Destitute Women in Kerala: Psychological resources and psycho ...

Suvarnini (28 years) and Ajitha (26 years) had come to the Mahila Mandir quite early in
their childhood. They grew up there and were good in studies. Both passed the SSLC
examination and are currently employed in private firms. “I am happy that I have a job. I tell
other inmates to study well and get some jobs,” Suvarnini said. She has an elder sister who
is physically handicapped. She also stays at the same institution. Suvarnini’s younger sister,
who was at the Mahila Mandir for 14 years, had the rare privilege of getting married. She is
living happily with her husband now. “At least one of us could find a life,” said Suvarnini
smiling.
Ajita and her mother had been living in the Mahila Mandir after the death of Ajitha’s father.
“My mother and I were thrown out to the street by our relatives after my father’s death. It
was this Mahila Mandir, which gave us shelter. The authorities of the Mandir sent me to
school and I passed SSLC. One of the well-wishers of this institution, a businessman of
Kozhikode, was kind enough to give me a job placement”. Ajitha spends her salary to buy
medicines for her mother who is ill. She gives a portion of her salary to the Mandir for its
activities besides depositing a small amount in her Post Office Savings Account.
There were several cases of more than one member of the same family staying at the Mahila
Mandirs. Mini and her mother, Fabiola and her two sisters, Glady and her young sister are
a few among such cases. They had taken shelter in the Mahila Mandir owing to financial
problems. In all such cases, the man of the house or the father was either bedridden or had
passed away. In some cases, an alcoholic or anti-social brother or brother-in-law was the
cause of the family’s taking shelter at the Mandir. One of the inmates, a girl of 18 years, who
did not want to reveal her name, said that she and her sisters had to leave home because they
were afraid that their own brother would abuse them sexually. “He would have even sold us
for money. Now we are safe here, but our bedridden father is all alone suffering at home,”
she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Together with the problem of penury and insecurity, there are problems of space and privacy
in many of the households that compel people to send their daughters to the Mahila Mandirs.
Most of the families from which the inmates had come had only a single room other than the
kitchen. Father, mother, grand parents, and children shared the room. Even married couple
shared a room with other members of the family, including their unmarried sisters and
brothers. Sometimes relatives and friends and other people also shared the room. Such
situations created anxiety on the part of parents regarding the safety and security of the girls
and other womenfolk in the family.
The case of Jaliat is one of the many cases of women who have become victims of space
constraints. Both the father and mother of Jaliat are alive and she claims that her parents are
fond of her. The parents are working as servants in two different houses. They stayed in the
houses in which they were working and the small child, Jaliat, became a problem for them.
They did not have either a land or even a hut to live. So they sent Jaliat, though unwillingly,
to the Mahila Mandir. Jaliat says: “My parents are working hard so that we will be able to
buy some land and build a house some time. Then only can all of us live together”.
Jayakumari is another inmate of the Palakkad Mahila Mandir who was put into the institution
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