and their work at the centre, and initiate economic rehabilitation under the leadership of women. This leads to generating concrete, meaningful livelihoods, which in turn leads to building, making, keeping, reviving or even chasing peace.

This approach of ‘Women, Work and Peace’ has shown results, be it in earthquake rehabilitation, or peace building after the horrific riots of 2002 in Gujarat, or the work with women in war-torn Afghanistan or Sri Lanka recovering from the conflict of nearly three decades. The approach is not universal in its use, but has universal value for understanding all three: women, work and peace.

 

At SEWA we all unite and come together as poor sisters. We strongly believe that poverty has no caste, no community, no religion. We work together as workers, no matter what our caste, or community or religion. It is this which has built a strong fabric at SEWA, even though the membership across India is mixed, whether Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Hindu or others. This focus on women and work strengthens our approach to economic rehabilitation; it gains the needed support and confidence of the poor affected families, communities and society in which we live and work.

During February to October 2002, when more than 1,52,000 members of SEWA were attacked, SEWA herself was under attack. SEWA made its stand loud and clear by its actions when its organizers – Hindus, Christians and Muslims – in the middle of riots visited the members’ camps, witnessing large-scale damage and destruction and unbearable killing. This was the first response to the violence all around them. These things affected the minds of the organizers. On return from field trips, we would cry amongst ourselves. Violence is not new to the lives of poor women in Ahmedabad or India, but this violence was different. It did not stab or maim but crushed one numb. Yet, we went back fearlessly, maintaining our faith in sarva dharma sambhav, gaining support of our sisters.

 

In the words of sister Shanta, ‘One day I heard a very familiar voice from my small room, and realized it was Kapilaben, an organizer from SEWA. She used to visit me before the riots to collect details regarding my work and to help me find a market for my products. I heard that she was looking for me, a widow, so I asked my little girl to go and call her in. And when she came to my house, I cried in her arms. It seemed to me that my friend was here.’¹ Similar experiences were shared by Jetunbibi, Sumanben, Valiben, Rashida and some 30000 members of SEWA, who were covered in the initial relief by SEWA organizers. In many cases the organizers themselves were victims but decided to move on and reach out to the more needy, affected sisters.

 

On the very second day of the riots, we visited our members who had taken shelter in a municipal school in Ahmedabad. The women and children were inside and the men were in the compound. The husbands and sons recognized us and conveyed their emotions through gestures, asking us to go back, go away. I experienced the anger, distrust and fear of the affected community. They did not even want to talk to us or allow us to meet with our sisters. We did not pressurize them. Many of my colleagues had experienced such situations earlier. It was a test for the organization. How does one maintain and keep the fabric – a weave of all women of all kinds – of the organization intact?

Several of us had to face the wrath of the affected communities. In Sabarkantha, while we were meeting our sisters, rioting again broke out. We had to be composed, not panic, give support to our sisters and their families. We looked foolish talking about peace. It helped us understand what it meant to be a victim – the suffering, pain, anger, helplessness and injustice. And yet, to stay above all this, keep focused on work and make our stand clear through simple action.

Like most things at SEWA, one activity grew into another. Relief and visits turned into small projects and programmes, many meetings, women-to-women consultations, a bit of sympathy, and gathering the energy to move forward. SEWA, with a strong belief in its values and approach to women, work and peace building, found itself working on a riot rehabilitation initiative – ‘Shanta and Shantipath’. Shanta means one who spearheads peace building; Shantipath is ‘our way towards peace’ through women working with women to fight poverty. Through Shanta and Shantipath, SEWA has so far managed to rehabilitate close to 260 riot widows and 569 children.

SEWA’s guiding principle was self-reliance, a Gandhian concept that lies at the heart of all our work. The focus on ‘widows’ and ‘orphans’ seemed too passive. SEWA did not want them to be forever depressed and dependent on others, but instead return to as normal a life as possible. The children should go back to the school and the widows should be self-sufficient. Words like ‘orphan’ and ‘widow’ seem to indicate helplessness and dependence on charity. So it was decided to call the children hamare bachche, which means ‘our children’, and widows ‘Shantaben’. As the work grew from one woman to another, from one meeting to another, we soon had our ‘hamare bachche’ and Shantaben joining us in our ongoing activities as equals.

