| Chhattisgarh
Women’s Organisation (CWO)
a self-help group formed in 1984, defends the rights of rural women and girls who are Dalit (‘untouchable’), lower-caste, kamiha (slave, that is, bonded labour), Indigenous, and are victims of abuse and corruption by landlords, police and other officials. Includes widows, single mothers, deserted women, older single women, women and children with disabilities. CWO is active in 400 scattered villages in Chhattisgarh State in the heart of India, often very difficult to reach as there is no transport and the roads are dirt tracks. CWO is the first organisation which brought bonded women, whose forced labour in the landlord's home and fields never counted against the debt that is never paid off and passes from one generation to another (only the men's work counted), together with Indigenous Tribal women to express our problems and do something about our situations. CWO's first actions were to help organise the release of tens of thousands of bonded women and men and their children in the early '80s. We have increased women's economic self-sufficiency and food security by organising grain banks so that seed and food is available during bad harvests; starting women-only farming and weaving co-operatives; protecting Indigenous women's access to forest produce (honey, medicinal herbs, fruits) and stopping the illegal felling of trees by landowners. CWO defends Dalit women's access to safe drinking water from the wells (often denied them by landlords) and organise communal meals where Dalit and non-Dalit eat together. CWO members have gone on strike to win wage rises at harvest time. CWO has fought for the arrest and punishment of landlord and police rapists, dowry extortionists and physical and mental torturers of women. |