People's Democracy

'Issues Before Muslim Women'

JMS Holds Convention In Delhi

At a convention held here on November 22 focusing on "Issues Before Muslim Women", several speakers drew attention to the discriminatory attitude of civic and political authorities in Delhi. Systematic neglect practiced in disbursement of funds and allocations for development of civic infrastructural facilities was reflected in the dismal state of sanitation, denial of basic education and other basic civic amenities in areas where the Muslim minorities are found in larger concentration.

Living in the slums of Delhi, the mass of Muslim women find that their children too suffer discrimination in schools, for example because the official policy of discriminatory financial disbursement at the local level further strengthens stereotypes against the community.

Speakers at the convention, drawn from different localities of Delhi, noted that the problems they faced were part of the concerns of the general democratic movement and focused on issues of development, equality and democracy. However, the extent of stereotyping of the Muslim community is so great that the media ignores problems at the level of day- to-day existence and chooses to highlight only specific instances related to aspects of personal law. Further, there is a purdah on issues related to work, which are past of the struggle of unorganised workers for better conditions.

In the changing economic these have become crucial to Muslim women’s struggle for survival and dignity.

Addressing the participants, Brinda Karat MP, emphasised the need to address the specific forms and levels of discrimination faced by women of the minority community. These need to be urgently addressed if the democratic women’s movement in the country is to advance. Allowing the divide between communities and women of different communities, would weaken women’s struggle for equal rights, she said.