Stop gender-based violence (GBV) in India

Thank you for your support which gives dignity to the women that others scorn. Since day one, Snehalaya has been committed to empowering women exploited into sex work, with two female sex workers on our Board of Trustees to represent them. This year, having seen these women grow with us we have appointed our first sex worker to our highest office, President.

Jaya is lives in our Shevgaon red light area and has been supporting sex workers and Snehalaya for over 20 years as a peer educator and trustee, building impactful relationships with our high risk group beneficiaries, brothel keepers, staff and government stakeholders.

She first officially represented Snehalaya in 2007, at a State level Maharashtra Social Forum organized by Bosco Gramin Vikas Sanstha and a local college. Our Snehjyot team ran a tea and breakfast stall at the program giving women in prostitution a space to share their skills beyond the red-light area. Jaya was also a chief guest where she shared details of the lifestyles of the women and the problems and issues they face, a confident and eloquent speaker, she brought many of the audience to tears over the women’s plight.

From there, there was no looking back as she was selected as a state level resource group member, visiting towns district-wide to give information and guidance on the legal rights and the importance of self-esteem. She was then nominated as a representative for a HIV/AIDS conference in Vienna, Austria and has undertaken many trainings under Path Finder, Pune. She has represented us on many panels and committees to improve the lives of exploited women and, in 2012, received the Late Latabai Pawart Jeevan award.

We are proud to have her represent our organisation at the highest level and know her voice will be raised to continue to improve the lives of the women we support at organisational, state, national and international levels.

Sunita is another woman that we have nurtured and developed. Orphaned as a small child she grew up in the care of her grandmother. She studied until 10 std after which she was married, and gave birth to a son and a daughter. Happy in her role as mother, unfortunately the marriage was not as happy. Her husband was abusive and beat her and finally sold her into a brothel for Rs 2,000 (US$24) where she was forced to sell her body.

With no escape route, her first ray of hope came when our team approached her. It took time to gain her confidence and trust so we could provide her with health check-ups and any other support she needed. Given her education, we found her work in our team as a peer educator, reaching out to support other sex workers. She quickly took to the role proving herself as a good mediator between the women and our staff, so much so that we soon promoted her to outreach worker (ORW).

As a person living with HIV herself, she always works to improve women’s confidence and knowledge, educating them on the importance of sexual health and facts about STIs and HIV.

Her employment has helped her children to complete their education and she also funded her daughter’s marriage.

We would not be able to support these strong women without your support, thank you so much for empowering us to empower them.

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