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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

About Bhumika The feminist magazine




A concept note on Feminist magazine BHUMIKA in Telugu

In 1993 in Hyderabad a group of women from different feminist organisations decided to venture into the challenging terrain of publishing a feminist magazine in Telugu and the first issue of Bhumika came out in the month of Jan1993.

Bhumika Womens Collective emerged in the context of the women’s movement as a felt need to make feminist writings and analysis accessible to women who were not privileged from urban/English educational background. Women from the Bhumika collective come from diverse backgrounds, and the common felt need is one of creating awareness and disseminating ideas on women’s issues and social issues in a simple language to reach out to a wider audience. The challenge is to generate articles on relevant issues that would be understood by the masses – both men and women in rural and urban areas of Andhra Pradesh. A core group of women from the collective guide the activities in the production and distribution of the magazine.

In consonance with the production of the magazine, the objectives of the Bhumika collective are the following

• To recover and publish women’s history, art and literature and to provide space for women to share their expressive talents.
• To translate other Indian literature and world literature on women.
• To critically analyze the socio-economic and political conditions from women’s point of view.
• To review and discuss the popular culture.
• To open areas of women’s lives hitherto unrecognized like health, family violence, household work etc.
• To feature stories for children which are not biased against women, other castes, religion etc and emphasize positive values.
• To share information on the status and effects of government policies on women’s issues.
• To analyze the opinions and experiences of the various women’s groups on these policies.
• To bring together and share information, experiences and struggles in the lives of women across class, caste and regional boundaries.


Policies, Strategies and Programmes of Bhumika

In 1993 when Bhumika was launched, the magazine was published on a quarterly basis. This pattern continued till 1996. The ensuing popularity of the magazine encouraged the collective to make it a bimonthly magazine by publishing six volumes per year.

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A lot of leg-work is undertaken by the editor to enhance the circulation of the magazine. Regular visits to women’s colleges to introduce Bhumika to the students is a key strategy. The editor is keen to target the urban youth who are a generation of the ‘globalize’ world with designer clothes and lifestyles and, therefore, impervious and ignorant of the issues facing women in rural India. One important strategy is hold competitions for poetry and essay writing on topics that can make them think of feminist issues.

The issues and discussions on domestic violence in the magazine has led to many women approaching Bhumika for help with their personal problems. Bhumika puts them in touch with local women’s groups dealing with such issues in Hyderabad. However, one organizational strategy that Bhumika is considering is a telephonic help-line to deal with the demands made on them. This is one strategy for formalizing a service, which is being provided in a rather informal manner at present. Bhumika is clear about their role as a mediator for enabling women to access help for their personal problems. Bhumika Helpline was stated on 16th March 2006.It is called as Bhumika helpline for women in distress.The toll free number is 1800 425 2908.



Outcomes

Bhumika has created a very lively and meaningful platform for discussion on issues of social justice through the magazine. The magazine’s outreach is to 50,000 people across the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is not that as many issues are published and sold. We publish only 5,000 copies, but each copy is read by at least 10 persons. Rural women are avid readers of Bhumika, buttressed by the massive mobilization of women into Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the state of Andhra Pradesh. There are moe than 200,000 such groups in the state. Every SHG meets once a week, and one of activities is reading magazines and newspapers. Groups that have access to Bhumika discuss and read it in their weekly meetings.

Special issues are published on a single topic. Some examples are Agriculture and its Impact (in the light of negative policies) on farmers and labourers, both men and women. Bhumika also brought out a special issue on Women and agriculture. Other special issues published by Bhumika are Globalisation, Mental Health, Political Participation, Panchayati Raj, Handlooms, Children, Dalits, Violence against Women, Beijing special issue and so on. In each of the special issue, comprehensive articles in a simple language are written. Poems and short stories are also published.



