The history of the Women’s Movement in India towards gender equity, is replete with path breaking legislations like the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and the recent Women’s Reservation (in Parliament) Act 2024. In the last few years, in the aftermath of the ‘Jyoti Singh rape case in 2012’, there was a huge progression in legislation with respect to enhanced punishment for sexual assault against women, under the Justice Verma Commitee Report The report sought to recognize rape as an expression of power, expanded the narrow definition of rape, directed discontinuation of two-finger tests, introduced new offenses such as stalking, voyeurism, sexual harassment, acid attack, etc., recommended police and educational reforms, and directed the adoption of mechanisms for reforms in the management of cases related to crimes against women. Many expected that the reforms would lead to overall strengthening of institutional mechanisms for gender based violence.
CEQUIN’s Approach to Gender Based Advocacy
But violence against women goes beyond sexual assault. The woman’s body in many instances is used as a battlefield to settle scores or benchmarks for ‘moral’ codes. Financial exclusion, curtailing mobility, lack of freedom to work outside the home, forcible drop out of girls from education, forced early marriage and/or pregnancy, lack of health care – are all forms of gender based violence. It is critical to understand the structures underlying these forms of violence – which are culturally affirmed by society at large. A deeply patriarchal social system, which relegates men’s role to the ‘public’ domain and women’s role to the ‘private’ domain, is the bedrock of structural violence. Inorder to uproot this culture which teaches violence; gender based violence, we have to disrupt patriarchy, as the system which emboldens such acts of violence.
The government’s approach to address this, has been responsive. Setting up special courts and fast tracking of cases, stricter laws and punishment for crimes, is a much needed step. Right from its inception, CEQUIN has advocated for stronger laws and accountability, and implementation of laws to combat gender based violence at home, workplace and public spaces. But laws alone cannot address violence. In fact empirical data has revealed that there is no correlation between stricter punishment and lesser sexual offense, or better chances of conviction. Without – infrastructural support to institutions, or addressing discriminatory practices within these bodies, or without survivor centric policies, laws will fail to achieve what they hoped to. We need to holistically address all forms of gender based violence, not selectively focus on rape alone.
CEQUIN’s approach has been ‘preventive’ in nature. It has been our learning that to address gender based violence, we need to holistically address various forms of structural violence and engage stakeholders across spaces to join hands. What is needed is a shift in perceptions and mindsets, an approach that places equal onus upon men and women, across genders.
It’s been a long journey, and we have been innovative, strategic and deliberate in our approach. In the early years, there was little understanding of how innovative approaches like working with men and boys and girls’ football, could address gender based violence. We were pioneers in this space and recognised early on that a holistic, intersectional and preventive approach was the need of the hour. Today, we have come a long way, with so many organisations undertaking such initiatives. We work with government bodies, national and international partners, youth, parents, institutions and communities, to collectively disrupt the social structure that fosters an environment of discrimination and exploitation for certain groups, entities, people and ideas.
Highlights
- CEQUIN’s Survey Report – ‘Perception and Experience of Gendered Violations in Public Places in the City of Delhi’ with the Centre for Media Studies in 2009, was critical. On 15 December 2009, the details of the report were discussed in the Parliament, and the then Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram responded to questions raised by the report’s findings on gender based violence. Issues of harassment and assault, which were often ignored as ‘non serious’ offenses, were engaging our highest policy makers for the first time through this study.
- CEQUIN organised a national level conference and the report release- ‘Gender Based Violence in Public Spaces – Challenges & Solutions’, with the National Commission for Women & UNDP in 2010
- CEQUIN released the film ‘Seema Aur Salim ki Diary’, with the Delhi Government and UN India , an AV tool and resource for gender trainers working with adolescents and youth in 2010. The film was launched by Lt Smt Sheila Dikshit, Kiran Walia and Shalu Jindal.
- CEQUIN has been a member of the Working Group on Women’s Agency and Empowerment for the 12th Five Year Plan, on Contextualizing Women’s Empowerment: Emerging issues and Challenges, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, 2011
- In partnership with the UN agencies and the working committee of the Commonwealth Games 2010, CEQUIN initiated a high profile Sub Committee on Women and Sports
- CEQUIN has been a member of the Task Force for Women’s Safety, Government of Delhi.
