It is difficult to understand the magnitude of the challenges that single mothers (widowed, divorced, separated or single parent by choice) face every day in India. Being a woman is difficult in a patriarchal society, and then being a woman alone can be seen as a double marginalization.
In a patriarchal society, women can be expected to accept men for who they are, whether they are dishonest, violent, or struggling with alcoholism or gambling. This contributes to the multiple challenges faced by women who leave their husbands by choice. In addition to being judged and even looked down upon, the lack of a safety net affects most of them. After being abandoned or leaving home to escape abuse, women without a support system find themselves working hard to make ends meet. Financial independence remains the biggest challenge. In addition to having to provide for the needs of the whole family, single mothers must take care of their children and manage all aspects of domestic life. Single women are also more at risk of various forms of harassment than married women. This becomes particularly worrying for those who have been victims of abuse and domestic violence. Those who live in the villages also face difficulty in accessing employment and must be resourceful to meet the needs of their families.
In a patriarchal society, women can be expected to accept men for who they are, whether they are dishonest, violent, or struggling with alcoholism or gambling. This contributes to the multiple challenges faced by women who leave their husbands by choice. In addition to being judged and even looked down upon, the lack of a safety net affects most of them. After being abandoned or leaving home to escape abuse, women without a support system find themselves working hard to make ends meet. Financial independence remains the biggest challenge. In addition to having to provide for the needs of the whole family, single mothers must take care of their children and manage all aspects of domestic life. Single women are also more at risk of various forms of harassment than married women. This becomes particularly worrying for those who have been victims of abuse and domestic violence. Those who live in the villages also face difficulty in accessing employment and must be resourceful to meet the needs of their families.
I looked for ways to recover the lost stories, the stories that required speaking with their own voice. The hardest part was to put into words the silence of an exiled woman, the silence of a lonely woman. Several stories capture this reality. It is not the silence of emptiness, it is the silence filled with questioning God, the silence of injustice, the silence of abandonment.
Essentially, it is the story of a survivor. It’s the story of a woman who draws strength from within herself. It is the story of a woman who supports choti (her little sister) or even didi (her big sister). The vocabulary of distant kinship praises the solidarity that exists within the villages. As empathy emerges from difficulty, together they are stronger.
When it comes to empowerment, women in rural communities show determination, creativity and the ability to be progressive in their ideas to see change emerge. They empowered themselves by practicing mutual aid, by finding ingenious ways to provide for themselves. To encourage their empowerment, it’s our turn to bring our solidarity, in a spirit of sisterhood and united action.
In order to support the women and children of the community where our jewelry is created, we have innovated a platform offering solidarity jewelry. As an ongoing fundraising, KĀLA Project aims to give back to the mother culture that allows us to exist as an organization as well as its community. On this page, your entire purchase is dedicated to a cause that is important to us (to you). All the profits are converted into a donation and then given in solidarity to women residents of the Pushkar desert, India.
The women we support have suffered of domestic violence and now find themselves alone with children in their care. These circumstances hamper their ability to fully realize themselves, as they lead to isolation and inaccessibility to opportunities. COVID19 has a significant impact on the living conditions of women in rural communities. Before the pandemic, several of them were practicing henna on the shores of the Pushkar holy lake. With the decline of tourism for over a year, the poverty situation has worsened as they can no longer benefit from this additional income.
For the launch of the KĀLA Project, all of our jewelry sales received on March 23 and 24, 2021 will be converted into a donation. Available on all our jewelry. No exceptions. All profits will be donated in solidarity to women residents of the Pushkar desert, India. Following this first wave of Fundraising, a first deposit to the community will take place just before the Holi Festival, on March 26. KĀLA Project will then continue continuously, with an exclusive selection of two solidarity jewelries available at all times on KĀLA Fundraising page: the Anahata ring and the Mahā ring.
The women we support have suffered of domestic violence and now find themselves alone with children in their care. These circumstances hamper their ability to fully realize themselves, as they lead to isolation and inaccessibility to opportunities. COVID19 has a significant impact on the living conditions of women in rural communities. Before the pandemic, several of them were practicing henna on the shores of the Pushkar holy lake. With the decline of tourism for over a year, the poverty situation has worsened as they can no longer benefit from this additional income.
For the launch of the KĀLA Project, all of our jewelry sales received on March 23 and 24, 2021 will be converted into a donation. Available on all our jewelry. No exceptions. All profits will be donated in solidarity to women residents of the Pushkar desert, India. Following this first wave of Fundraising, a first deposit to the community will take place just before the Holi Festival, on March 26. KĀLA Project will then continue continuously, with an exclusive selection of two solidarity jewelries available at all times on KĀLA Fundraising page: the Anahata ring and the Mahā ring.
The KĀLA Project is an independent initiative that is not associated to any other organization. We work at the source with women we know personally or from afar. Following the launch of the project, equal deposits will be sent personally to each of them every quarter: March 31st, June 30th, September 30th, December 31st. All donations will go towards the purchase of food and essential goods and help finance the repair of tents and the children's school fees.
We will share the total amount collected and sent and the positive impacts of the initiative on a quarterly basis. Follow us on social medias to receive news of the project and to know everything that has been achieved. Thank you for your contribution, thank you for standing in solidarity!
Photography : Tariq Aziz Khan @rovingboots
Sources :
Gupta, Poorvi. Meet The Empowered Single Women Of India Who Refuse To Be Invisible, She The People (The Women’s Channel), October 16, 2019
Vajpayee, Soumya. Is it easy to be a single mother in India?, Times of India, March 28, 2019
Raina, Kanksha. The Joys and Struggles of Being a Single Mother in India, Kool Kanya, July 28, 2020
