Empowerment of Rural Women through Traditional Art Form

For more than a decade, Charkha has been working at the grassroots trying to bring the issues of the rural poor and disadvantaged communities to the attention of policy makers by placing stories in the national mainline print and audio-visual media.

While working at the grassroots, besides the print media, Charkha found tremendous use in the traditional performing arts for NGOs and social activists to raise awareness on social issues; thereby also helping to revive these gradually disappearing art forms.

Charkha is attempting to explore possibilities with one such group, "Bedia Women", an exploited community settled in Fatehpur, Banda and Chitrakoot districts of Uttar Pradesh. Women of Bedia caste take to the performing arts for the upper castes to sustain themselves and their children. They insist that they are performers by birth and caste and not by choice. As they are adept in the art of understanding their audiences, and building rapport with them, they can be excellent communicators for carrying social messages by performing in local communities, schools and colleges, which in turn may help in building their self-esteem and additionally, the community may perceive them differently as providers of important social messages.

A pilot study with Bedia women will be focused on empowering them to take this art, from merely entertaining the higher castes to conveying social messages in the community. This will also assist in identifying their local issues, challenges and achievements.

Charkha would document this ancient traditional cultural art in print and electronic form, for instance, making a collection of their songs and stories. We will publish interviews of these artisans in the national media and organize a press conference in Delhi where the representatives of their group can meet the national press.

Learning from this experience, Charkha would like to replicate this with similar groups in the traditional performing arts in Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Madhya Pradesh.