"You Are a Part of the Solution": Negotiating Gender-Based Violence and Engendering Change in Urban Informal Settlements in Mumbai, India. (October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chakraborty, Proshant; Daruwalla, Nayreen; Jayaraman, Anuja; Pantvaidya, Shanti
• Is Part Of: Violence against women. Volume 23:Number 11(2017)
• Page Start: 1336
• Page End: 1360
• Publication Date: 2017-10
• Subjects: domestic violence -- Dharavi -- gender-based violence -- negotiation and change -- urban informal settlements -- women front-line workers; Abused women -- Periodicals; Women -- Crimes against -- Periodicals; Violent crimes -- Periodicals; Femmes victimes de violence -- Périodiques; Femmes, Crimes contre les -- Périodiques; Crimes violents -- Périodiques; 362.8292
• DOI: 10.1177/1077801216659941
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1077-8012

Abstract

This article explores how women front-line workers engage with domestic and gender-based violence in the urban informal settlements of Dharavi in Mumbai, India. We conducted in-depth interviews with 13 voluntary front-line workers, along with ethnographic fieldwork in Dharavi, as a part of a pilot study. Our findings contribute to literature on context-specific approaches to understanding gender-based violence and "models" to prevent domestic violence in urban micro-spaces. Furthermore, we also discuss notions of "change" ( badlaav ) that the front-line workers experience. Finally, this article presents implications for socially engaged ethnographic research, as well as contextual and grounded insights on ways to reduce gender-based and domestic violence.