Women’s Empowerment and Community Development

Description

In under-educated stratas of society, oppressive patriarchy often rears its head in the guise of ‘tradition’. Men are given the freedom to work, and their negative actions are ignored, even if they manifest as domestic violence including sexually assaulting their wives, alcoholism and controlling behaviour such as not ‘allowing’ the females of their family any trace of financial and mental freedom.

At Harmony House, we are working hard to tackle this issue by employing mothers of our children and giving them the ability to enjoy a sense of financial independence as well as self-reliance outside of their restrictive family situations. While working outside the home remains a contentious issue, doing so at Harmony House is often accepted by their families as their children will also be with us.

Additionally, we hold regular workshops on sexual assault, self defence, child marriage and birth control, among others.

Testimonials

Sarita joined us in our early years as a Classroom Assistant and had a young son at the time. After a few years, she left to take care of her newborn daughter and did not work for some time until taking up a job near her house. However, both she and her husband, like so many, lost their jobs during the 2020 lockdown. Her now-13 year old son had to work in a factory to support the family but the situation tested Sarita emotionally and seemed hopeless.

Today, Sarita is back at Harmony House, and we are delighted to have her wonderful children with us as well.

Kopila

Kavita

Luxmi

This tenacious trio were forbidden to work by their husbands. However, since Harmony House is an organisation centred on women and children, these three were allowed to join our team and enroll their children too. During the lockdown in 2020, when their so many of their peers were left unemployed, Kopila, Kavita and Luxmi were able to support their families thanks to their salaries from Harmony House.

In addition to the work we do at Harmony House, we also regularly make trips into the slums to build awareness about crucial women’s issues and show women how they can work and become financially independent. For instance, we partnered with the Pragya Foundation to inform women about the housekeeping programme at Harmony House, leading to many more participants who now had more tools to help them land a job outside the home.

Session on woman’s health by a team of doctors from CK BIRLA Hospital

Ranjana came to Harmony House in 2012 along with her two sons. Her family needed financial help but Ranjana could not work because she had to look after her sons. By enrolling her children at Harmony House, she was able to secure a job with the government and contribute to her family. Today, her older son is pursuing a Bachelor of Computer Applications degree and her younger is in grade 12. Due to some health issues, Ranjana had lost her job, but has joined our tailoring course and is training for the next one!

In addition to employing mothers and taking care of their children, we also endeavour to award contracts to our children’s parents. This includes transport, carpentry, plumbing and vegetable orders to name a few.