All of Stree Mukti Sanghatana’s programs aim to create better conditions for women and defend their rights.

  • The Cultural Troupe program has represented plays and songs treating women’s issues, using adapted mediums to reach communities with low literacy rates
  • Our Awareness Campaigns focus on advocating women’s rights at every institutional level, and positioning this issue at the center of debate of the Indian society
  • Adolescent Sensitization is a program that raises awareness of women’s rights issues among young students, establishing the basis of a promising future
  • Family Counseling help distressed women with issues of violence, harassment and vocational assistance
  • Day Care Centers allow working women to leave their children in a safe and uplifting environment, enabling them to self sustain and develop skills and professional careers
  • Parisar Vikas is a complete programme addressing the problems of waste management and of self-employed women engaged in the ‘menial’ tasks of collecting waste

The Constitution of India as well as other laws have conferred equal rights and status on women. These however have not been actualized as yet. In every field, women occupy a secondary and subsidiary place. The role of the Stree Mukti  Sanghatana is to help alleviate women in India from economic, social, political, cultural and psychological oppression.

Economic Oppression
Even now the rightful place of a woman is considered to be within the confines of the house. National plans and planning processes do not include women. They are mostly offered low-paid and subsidiary jobs. The responsibilities of child care and cooking are not yet considered social responsibilities and lie primarily with women. Lack of inexpensive eating places and crèches add to their burden.

Social Oppression
Systems like dowry traditions continue unabated even today. Male chauvinist attitudes are perpetuated and promoted. Women are considered and treated as sex objects. These attitudes lead to occurrences of rape and create and maintain systems like prostitution and devdasi.

Political Oppression
Since most women are not economically independent as yet and as the electoral system today requires huge expenditures, the proportion of women legislators is very low. Participation of women in party politics is also low due to the very same reasons.

Cultural Oppression
Scriptures, literature and other arts depict a woman in her traditional weak and secondary role. Cinema, theatre, and advertisements repeatedly stress the traditional and sex object image of women.

Psychological Oppression
As a result of all these factors the woman herself accepts her secondary status and role. She is unable to perceive the possibilities of liberation created by the technical facilities available in the new industrial society. She cannot therefore cherish the aspirations of liberation. The other side of the picture is provided by the man who remains a slave of male chauvinist attitudes. He is unable to adopt the attitude of equality about his wife and other women at home or with women colleagues at work.