More than 100 years ago, women were recognized for the first time for their activism and bravery. That historic day was February 28, 1909, called National Woman’s Day, to celebrate the stouthearted American women who protested their inadequate working conditions in New York City’s garment district. The yearly honoring of women eventually caught on, and in 1975 the United Nations designated March 8 as International Women’s Day—a global celebration for the economic, political, and social achievements of women. Each year the UN chooses a new theme for International Women’s Day.
This Year’s Theme: “Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All.”
To mark this day, Dalit Freedom Network raises the banner for the heroic Dalit women of India—hundreds of millions of mothers, sisters, and daughters who have cried out for centuries for equal rights, equal opportunities, and progress for all.
Who are these precious women? Read for yourself excerpts from their impassioned letters to Nancy Pelosi in 2007 and First Lady Michelle Obama in 2010.
We who have signed our names to this letter are the Dalit women of India. We are history’s longest standing oppressed people group, and by all reports the largest number of people categorized as victims of modern-day slavery.
We are also known by the demeaning labels “untouchables,” “outcastes,” and most recently “slumdogs.” We have been born “untouchable” according to the hierarchal social system of India, which considers us impure, subhuman, godforsaken, and deserving of our present suffering in this life because of our bad deeds in a past life. In this hierarchy, we are placed below animals. We have been told—and most of us agree—that it would be better if we had never been born.
There are 250 million “untouchables” in India today. We are denied education, healthcare, economic opportunity, and basic civil liberties that other citizens in our country enjoy. We are dying from AIDS, malaria, TB, and other diseases that we could prevent with vaccinations and proper care. Few of us own land or our own businesses. Most of us do not have access to clean water and are forbidden to draw water from the wells in our villages. Hundreds of thousands of our children as young as five years old work 12 or more hours a day, six or seven days a week. By the time our children turn eight, they are already slaves in their own minds.
Our lives and the lives of our daughters can be among the very hardest in India. We know that the only thing worse than being born a Dalit is to be born a Dalit female. We are raped as girls. We are sold to religious temples as prostitutes as young as age four to be used in sexual acts of worship. Some of us who will live to become widows will choose “sati,” throwing ourselves on our husband’s funeral pyre to spare ourselves a life of begging and starvation on the streets of India.
Enter The Lydia Project—a powerhouse of a program with a mission not only to bring economic and social empowerment into the lives of Dalit women but also to equip them to become business leaders in their communities. In a society that considers Dalit women to be people of no liberties, no talent, no aptitude, and less than animals, born to be enslaved, dehumanized, and raped at will, The Lydia Project stands as a symbol of human dignity and gender equality. The Lydia Project empowers Dalit women through:
In addition to the production of export-quality, high-end women’s garments, two Lydia tailoring centers operate for the purpose of stitching school uniforms for the 20,000 students in our 100 Dalit Education Centers.
In honor of International Women’s Day 2010, join Dalit Freedom Network in celebrating The Lydia Project—a program poised to make a phenomenal impact in the lives of thousands of Dalit women across the nation of India in this generation.