- Lora K. Prabhu , CEQUIN’s co-founder and managing director, was selected by the US State Department for the International Visitors Leadership Programme on Global Women’s Issues in 2012.
- CEQUIN hosted the ‘Women International Network (WIN) Conference’, an international annual leadership conference with Stree Shakti in 2013 to highlight women’s leadership
- CEQUIN hosted a roundtable on the ‘Road map for Women’s Soccer in India: Challenges and Strategies for Action’ with UNDP, bringing together stakeholders from across the world- Government, AIFF, FIFA, NGOs, corporate organizations and media, in 2013
- Bency Issac, CEQUIN’s HR Manager, shared the stage at event, ‘Promote Hope & Peace through Sports’ organized in Times Square, New York, USA by Save the Dream and ESPN, to talk about our initiative ‘Delhi Dreams’ supported by the Aston Villa Football Club, in 2015
- CEQUIN’s co-founders Sara Abdullah Pilot and Lora K. Prabhu met with former Vice President of India, his excellency Mohammad Hamid Ansari in 2016 to share about CEQUIN’s work and flag critical gender concerns
- CEQUIN was represented by our co-founder and chairperson, Sara Abdullah Pilot, in the Indian Delegation to the 69th FIFA Congress at FIFA Women’s Football Convention in Paris in 2018
- CEQUIN was part of the working group that made recommendations for the UN – NITI Aayog Voluntary National Review on Sustainable Development Goals for Religious Minorities of India in 2020
- Our co-founder and chairperson Sara Abdullah Pilot was the officiating Chairperson of the Women’s Committee in the All India Football Federation from 2014- 2022
- CEQUIN has been the convener of the coalition the ‘National Alliance for Women’s Football in India’, since 2018
- CEQUIN partnered with Action India to create a coalition of 20 Mahila Panchayat groups across Delhi-NCR, to address the rise of gender based violence in 2018.
- CEQUIN organised a national conclave – ‘Gender Equality through the Medium of Football – Lessons & Prospects’, with Laureus Sport for Good in 2022, bringing together diverse stakeholders across sectors
- CEQUIN’s advocacy through National Alliance for Women’s Football has contributed to India being the host for Under 17 FIFA Women’s World Cup, 2022
- CEQUIN partnered with the District Education Office in Nuh, Haryana to run 25 Mohalla Paathshalas connecting over 500 children to education during COVID in 2020-22
- To commemorate 15 years of impactful work in 2024, CEQUIN organised a national symposium, ‘Bridging the Gender Gap – Challenges and Opportunities for the Next Decade’, to deliberate on the critical strategies to identify gender gaps across sectors and jointly co-create collaborative action towards addressing those gaps. The day-long conference brought together 20 experts – journalists, writers, film makers, activists, media, economists, gender experts, political organisers and leaders through powerful panel discussions on – Political Leadership, Economy, Media, Law and Policy, Sports and Popular Culture. Over 200 participants from across the country – government representatives, NGOs, journalists, lawyers, economists, researchers, think tanks, multilateral and bilateral agencies, athletes, writers, artists, students, civil society and citizens, weaved dialogues to ignite a movement for gender justice. Our endeavor was to create a knowledge platform where different organisations and stakeholders can come together to learn from each other. The entire event was live telecasted and learnings captured in a comprehensive report.
- CEQUIN has been recognised for its work and awarded several accolades over the years- the ‘Indian Women Achievers Award’ 2013 (Tag Heuer), ‘ASSOCHAM Ladies League Award to Prominent Women’ 2014, ‘Women of the Decade in Community Leadership’ 2019 (Women Economic Forum), ‘Promoting Gender Diversity through Football’ 2019 (FICCI), ‘Best NGO in Football Development Award’ 2019 ( Delhi Soccer Association), ‘Maimar-E-Okhla Ratna Award’ for contribution in Health, 2020
