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India's heartland has a dark reputation for domestic violence, sexual abuse, and oppression, making the pure fact of living as a woman a huge risk. But instead of waiting around for aid from those in power, a group of marginalized women banded together to wield sticks and take on the villains themselves. Known as the Gulabi Gang or Pink Gang, this all-women vigilante group goes around beating up rapists and abusers, and fighting for women’s rights.
Click through this gallery to see the incredible tale of women radically empowering themselves.
Groups of women dress in pink ("gulabi") sarees and wield bamboo sticks ("lathis"), going around towns to deliver vigilante justice. But it's so much more.
Sampat Pal Devi, the group's founder and head, is the daughter of a shepherd who was married at 12 and had five children by 20. One day, in her village in Uttar Pradesh, one of the poorest states in India, she saw a man beating his wife and tried to interfere, but to no avail…
The next day, she returned with a small group of women, all carrying sticks, and they beat him like he had beaten his wife. Word spread quickly from there, and the Gang was formed in 2006.
High percentages of female illiteracy keep women unable to improve their own lives, and things like infanticide, child marriages, and domestic violence run rampant in the region. Not to mention the social consequences of the caste system.
Cloaked in pink, these women take on stereotypically "masculine" aggressive behavior to fight the patriarchy.
In addition to fighting violence against women, the Gulabi Gang works to prevent child marriage, arrange marriages for couples who are in love but who face local resistance, and deliver basic rights for the poor.
Though not reported on as often as their stick-beating services, the Gulabi Gang provides social services for poor women, particularly widows, who need food, shelter, jobs, and emotional support.
The Gang teaches as holistic a view of self-defense as possible, with lessons on physical tactics alongside lessons on how to be economically self-sufficient in their rural localities—how to grow vegetables, make plates from leaves, embroider, and use herbs to treat various illnesses.
According to Al Jazeera, in 2014 the Gulabi Gang had around 400,000 members spread across 11 Uttar Pradesh districts.
As Dev said, "A woman on her own would be ineffective. Men would just laugh at her. But when we're in a group, men get nervous."
For the most part, women who seek membership have suffered injustice and see no other option, which is why most if not all of the Gulabi Gang are members of the lowest caste.
The group consists of women between 16 and 60 years old, and new members are charged a small fee in exchange for the pink saree, the proceeds of which go towards helping their initiatives.
Word of mouth and newspaper articles were the Gang's main source of advertisement, but their system is very organized. They have various stations, each with its own "commander" who handles daily activities and smaller problems on her own, and who sends regular updates and reports larger problems to the leader.
Bundelkhand has produced strong women in the past, including Phoolan Devi, popularly known as "Bandit Queen," who had endured poverty, child marriage, abuse, and had taken revenge against her rapists through banditry. She was later jailed for 11 years, then became a member of parliament, elected twice before being assassinated.
In 2007, the Gang discovered that a government-run fair-price shop was diverting their allocated grain to the open market. Armed with evidence, the Gang pressured local administration to seize the grain and arrest the shop owner. When local authorities refused to register the case, Gang members assaulted one of the police officers. Justice was soon served.
Also in 2007, the Gang stormed a police station to free a man from the lowest "untouchable" caste, who had been held in custody for two weeks without any case having been filed against him.
In 2008, Gang members raged into an electricity office in the Banda district forcing officials to turn the power back on, which had been switched off in an attempt to extract bribes from local villagers.
In 2011, the group helped a 17-year-old girl who had been gang-raped by a group of men, including a member of the local legislature. The girl had gone to police to file a case, but was arrested on trumped-up charges. The Gulabis organized a demonstration in front of the police station, and another in front of the legislator's house. Their intervention led to the rapist's arrest.
Though the sticks are part of the Gang's identity, their first responses to crimes are peaceful dialogues, rallies, and "shaming rituals" in which the women demonstrate outside the homes of offenders. But sometimes it's still not enough.
The Gang was forced to be vigilantes because police were not doing their jobs. In their earlier years, the group often stormed police stations when officers refused to register complaints of abuse against women.
Amana Fontanella Khan, author of 'Pink Saree Revolution,' explains that the Gang did more for gender equality than the justice system in Bundelkhand would have, and that the bold and creative way of protests has stirred a new desire to fight women's exploitation.
An essay from 'Gender, Globalization, and Violence: Postcolonial Conflict Zones' writes that the Gang has actually been called on by men to support direct action protests, like when 7,000 Banda farmers took to the streets to demand compensation for failed crops.
Over the years, a few men have joined the Gang in solidarity against issues like government corruption, child marriages, and dowry deaths.
Filmmaker Nishita Jain created the award-winning 'Gulabi Gang' (2012) documentary, which followed the group for five months. In it, Dev is seen pressing the police to register a criminal case over the death of a 15-year-old girl reportedly burnt to death by her in-laws, which was later revealed to be at the hands of her husband, who was having an extra-marital affair.
The main fight is centered against female illiteracy, to give women—especially those extremely poor and marginalized—the tools to empower themselves. "I want the women to come out and revolt against superstitious beliefs and stereotyped lives," Dev said. "For that, education is a must."
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LIFESTYLE Curiosity
India's heartland has a dark reputation for domestic violence, sexual abuse, and oppression, making the pure fact of living as a woman a huge risk. But instead of waiting around for aid from those in power, a group of marginalized women banded together to wield sticks and take on the villains themselves. Known as the Gulabi Gang or Pink Gang, this all-women vigilante group goes around beating up rapists and abusers, and fighting for women’s rights.
Click through this gallery to see the incredible tale of women radically empowering themselves.