 

It was with the same values and approach that SEWA began working with the war affected women, in particular the thousands of widows in Afghanistan. SEWA did not want the sisters of Afghanistan to feel helpless, but instead identify, recognize, realize and experience their own skills, resources and strengths. We did not see any difference between widows in Ahmedabad or in Kabul, widows of war or riots: they were poor, marginalized, without a voice in what was being decided for their future. After many discussions in SEWA among various women leaders, we decided that we would go to Kabul to build a better future, not to provide relief. So we decided to call the work in Afghanistan ‘Baugh-e-Khazana’.

Baugh-e-Khazana – the garden of wealth – is the vocational training centre of local, poor and mostly widowed women in Kabul. It completed three years in October 2010. So far more than 2000 local war affected women have been trained by a cadre of local master trainers who were trained by SEWA. Master trainers come to SEWA in Ahmedabad for training – in craft, dress making, garment design, packaging, marketing – stay over three months, share our sisterhood, and return to train more sisters in Baugh-e-Khazana. This is a sister-to-sister connection. This effort is too small to account for in peace processes initiated by the UN or the world powers, but we at SEWA delight in the fact that 2000 families in Kabul have more income, and so more food to share with their families.

SEWA has a small rotating team of leaders from Ahmedabad deployed to Kabul, along with technical hand-holding from our resource team. We went to Kabul at the invitation of the Government of India and even more the request of many widows eager to come out of war created poverty. SEWA said yes to her sisters. What is puzzling is why such sister-to-sister initiatives are not at the core of any post-conflict reconstruction? Any peace agreement?

 

Baugh-e-Khazana is proving that given an enabling environment and opportunity, women work towards economic security even in conflict situations. Ten women trained at Baugh-e-Khazana have now become trainers at the India Training Centre run by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Kabul. Similarly, 40 women trained at Baugh-e-Khazana by master trainers are now working at the training centre opened by Wise Group in Kabul. This small effort by SEWA is now spreading with a few more partners. It is a slow and difficult process. But as our sisters say, ‘Who said building peace is easy and fast?’ Again, what puzzles me is why such sister-to-sister capacity building is not at the core of any nation building initiative?

 

I was sitting with a group of trainers at the food processing unit of Baugh-e-Khazana preparing a production plan. All the group members decided to contribute 400 Afghani (US$ 8.4) each as working capital. The group prepared their production plans to make fig jam, plum jam and mixed pickle, a total of 1000 kilograms in two weeks and market it. Expectedly, I was nervous; 1000 kgs to be sold in two weeks! In Kabul? After two major bomb blasts in the market? Selling 1000 kilos of RDX may have been a better bet, my marketing team member joked without joy.

At once, Wasima Wakil said in her elated voice, ‘Oh! You know, I alone sell 100 kgs per day, earning up to 400 Afghanis – so collectively I am sure we will be able to sell jam in Kabul!’ I was being reassured by our sisters in Kabul. Immediately, Misri Allaudin came up and said in a firm voice, ‘May I put in 5000 Afghanis and start my own production? I saved my stipend, which I want to use as working capital.’ Our group was silent. This was a real business move. Another leader took the responsibility of getting a ‘food license’, as the group would be selling to various local buyers. A sister took up the transport logistics and another sister took up word-of-mouth marketing. And protection? That was left to a man! The one who looked after all of us, always. I am puzzled why all projects must start with outside money, but rarely tap local money, however small it may be?

The Government of Afghanistan’s Minister of Women’s Affairs was fully supportive of this poor-to-poor link and proclaimed Baugh-e-Khazana as the most concrete and successful programme. ‘I can see and feel the difference in the lives of my sisters. The project is investing directly in women – changing their lives, helping them come out of poverty and hunger and not through easy salaries in hard cash. I want to replicate Baugh-e-Khazana in four provinces in Afghanistan,’ she said. SEWA sisters are ready to spread. Again, while there are resources to initiate peace projects, to spread peace projects that work around women and work to scale, they are hard to come by. As if resources allocated for peace are to purchase it like a product, but not invest in building peace as a process.