Gender Equality

The bridging of knowledge from the macro level to the micro level through articles on women’s issues, the translation of papers/articles from English to Telegu on feminism or feminist theory, and making connections it to lived realities of women’s lives is key factor with potential for promoting gender equality. By providing an alternative discourse to understand and address women’s subordination, and generating discussion on a wide variety of issues, the seeds of questioning and challenging the ‘social given’ are germinated in the minds of women (and men). The issues addressed by Bhumika whether it is Globalisation or Agriculture or Handloom have a strong gender perspective – that both analyses and informs. Students who participate in the competitions organized by Bhumika say it is for the first time, they are becoming aware of feminist issues after having a lot of misconceptions about feminism. For example, one of the students who got the second prize from Bhumika in one of these events, wrote a long letter about the positive face of feminism she has encountered through Bhumika.

The informal provisioning of support to women in distress who approach Bhumika for help is a critical supportive role towards addressing issues of gender equality.

Results for Civil Society Building

Empowering civil society through information is a key role of Bhumika. For example, in the issue on political participation of women, the Panchayat Raj Act (Local Self Governance Act) is translated into a very simple language with graphic pictures on the steps of the rights of citizen’s and the obligations of the leaders. (the 33 per cent reservation for women in the elected bodies means there are grass-roots women’s leaders). Here, the common man or woman is informed of his/her rights vis-à-vis the state that is the first step towards demanding accountability, and an important step for civil society building.



By mainstreaming women’s issues in the public domain on the one hand, and reframing what is a women’s issue on the other is the most critical role played by Bhumika. The relevance of Bhumika can be further gauged from the fact that in a country of more than a billion people, Bhumika is the second magazine in the whole of India being published in a vernacular/local language of the region, Telegu ( the other one is Manushi in Hindi) and is the only one in South India. The relevance of publishing feminist issues in the local language is self-evident as English is a language of the elite, far removed from the rural masses who benefit from magazines like Bhumika.

Effectiveness

Bhumika’s effectiveness is underscored by the response it gets from its readers. The letters to the editor are very illuminating. Rural women from the women’s groups write to say how useful the magazine is and how they have used the information. The magazine also uses ‘life-experiences’ of women from different walks of life, to give a personal, one-to-one and realistic experience to the reader that are inspiring for other women. The story of a blind woman from another state in India who became the panchayat president was inspirational to many. Using visual medium like photographs of the woman served to graphically evoke response among the women in Andhra Pradesh.

One of the more popular and effective ways of using the articles from Bhumika is through teaching or ‘training’ sessions in the rural areas by NGO’s. For example, the issue on political participation has details on the role of the president of the local governance structures. For women presidents, who are new to the job, the magazine is useful in providing a step-by- step guide of their duties and obligations towards the citizens. The provisions of Panchayat Raj Act is useful to all – citizens and leaders alike. Similarly, the passing of different acts in India, the Domestic Violence Act 2005, the Hindu Succession Act; knowledge of which can empower women are published. In addition, the difference schemes from the government are published to inform what is due to the people from the state.

Conclusion

One of the most important contributions of Bhumika is in reframing the public discourse on ‘what is a women’s issue’ in the context of popular women magazines that stereotype women and gender issues. Bhumika has more than survived despite many odds,with moral support from its readership. The important role played by Bhumika in furthering the agenda towards gender equality is difficult to gauge fully. It has effectively reached out to both urban and rural women in far-flung areas with new ideas and challenges, who in turn have used Bhumika to broaden their horizons and their agenda in working with women.
Making a dent in the mainstream media will continue to remain a struggle for Bhumika, and it has taken the first major step in its attempt towards sustainability.

As one senior male journalist remarked to Bhumika, “You are calling yourself a woman’s magazine, but publishing material useful to everyone – men and women”, reflecting a vindication of the efforts. It has a long way to go, and some support in the interim is needed both financially and with human resources to rise up to the professionalism that is aspires.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Its Nice to have such a nice article this should empower the women

Editor,Ritunestham - Agriculture Magazine Monthly