Parijatha’s Story

Parijatha comes from a farmer’s family and has seen much hardship in her life. She finished her post graduation in Social Work and later did the PG Diploma in Counseling for Women’s wellness and Justice at Baduku Community College. Parijatha was awarded the “Nirbhaya Award” on March 8th on the occasion of International Working Women’s Day 2018 for the work she has been doing.

How the programme helped her!

The course made me realise the importance of counselling skills while interacting with women who have gone through so much trauma and violence. The course also opened up new perspectives for me. I had a basic idea of the problems women workers face (I currently work in the field of labour rights), but the course gave me a more nuanced understanding, for example how globalisation impacts women labourers. 

How Parijatha is taking action!

I worked as a labour welfare officer in the garments industry. When the management refused to give salary to the workers, I felt there was injustice and began to fight for workers’ rights. Currently I’m working with Stree Jagruti Samiti that deals with the struggles of working class women. My area of work is around domestic violence, sexual harassment, bonded labor, trafficking, child labor and rehabilitation of women. The women I work with have experienced a lot of trauma, mental and physical abuse. With the skills I learnt in the counseling course, I am able to constructively intervene and work with them. I am also involved in research and consultation work related to labour cases, advocacy and legal interventions that are needed in the unorganised sector. I believe that we need to work towards a society where there will be no exploitation and violence.