Shamita Das-Dasgupta has been actively participating in the women's movement since 1974 and has been on the board of the National Organisation of Women (NOW). "By 1980, I realised that these groups weren't really focusing on the issue of domestic violence. Also, they didn't address issues related to south Asian and immigrant women; the discrimination of women on the basis of colour, class and race," rues Shamita. And so, in 1985, she, along with five other Asian women, all feminists, started Manavi. The organisation now has 20 to 25 people working together.
Begun as an education oriented group, Manavi was started mainly in order to raise feminist consciousness. But a call from an lllinois woman, who needed help changed the focus to more practical and pragmatic issues.
Domestic violence cuts across all levels of education and class. Working, educated and affluent women come to Manavi, as do others who aren't educated and are perhaps, dependent on their husbands. Over the last 10 years, Manavi has worked with more than 500 women, "Earlier, we got calls from women all over the country, but, in the last five years, we've concentrated on New Jersey. There are now about 18 south Asian women's groups in the country, and we direct women who contact us to their local group," states Shamita.
One of the worst cases that Manavi dealt with was of a professional woman, who had been abused for 29 years. "She earned enormous amounts, but didn't have a penny to her name. She was beaten repeatedly, and hospitalised," laments Shamita.
"But we at Manavi don't tell women what to do. We give them options; we help them acknowledge abuse. Often, women find it against their culture to leave their husbands. We ask them if their culture advocates that their husbands beat them up. We try counselling them on their finances, help them decide whether or not they can realistically come out of the situation. The only thing we insist on is that no one should have to accept abuse," Shamita explains.
On immigration and westernisation
Of late, Shamita has noticed that even second generation Indian Americans ask for help, but she observes: "Domestic violence is a phenomenon across cultures. Violence against women appears to stem from the patriarchal belief that women are property which men have the right to abuse and control. It could be husbands, fathers or brothers." But there is hope, she feels, in the fact that women have formed groups within the south Asian community and are coming out and talking about the issues. They apparently want to do something about it.
Shamita strongly feels that Indians, long settled in the US, have frozen in time, even as India has changed. They tend to stick to the older picture of India. "They are developing what I call - 'Hindi cinema Hinduism', portraying pativrata (husband worshipping) women, who may not be reality based at all."
As a psychology professor at Rutgers, Shamita has observed two kinds of students. One includes active young people who question tradition, without rejection, searching for parts that would empower them. And the other group which seems to be extremely traditional, but hanging on to traditions which are not really Indian. "There's this mythical, homogenous Hindu culture that is evolving. Rituals and activities are emerging in the name of 'our' traditions," feels Shamita. The younger generations claim that they are being force fed on these artificial traditions.
Could this homogenous culture be harmful? According to Shamita, "If everything becomes strait jacketed, we could lose that wonderful variety of things found within our culture. In south Asia, there are so many rich religions that we can gain from. I'm a firm believer in diversity, contradiction, richness and variety. People say, if you have too many things, it's going to be confusing - I feel this underestimates our intelligence, tolerance and resilience."
In a situation like this, along with the additional problem of colour discrimination, bringing up a child is not easy. But Shamita says, with pride, "I brought my daughter up here. I think the best we can do is spend time with them and show them what's good and right. I think you have to teach them about justice and need to give them values - values of justice and equality."
Regarding issues of sexuality and AIDS, facing the Indian - American community, Shamita says, "We need to come together as a group and be supportive to our second generation. I think, the first step towards solving problems is to recognise that they are problems: To look them in the face, talk about them and then think collectively about solutions."
