The poster collection represented in this archive is physically located in the offices of the feminist organization, Sahiyar. Members of Sahiyar have designed and produced some of these posters. Many others they have collected from different women’s groups and feminist organizations from all over India. These posters are not simply beautiful pieces of material culture created by individual artists. Most of the posters are the outcome of a collective political process in which community members, activists, students, and/or survivors brainstorm together to translate a deep social concern into words and images.
Sahiyar: Growing from India’s autonomous women’s movement, in 1984 a group of students from the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda, Gujarat created Sahiyar — a women’s empowerment organization. Sahiyar operates from the standpoint that we live in an unequal society. Economic, social, religious, cultural and gender-based inequalities affect all women, but in India they have the most serious impact on Dalit, working-class and minority women – who also face marginalization due to their caste and class. Sahiyar contends that women’s oppression and exploitation originates from the cultural values and socio-economic structures of society. Humans have created these inequalities and can only eradicate them if all people – irrespective of their gender – participate in the movement for social change. Sahiyar is an organization created by women, for women. Women make all the decisions at Sahiyar but also welcome and receive valuable support from male allies, and from any person who recognizes that we are all tied together in the struggle for liberation. In Sahiyar’s mission to empower women and girls in Baroda, organizers facilitate activities around awareness programs that include:
- Campaigns that generate awareness on gender-based violence (such as rape, sex-selective abortion, domestic violence, and sexual harassment) and work toward amending laws that are hostile to women.
- Workshops to create street plays, awareness songs, garbas (Gujarati folk dances), poster exhibitions, and film shows to address large numbers in the community.
- Meetings to organize demonstrations, public meetings, rallies, wall paintings, and human chains that attract immediate attention to urgent issues of violence or atrocity.
- Educational programs that produce discussions, essay-writing events, workshops on current issues and awareness training camps.
- Survey and research projects that explore significant cases of violence against women, in addition to human rights violations.
- Writing initiatives that support the publication and dissemination of leaflets, pamphlets, booklets, newsletters, and training material on issues concerning women. These and other materials are maintained in an on-site library.
Visit Sahiyar’s facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sahiyar
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge and thank all the women’s groups who shared these posters with us, as well as the women and men who contributed to their creation.
Copyright
The original prints are in possession of Sahiyar. We would like to request any group or individual who notices incorrect information about publisher and copy right/permission for using the posters to contact us with necessary information. The purpose of the archives is to preserve these important documents and encourage their use in education, research and activism.
Credits
Concept and Coordination: Trupti Shah, Manisha Pathak Shelat, Christine Garlough
Photography and Design: Viquar Sayed