How farmers’ movement gave women a voice

A sea of yellow dupattas could be seen at 11 different locations of Punjab on Tuesday as women farmers and farm labourers gathered to observe women’s day. “Hundreds of women took part in every location and this proves that women are coming out on the roads to talk about issues in a much vocal manner compared to what it used to be about 2 years ago,” said Harinder Kaur Bindu, state vice president of BKU Ugrahan while talking to The Indian Express.

The union organised programmes in seven districts on Tuesday in which everything was managed by women. It was held in grain markets of Barnala, Sangrur and Bathinda, at Gujjarwal primary school in Ludhiana, in villages Doda and Kilianwali in Muktsar district, in Warabhaika village in Faridkot, in Chak Rohiwala village in Fazilka and at PUDA ground of Patiala. “From stage management to offering tea and snacks, everything was organised and executed by women. Apart from the speakers, even the cultural programmes were managed by women. Few senior farm union leaders of the men’s wing did come at every function as guests,” said Shingara Singh Mann, BKU Ugrahan president of Bathinda.

Mann was the guest at Bathinda’s grain market where farm leaders Birjeet Kaur sang revolutionary songs and Paramjeet Kaur Pitho spoke about the history of women’s day. She said, “It was in 1910 on March 8 in Copenhagen city that women held a conference for their rights. Even now we do face challenges on the issues of pay parity, gender specific discrimination but a lot has still changed.”

Malan Kaur, a woman leader in her 70s, said, “I became a speaker last year and I have realised that there is no age to learn. The farm movement helped a lot of us to gain awareness. We have now become more aware and can talk about any issues.”

Bindu, who remained very active throughout farm movement, said, “Now BKU Ugrahan has units in over 2,000 villages of Punjab and of these nearly 1,000 villages have separate women units. Earlier, only 50-60 villages had active unions.”

They also organised marches seeking compensation for cotton crop that got damaged due to pink bollworm attack. “The compensation was announced by the Charanjit Singh Channi government in September end but many of us are yet to get it,” said Bathinda-based Karamjit Kaur Lehrakhana.

Meanwhile, BKU Dakaunda also celebrated women’s day at over a dozen places by organising women conventions at Mansa, Ludhiana, Faridkot, Patiala, Sangrur, Bathinda and Barnala districts. Advocate Balbir Kaur, the union’s leader from Mansa, said, “Women who used to tak part in the morchas against the farm laws in Delhi, also participated here in large numbers.”