Women in the Thar Desert continue to live in some of the most oppressive social conditions in all of India. Women here must cope with child marriages, purdah (the obligation for women to wear a veil and/or being kept inside the house at almost all times and an absence of property rights and a history of female infanticide. The practice of dowry also remains widespread and girls are considered an economic burden to their families. Women bear the entire burden of housework and much of the field work as well, and also have to bear the repercussions of repeated pregnancies beginning at an early age and subsequent care of a number of children. Women and girls commonly suffer from severe malnutrition and poor health as men and boys' privilege prevails.

The situation of older and widowed women is even worse. Older women generally have the least priority in village society and often face severe shortages of food and water, and have a very difficult time finding the money to purchase new clothes and complete the necessary repairs on their homes. Widows comprise an estimated 55% of rural women over the age of 60 and are traditionally heavily discriminated against. Widows cannot participate in social gatherings or village meetings and cannot remarry in certain caste groups. Rural widows do not inherit their husband's property and thus must live with their children or other members of their family, who do not feed or clothe them properly due to cultural taboos about widowhood.

GRAVIS is deeply committed to the socio-economic empowerment of all women and girls in the Thar Desert. GRAVIS unites women within village communities, works to raises their self-esteem and allows them outlets for creativity and expression. Women and girls participating in GRAVIS' women's empowerment programs listed below are encouraged to speak their views in public, to take part in village meetings and take control over their own lives.

Self-Help Groups (SHGs)

GRAVIS has been forming Self Help Groups (SHGs) since 1999-2000. SHGs provide platforms through which women can acquire new information, skills, and economic self-reliance. In addition, SHGs are unique in that they allow the women a time and place with no men present to discuss pertinent women's issues that are otherwise not talked about. During the monthly SHG meetings GRAVIS field staff provides the women with information and/or instruction on various topics chosen by the women, including:

• Nutrition, health and hygiene;

• Establishing savings accounts and communal funds, financial record keeping;

• Management of micro credit lending schemes;

• Developing and maintaining of small scale cottage industries, such as masala (spices) making, bag making, metal utensil making;

• Organic pesticides and fertilizers, seed banks; and

• Construction, use and repair of rainwater harvesting structures.

The SHG members each deposit an average of Rs. 25 to Rs. 50 each month into the SHG's communal fund and each SHG communal fund is linked with the local bank, where the savings are deposited. Each SHG group also decides when and how to give out micro credit loans from their communal funds, and have their own set of rules for lending and recovery. 410 SHGs have been formed till date.

Income generating activities

GRAVIS Gramodyog, or cottage industry, is based at the Gagadi Field Center. This is a cooperative of women producing organic spices and wheat porridge. The wheat and spices are produced by the women in the surrounding villages, who sell the materials to the GRAVIS Field Center at a fair market price. Women at the Gagadi center market and package the spices and porridge for distribution.

The women groups in GRAVIS project areas are colleting and selling milk to the cooperatives set up by Government. For this, a government vehicle comes to purchase and transport the milk. The women have been able to earn additional family income, thus attaining greater financial security. A total of 67 income generating units have been set up till date.

Awareness and Training Sessions

Over 500 awareness training sessions have been held till date for women. Women were encouraged to participate in their own economic development and take part in village institutions and information was disseminated by GRAVIS staff on a variety of topics including: immunization, family planning, oral dehydration therapy, clean drinking water, family health and hygiene, importance of child education, minimum wage and other labor related laws, opium de-addiction, purdah, child marriages and constitutional rights. Some women who have taken part in leadership training activities and gained experience in VDCs have been elected into senior positions in their village's formal leadership institutions.

Exposure Visits

52 exposure visits  have been organized since 1984. Twenty-four women of the Bhalu community took part in a five-day exposure visit in 2003. They visited Jodhpur Hospital, the Central Arid Zone Research Institute, the Malunga and Bari Seed watershed projects, the Gagadi and Kalaron demonstration farms, the Jelu community forest and innovations in taanka and nadi construction in Sonda village. They also visited the Ramdevra temple.

Rallies and Demonstrations

Demonstrations and rallies have been a core part of GRAVIS's women's empowerment work from the beginning. GRAVIS organizes rural women who plan rallies and demonstrations in their villages on issues like dowry system, crime against women, the importance of immunizations, malaria control, protecting orans and community pasture lands, female literacy and education, and liquor consumption. World Women's Day is celebrated on March the 8th every year with rallies held in most of the villages where GRAVIS works.

GRAVIS has also been successful in organizing the local women to pressurize the village administration, the local police and even the courts to bring justice to women who were sexually harassed, raped or who were victims of the dowry system.