 

Baugh-e-Khazana was twice targeted by extremist elements. In the end, all violence targets women, economically or physically. On 18 February 2009, three women suicide bombers entered Baugh-e-Khazana at 9.15 a.m. when around 500 women were busy at work. But again, Baugh-e-Khazana showed that this is a place where women come and work together for peace, economic security and building solidarity and sisterhood. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Government of Afghanistan along with the National Security Guard and intelligence agency, immediately moved in to support the women, evacuated them and even succeeded in arresting two suicide bombers.

This incident exposed the ugly reality of terror, the damage it can cause, mental or physical, and made us all realize that women, work and peace is not that easy an approach. Even the smallest achievement by the weakest can threaten the biggest war machine of the strongest. How a moment of terror can shatter years of confidence and peace, and faith in each other.

The women in Kabul were all stunned. Why us? Why kill anybody? These were the two questions repeatedly asked. No one had any answers. Everyone knew that in the end, it is the women who suffer the most, be it poverty or be it war. Two days later, Baugh-e-Khazana was back in action – all 300 women at work – reassuring solidarity. ‘Khala’ embraced me and said, ‘We are all one, no one can separate us. Hum ek hai, sub ek hai. We will protect each other and Baugh-e-Khazana will grow stronger. We are doing God’s work.’

At SEWA in Ahmedabad our sisters prayed and realized that we were practising Gandhiji’s idea of appealing to the goodness in each human being in our own way. I was thinking whether Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, known in Gujarat as Sarhad-na-Gandhi, would see our sisters as Khudai Khidmatgars or God’s servants? And together we all sang, ‘We shall overcome one day’ in Hindi and chanted, ‘Mohamaye eaki haste’, ‘Hum sab ek hain’.

The work continues, despite a serious second attack on 26 February 2010, this time on the guest house where the SEWA team lived. Fortunately, our team had a miraculous escape. A SEWA sister, a Hindu widow from Ahmedabad riots, said, ‘Kabul ni vidhavana ashirvad khali na jaay’, the blessings of the widows of Kabul we work with protected us.

 

Overall, my experience at SEWA makes me believe that women are the key to rebuilding a community. And communities build a nation. Women want a stable community, roots for their family. They are there as workers, caretakers, as educators and networkers. Women become an integral part of the peace building process if peace is to be built bottom up. This is a slow process and we want, like fast food, fast peace.

As Elaben says, ‘If women are at the centre, their productive work is the thread that weaves a society together. When you have work, you have an incentive to maintain a stable society. You can not only see the future, but you can plan for the future. Work builds peace, because work gives people roots, it builds communities and it gives meaning and dignity to one’s life.’

By work we do not mean factory jobs, nor sweatshops and cheap labour that leaves a person a slave to yet another kind of exploitation. By work, we mean the production of food that nurtures us all and access to water that brings life to the dry seeds of the future. It means the upgrading of existing and traditional skills that people have possessed for thousands of years – agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, textiles. This work feeds people and helps restore man’s relationship with himself, with fellow human beings, with the earth and the environment and with the great spirit that created us all.

We can help local producers build links to mainstream markets. We can help them find access to financial services, technological services. We can ensure that their voice is heard at the policy-making level. We can try to prove to the world that the right kind of economic development is a vital path to peace.

As we plan to expand our work in Sri Lanka and sadly, as similar challenges of conflict face SEWA sisters at home in India, I wonder if peace is masculine or feminine? Or is peace what we do after a war or between the two? I wonder if the real reason for work is to make money or build a family or community? I wonder if our focus on women only reflects gender concerns or points to a so far subdued way of living a fuller life? These may be questions that need further research, but where is the time for that? I am sure that more work with sisters in SEWA may provide some insights.

 

Footnote:

1. The rehabilitation programme thus came into existence and is called the ‘Shanta Programme’, widows are called Shantabens which means peace makers while the single parent and orphans are called Hamare Bachche. Riot affected women are called ‘Shantaben’. Shanta in Gujarati means a peaceful woman. Also, at SEWA we do not believe in creating differences among women by their social status as widows and therefore we called them Shantaben.