47-year-old Jayashree Nalage stays at Pondhe - a remote, inaccessible village at the edge of a hill, 70 km from Pune. Never mind the pronounced limp and weakening bones, Jayashree Nalage, 47, who has been living with polio since the age of four, walks with dignity and is the epitome of self-reliance.
The gutsy woman who stays at Pondhe – a remote, inaccessible village at the edge of a hill, 70 km from Pune – fought elections to become a gram panchayat member some years ago and is actively involved in rural women’s issues all over Maharashtra.
Actively involved in organising Maharashtra Mahila Hinsa Mukti Parishad 2023′, which brings together 250-400 women from different organisations this International Women’s Day (March 8), Jaya is engaging with youth groups to strengthen gender equality and sensitise them about domestic violence, sexual harassment and interfaith marriages.
“Together, we can promote women’s equality and ensure there is no bias and discrimination,” Jaya told The Indian Express. Besides becoming a skilled seamstress and buying a four-wheeler with hand-operated control, she is the backbone of her family, not only as the primary earning member but also as the significant support for more than a decade to her brother, who has never physically recovered after being in a coma for months following a road accident.
The home she built through the government scheme Gharkul Yojana for single women 15 years ago also accommodates her brother and his family.
Jaya recalls how she had no access to any prosthetics as a child. Unable to walk properly, going to a school 4 km away from her home meant depending on someone to take her on a bicycle or two-wheeler.
Besides becoming a skilled seamstress and buying a four-wheeler with hand-operated control, she is the backbone of her family. When visitors to her home asked for precise directions, Jaya, sitting outside the house, would pretend not to know her home and misdirect them to another lane. She would hide in the meantime and return home when the visitors had left, so they did not know she lived in that house.
Her first interaction with Mahila Sarvangeen Utkarsh Mandal (MASUM) – an NGO working towards women’s empowerment- was in her ninth grade in school, when the organisation requested her to inaugurate a food stall set up by the local women’s collective.
“Jaya joined the MASUM as soon as she completed her 12th grade. She started in the organisation’s programme on women’s right to economic empowerment and soon became one of the most vocal advocates for gender justice. From the first day, Jaya was told that she could do everything her other colleagues could and that the organisation would support her in everything she wished to achieve,” says Pune-based Manisha Gupte, founder coordinator of the MASUM.
Soon, Jaya started travelling outside the rural block, district and state. She is now one of the two rural coordinators of MASUM. Despite living with significant setbacks such as constant backache and spinal pressure, inability to adapt to callipers in adult life, and dealing with a knee fracture due to a fall, Jaya had dealt with all her tribulations without self-pity or bitterness, Gupte says.
“Jaya embodies the intersectional disadvantage that gender and disability create for a woman living in a remote drought-prone village. She also embodies hope for all women through the relentless pursuit of her aspirations. Determined women like Jaya, when backed by a rights-based organisation that inculcates self-confidence rather than dependency, can reach their full potential and become leaders for other women, even able-bodied ones,” Gupte adds.