Kamla Bhasin (1946-Present)
Kamla Bhasin was born in 1949 and grew up in small towns in rural Rajathan, India. She completed her studies in India, which included a BA at Mahrani's College in Jaipur and an MA in Economics at Rajasthan University, and spent two years in Germany. Then she decided to go back and work in rural areas after cutting her German government job in 1970. She decided to work for Seva Mandir in Udaipur as a development worker and activist staying there for four years. One of her proudest tasks is working in the field of women empowerment. This is because at the gas of 4-8, 12 or 13 men sexually abused her. She says because of the women's movement it is possible for her to speak up about this and hopefully eventually, young women will speak up on the same day and say, "stop." Growing up, Bhasin never conformed to gender norms and that's why she's done so much for gender issues during her lifetime.
In around 1974, an organization invited her to a conference on women in India. There were union activists and lots of women at the conference and papers were presented throughout the conference. Her job was the edit the papers and put them into a book. This book is called "Role of Women in India." After this an American women came to Seva Mandir, Udaipur, liked her and gifted her a years subscription of a very famous feminist magazine. She said until then she hadn't even heard the word "feminism." In 1975 the UN asked her to work with them. After 3-4 years, she started doing workshops with women and then from 1970-2002, she worked with organizations which worked on development and poverty issues. With that she brought in her feminism. She was involved in a play called "Om Swaha" as one of the actresses and around 1977 she started writing songs on women. In around 1979 or 1980, she, along with other feminists like Abha, started organizing ten-day workshops on feminism in India for women. They organized several from 1979 onward.
During the years, Bhasin has worked with many organizations. From 1976-2001, she worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. She has been conducting workshops for women and men which were focused on gender, sustainable development and human rights. She has written tons on gender, women empowerment, etc.. She also has written songs and slogans, books for children and posters and banners for different movements. She has done lots on gender equality and is continuing working on these issues.
Currently, Bhasin is involved with several campaigns. These campaigns are against violence, denial of human rights, justice for human rights and peace. She is also the South Asia coordinator of the movement, One Billion Rising, is an advisor to Sangrat - A Feminist Network, and is co-chair of the worldwide network, Peace Women Across the Globe. She will continue to be deeply engaged with issues related to gender, development, peace, human rights and many more very important issues.
Personally, I believe Kamla Bhasin has done so much for feminism and human rights. She has participated in many campaigns and continues to be so powerful as powerful people in worldwide organizations. We can thank her, along with many other feminists, for the change this world has gone through and will continues going through. I'm very glad there are people like her in this world that will turn their hopes and dreams into reality and help so many other people along with them.
Works Cited
Gopinath, Vishnu. “Kamla Bhasin Speaks up About Sexual Abuse & Her Daughter's Death.” TheQuint, 28 Dec. 2018, www.thequint.com/podcast/podcast-me-the-change-activist-kamla-bhasin-sexual-abuse-daughter-suicide#read-more.
“Kamla Bhasin / SANGAT South Asian Feminist Network - South Asia.” One Billion Rising Revolution, 24 Sept. 2015, www.onebillionrising.org/249/kamla-bhasin-south-asia/.
Saxena, Mini. “In Conversation With Kamla Bhasin: Renowned Developmental Feminist Activist.” Feminism In India, 5 Apr. 2018, feminisminindia.com/2018/04/03/kamla-bhasin-developmental-feminism/.
Switala, Kristin. Kamla Bhasin, 1999, www.cddc.vt.edu/feminism/Bhasin.html.
I love to find new feminist's that take their trauma and use it as fuel to a fire rather than allowing those who committed such wrongs to bring them down. It saddens me that she was not only violated once but on multiple occasions. It is disheartening to know that even children are faced with these kinds of issues in a world that can show much more kindness than brutality. I was surprised to hear that she wrote music and I will most certainly have to look into her songs later. Kamala sounds like the women I would want my kids to look up to if they ever need to be empowered and strengthened.
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