Women empowerment
In our society, women are the embodiment of power and are creative. In India, women are actually the backbone of the family and as far as the tribal society is concerned, women not only take care of the house but also help in the work related to farming and animal husbandry. Those who bring wood from the forest are also women. If you go to marketplace of any forest area, it is worth observing that the number of women who come to shop there is extraordinary and most of the people doing business there are also women. Even today, there are many villages in the country having functioning Nyay Panchayats, there too the voice of women has a special place. There are some tribal areas in North-East where women hold the main place in the house as well as the society. Women have been involved in the work since the establishment of Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram, however after the arrival of Ms. Leelatai Paradkarji, a structured plan was developed for carrying work in the domain of women empowerment. She came to Jashpur in 1973 as the first full-time woman worker. In Lohardaga area of present-day Jharkhand, another woman started working with Kalyan Ashram when a doctor couple got associated with us and gradually the work progressed. 250 sisters also participated in the national conference held in Delhi in 1981. All India Women’s Conference was organized in Bhilai in 1985 and later in Ranchi in 2007. Today, Kalyan Ashram is working for women empowerment spanning across all levels ranging from village committees to all India level. There are also women workers who are working full time for Kalyan Ashram.
Be it education, health, self-reliance, self-protection or any other aspect, women workers are making great strides in all of them. They themselves are managing and operating various projects too. Today, there are many hostels for girls in the country and forest girls get to showcase their skills in all sports festivals. Most of the sanskar centers and saving groups are being run by women. Women are especially active in running the Sevapatra scheme in city committees. Not only this, women have also shown their talent by making special contributions in the newspapers and magazines published by means of Kalyan Ashram in different states of the country. In short, women are contributing to all types of work of Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram. To increase the evidence of this contribution and ensure continuous activism, projects related to women empowerment has also been included in the organizational plans. It is our job to create awareness not only in the forest dwelling community but also in the entire society. History will never forget the contributions made by women in the domain of creating that awareness.