KOCHI: In an era when gender bias is becoming a topic of heated discussions, women from different walks of life have come together to try and erase discrimination from society. “Nirbhaya was the trigger,” says Sajitha Rasheed, the former principal administrator of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Raising Our Voices.
The incident which tore open the psyche of the nation had Monolita Chatterjee, an architect and one of the founding members of the NGO, to call up a meeting of like-minded individuals to discuss the means of ridding society of such incidents. “We started out with fifteen members. We have grown over the years and today have 28 members,” says Sajitha.
ROV came out into the public sphere for the first time by participating in the One Billion Rising event, that was held on February 14th, 2013 in Kochi.
Sajitha says, “The aim of the NGO is to see a society liberalised from crime against women and children besides gender imbalance. The society finds it easy to keep its eyes shut against such violent acts. We aim to empower the girl child by helping her find a solid footing through education.” As a part of their aim to change the perspective of the society towards women and even the third gender, the NGO conducts awareness classes at schools and colleges. “School and other educational institutions have been approaching us to conduct awareness classes not only on gender issues but also sex education,” says Sajitha.
As a part of its various initiatives towards empowering the girl child, the NGO has been working with the children at the Children’s Home at Kakkanad.
ROV’s works don’t stop there. “We have been approached by victims of domestic violence too. When a victim seeks us out, we help her by guiding her through the right procedures. Though we don’t appoint any legal aid, we direct them to the right person,” she says.