International Women's Day 2024: Unnoticed Women Who Are At The Forefront Of Change

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As the world gears up to celebrate International Women's Day on March 8, oblivious to this celebration and occasion, thousands of women in the crevices of this country are weaving a movement with bare hands and a fire in their bellies.

They might not be aware of the celebration that Women's Day is, but they sure are aware of the prowess they hold; and that their action decides the fate of many a little girl in India's villages and cities.

They know that a day's delay could mean thousands of girls as young as 10 would be married to men double, or triple their ages and their names would conveniently be erased from the memory of this society.

The fact that by the time you reached this sentence in the article, a child or two might have been pushed into marriage may sound like an unlikely figure. But the fact is these numbers are neither from some archaic data nor from another world. Every day in modern India, three child marriages are occurring every minute.

But there is another side to this dark reality too.

While modern urban India is charting a new course in the fields of technology, science and economy, modern rural India has upped its game too. An unprecedented social movement against child marriage has been taking place, with lakhs of women and even men, marching on the streets and in the lanes of their villages and towns shouting slogans and taking pledges to stand against child marriage.

One can hear almost a warcry in these faraway lands where thousands have joined the child marriage free India campaign and started a unique grassroots movement since October 16, 2022.

Child marriage free India campaign is a coalition of over 160 NGOs working in over 300 districts with the single goal of ending child marriage and freeing every child from the fear of getting married when they should have been studying in schools.

Why this coalition is especially important to know today, on International Women's Day, is because the ones who are working to uproot this social crime are women. They are at the forefront, throwing their fists in the air as they scream their hearts out 'Child Marriage No more' and they are the ones who are staring right back at the society that reeks of exploitation, patriarchy and gender inequality.

These women fighters/survivors/changemakers at the helm of this movement are Anganwadi workers, teachers in government schools, fieldworkers, homemakers, young girls, their mothers, and grandmothers.

Many of these women are child marriage survivors, and are now celebrating womanhood and feminity like never before. As if absolving themselves of their own painful, traumatic pasts, they are rescuing young girls from becoming victims of child marriage, and ensuring that they are back to where they belong - schools.

To ensure that this movement doesn't run out of steam, these NGOs have been holding awareness programmes, pledges, street shows, candle-lit marches, workshops, and many other activities with just one message - Child Marriage No More!

What's incredibly amazing is how many state governments led this movement in their respective states instructing various departments to be part of this initiative and actively participate in its awareness programmes and pledge ceremonies on October 16 last year.

Led by the rural women at the grassroots level, it is a fight that is not theirs alone today. Law enforcement agencies, state governments, panchayats, and civil society have all joined in a chorus demanding and pledging an India free from child marriage.

As many as 4,91,25,475 people have taken pledges to stop child marriage so far and over 9551 child marriages have been stopped in the last nine months alone. Letters have been written to all Chief Secretaries, WCD Secretaries, District Magistrates, Panchayati Raj Institutions and Police authorities requesting support for the Child Marriage Free India Campaign, and many states issued notifications for the same.

This campaign will go down in the history of India as a benchmark of social change which witnessed a culmination of grassroots workers, NGOs, state governments and the Centre and how they have all come together to eliminate this crime that has plagued the country for centuries.

Be it crackdown in Assam or initiatives by the Telangana or Andhra government, the country is reverberating with policy changes, stricter laws and a stellar political will to end child marriage by 2030.

Taking it forward this year in many states, government departments are holding consultations with Child Marriage Free India to chalk out the further strategy to end child marriage and ensure that the initial momentum given by these women does not fizzle out with time.

What began as a hope of a thousand women ceases to be a silent movement now. It is slowly but surely taking the country by storm and the evil practice of marrying off little girls is now being openly challenged and protested against.

The fight, however, is long, tedious and quite arduous. For instance, it is a matter of cheer that a child marriage survivor is today an activist saving many young girls from getting married in Haryana, but it is an equally bleak truth that she still refuses to reveal her identity in the media. The fear of society still gags her even as she marches ahead to save yet another child from marriage.

To sum it up, as we commemorate International Women's Day, let us not only celebrate the achievements of women but also acknowledge this revolution happening in the heart of rural India.

It's a reminder that despite the strides we've taken, there is still much work to be done to ensure that every girl has the opportunity to pursue her dreams without the shadow of child marriage looming over her future. Let us stand in solidarity with the women at the forefront of this movement because the time for change is now, and it starts with each one of us.

(Swaty Prakash is a Former Journalist, Communication Coach & Relationship Counsellor)