STAFF BLOG: Reflections from Count Me In! South Asia Conference on Violence Against Marginalised Women

The following post was written by Marevic "Bing" Parcon, WGNRR's Programme Support Officer.  She recently attended the Count Me In! South Asia Conference on Violence Against Marginalised Women held in Kathmandu, Nepal from April 16-18, 2011.

April 20, 2011

I recently participated in the 3-day Count Me In South Asia Conference on Violence Against Marginalized Women. The conference was organized by CREA and took place in Kathmandu, Nepal on 16-18 April 2011. It was attended by 300 participants from South Asian countries and as well as other regions. The conference was a convergence of women’s activists, LGBTQI activists, sex workers rights advocates, women with disabilities and women’s rights advocates. It was an incredible space for networking, sharing experiences, learning from each other and exploring possibilities.

Day 1 of the conference started with performances from Kritika Campaign, a collective of women with disabilities. They sang and danced about women’s equality.  At one point, a woman who lost a leg when she was young danced gracefully which, for me, was very humbling. Interesting speeches and sharing followed.

I was particularly interested in the speech of Sapana Pradhan Mallah, a Nepalese lawyer and member of the Nepalese Constituent Assembly. Sapana shared the recent victories of the feminist movement in Nepal and what could be groundbreaking revisions to the Nepalese constitution. The new draft of the constitution recognises non-discrimination based on gender, sex, health, pregnancy, marital status and disability as a start.  It also recognizes sharing of household responsibilities and housework is a contribution to nation’s GNP. Sapana underscored that that change is not easy as it means challenging all spheres in politics. She ended her speech with an admission that “making the law is not enough; (it) needs to be functional.”  Having said that, I approached her after her speech where she graciously answered my queries on updates on their new law on abortion and how it is in terms of implementation. Sapana said that the government is ensuring that there is reasonable access to safe abortion in Nepal especially in the rural areas.

Day 2 opened with a panel on Legal Milestones in India and Nepal. Sunil Babu Pant, the first openly gay member of Parliament in Nepal reiterated that Nepal will soon be having the most progressive Constitution in its history. The non-discriminatory clause includes recognition of LGBTQI rights. Words are carefully crafted in the draft of the constitution includemarriage between two individuals thus recognising same-sex marriage.

India’s well-loved (retired) Chief Justice Shah then talked about the landmark decision of the New Delhi High Court to decriminalise consensual sex between gay men by repealing Section 377 of India's Penal Code. Justice Shah underscored that a person should not be judged according to his/her life’s choices; his/her dignity should not be sacrificed on the basis of public notion of morality.

After the plenary, I attended the break-out session on Sex Workers Movements in South Asia. Although I was struggling with the translation, it was indeed a space for sex workers to openly share their stories. There was also a video-documentary on how the Indian government’s effort to “rehabilitate” sex workers included burning houses in a red light district, consequently displacing the sex workers and their families. Following that, there were sons and daughters of sex workers gave powerful testimonials denouncing the discrimination against sex workers.

I  also had the oppurtunity to attend the session on “Women on the Margins Resisting Fundamentalism“ with AWID.  In it, Jessica Horn from Sierra Leone exposed how the religious fundamentalists penetrate and manipulate in the economy and politics in Africa. Jessica spoke about religious fundamentalism boils down to money-making. (It) is all about money. I can relate with the sharing on this session especially on how the religious fundamentalists take on “progressive”, “rights-based” stance on issues relating to human rights, environment, political repression, etc. but are opposing and attacking women’s rights to sexual and reproductive freedom.

Our very own board member Gulalai Ismail spoke at a session entitled “The Service is Political.” Gulalai along with other panelists discussed the impact of their work in their communities. It was underscored that service provision becomes political when it feeds into social change;  challenges the status quo and creates the chance for the survivors to be part of the social movement and not just a recipients of charitable work.

The highlight for me, with apologies to equally thought provoking presenters, was on the third day when Indian writer and media practitioner, Shohini Ghosh had a conversation with Indian writer Arundathi Roy. Arundathi Roy talked for about two hours about her childhood, her difficult relationship with mother, her work, her choices, and her tales about “Walking with the Comrades,” her latest essay. Walking with the Comrades is Arundathi’s account of her interaction with the Maoist in Chattisgargh State in Central India. At one point, Roy said that women are always viewed as the victims of armed struggle but she was surprised by the fact that the Maoist resistance movement comprised 48 percent women. She recalled from her interaction with the women rebels and their reasons for joining the underground movement – “these women watched their mothers and sisters being raped and killed and their houses were burned by the military.” She mentioned that these women won’t do hunger strikes, signature campaigns, or street mobilisations in the mountains but it does not mean that they are any less feminist. She emphasised that these women opted to join the resistance movement as it their way to demand state responsibility and to break out from the boundaries of patriarchal society.  She recalled that her mother once said that she has a genius daughter. Indeed, she is articulate, witty, funny, smart and did I mention, beautiful? The presentation was a major highlight for me.

The conference was an amazing three-day opportunity to learn new concepts, embrace diversity, engage in new alliances, and to connect and reconnect South Asian feminists. Count Me In! is indeed an inclusive space. I have never attended a conference where marginalised communities-- sex workers, women with disabilities, trans gender women -- were placed in the center of the discussion.  It was an empowering and exciting conference that provides a strong platform for working towards sexual and reproductive justice.

Click here to see photos and videos from the conference.

Conference resources and materials can be dowloaded here.