Linked with Vimochana, with ‘Dowry deaths’ in Bangalore, and with Madhu Kishwar – India.
Ms. Donna Fernandes is a key figure in the Indian womens movement. She has worked on gender issues for over 20 years and is one of the founding members of Vimochana, THE most prominent womens organisation in Bangalore. Donna has covered issues ranging from violence against women, to problems of rural and urban women, to the girl child, female infanticide, trafficking, dowry deaths, domestic workers problems. She has travelled the length and breadth of India raising awareness on womens issues. She is also known in the international womens movement for her passionate and totally committed approach to fighting for womens rights. (full interview text).
She says: « If women are not emotionally independent, then they cannot be economically independent — and violence against women will continue ». (full text).
News headlines about the theme:
IT City plagued by dowry deaths, July 16, 2007.
Domestic Violence Act yet to be implemented, January 25, 2007.
India’s first domestic violence law takes effect, Oct 27, 2006.
Donna Fernandes – India
She works for Vimochana (named on India together).
Donna Fernandes of Vimochana, a women’s organization in Bangalore, addressed the students of IIJNM on Friday, October 31, 2003. Fernandes touched upon a wide range of women’s issues in India, including female infanticide, female feticide, sexual abuse and the evils of dowry. This is Fernandes’s second visit to IIJNM. During her first visit, Donna spoke about the feminist movement in India on Wednesday March 19, 2003. She noted how the patriarchal system in India continues to exploit women in the form of dowry and female infanticide. She said that the problem of such social evils cannot be eradicated only by a few NGOs, but both men and women in general should come forward to solve the problem. She also believed that there are plenty of loopholes in the existing legal framework and that many of the laws need to be updated and amended. Quoting the example of the Mathura rape case, she mentioned how a women’s organization was successful in securing justice to a victim of rape, who otherwise was accused of being characterless and therefore did not deserve justice. (full text).
