The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : This kolu is all about women's issues

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

This kolu is all about women's issues

By K. Lakshmi

The state joint secretary of AIDWA, R. Brinda, holds out dolls representing women subjected to superstitious beliefs such as breaking coconuts on their heads. — Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

CHENNAI, OCT. 15. When the entire city is on a shopping spree for dolls and idols to decorate their `kolu' collection as homage to deities, the South Chennai wing of the All-India Democratic Women's Association is doing it a little differently.

Instead of merely displaying dolls, the members have come out with a different concept — portraying women's issues through the `kolu' collection. Inaugurated by the state treasurer of the association, P. Jhansirani, the exhibition organised at Mylapore reflects the problems faced by women in the light of consumerism and globalisation.

Each row of the `kolu' represents themes related to women's status in the contemporary world, both at the work place and at home. The dolls depict the sexual harassment faced by women in daily life, whether it is eve-teasing on the streets or obscene phone calls.

It also emphasises the need to abolish female foeticide and infanticide, especially prevalent in rural areas, and dowry deaths. Besides common themes such as women's health and legal rights, the exhibition also throws light on the harassment meted out to women through superstitious beliefs. The `kolu' has illustrations from recent incidents when people, especially women, were subjected to breaking of coconuts on their heads or buried live in ditches in the name of tradition.

The positive aspect of women's empowerment has also been depicted through dolls representing women in different professions.

The state joint secretary of the association, R. Brinda, says, "We have portrayed the injustice against women in job opportunities and income through a model of women working long hours and getting paid less in several places."

Pointing to the dolls that depicted homemakers involved in various chores, she asks, "How many of us have thought of giving credit to women working at home?"

The banners (based on research by the World Social Forum) put up in the hall reveal several startling facts — drinking water availability would have been impossible without women fetching water in at least 2,30,000 villages in the country and the average age of a child bride varies between 12 and 16 according to their caste.

That was the aim of the exhibition — to spread awareness about the problems faced by women and trigger questions among the younger generation, she added.

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