Day 3: The Women Around Me...

I remember the first day I walked into Dr. Vyas’s Social Entrepreneurship class, I was nervous and intimidated by the fact that I was entering an unfamiliar field that I knew little about, and for the first time since my freshman year all unfamiliar faces. There I stood an undergraduate student with a class of 15 young women that have their lives together, and are ready to take on the world. Not only are they graduate students of GWU’s School of Public Health and Health Services, but also the experiences they have had, either in past jobs or travels, are remarkable. I stand beside such inspiring women, with stories to share and a passion to change the world around them.

For the past few days we’ve been working together to put on a session for the women of Aastha Parivaar, an “organization of sex workers, for the sex workers and by the sex workers.” Their purpose is to “strengthen the community and provide a common platform to all typologies of sex workers to address their common issues and needs such as health, human rights, crisis intervention, legal literacy, literacy and support to their children for a sustainable impact.” As a group, we put together talking-materials on the topics of breast cancer, the menstrual cycle, hygiene, and menopause. When we got to the site we sat in a room with about 10 other women of the Women Welfare Society (WWS), a community based organization, here in Mumbai, under the umbrella of Aastha Parivaar. These women, some sex-workers, some mothers, some both, are all leaders of their community. They explained to us that they speak with other women in the area about sexual health, HIV, STDs, condom usage, and women concerns. We went there not to lecture at them but to help explain issues that they may know little about, but at the same time we wanted to learn from them about their culture and how they view and handle some of these topics. We sat in a roundtable, comfortably talking about sex and feminine issues. We learned that in India when women have their period they use a sponge in replacement of a pad for 24 hours, therefore putting themselves at risk for some sort of infection. They said the reason being is that such feminine products are too expensive. In the U.S. a woman’s period is that 3-5 days of annoyance, cramps, fatigue and PMS. Here in India it’s that and more. For the sex-workers it can be a week out of work. In regards to menopause, some of the women saw it as the end to their career. I remember when we explained that menopause happens around the age of 51, a woman put her head in her hands and shook her head. But then again maybe a woman in America would do the same thing.

Though you maybe reading this saying to yourself these women are putting themselves at such a high risk for infections and disease, on the other hand they are speaking out to other women trying to solve at least some of the issues in their community and work of choice. They work extensively to “reduce incidents of violence and harassment.” In addition the women of WWS “carry out numerous income generating activities” for example they sell condoms, incense sticks, and perfumes and put together various training sessions. They make positive changes in the lives of other women. I am no feminist but I do believe that there is something to be said about women being there for one another.

Like the women in my class, these women have come together because they want to help others. Just like them we have become a united group, and a support system to one another. We know that each of us may be facing different obstacles or how to deal with the emotions we have had felt along this trip thus far, but at the end of the day we can laugh together and feel comfortable talking and reflecting with one another. What I’m trying to say is that the women that we met are not so different from us. Though we may be living in two totally different countries, we share the bond of being a woman.