I've been writing about a number of gender issues lately and so have many other women. One of the recurring problems that women in trouble seem to face is the isolation and the lack of validation of their concerns.
I was wondering if we could set up a community blog with resources and link it to each of our blogs. If we know of any resource that may help women and make their lives easier, we can list this here. Since many women will participate, we can get resources from across India and maybe abroad.
Examples would include names and contact of lawyers and police officials with whom we (or someone we know) have some personal experience. A short review will be awesome. Help with creches and domestic help agencies or even plumbers and carpenters, internet providers - anything that will help a woman who is trying to settle into a new city (with her family or alone).
We can also share details of everything from shopping deals to safe areas to settle down at or job openings we know of. We can post information about shelters or therapists that we know.
The important thing is that the people who post this should have some personal experiences with the people they are recommending and should write a review, so that this does not turn into commercial list and we take some responsibility for what we recommend or don't recommend.
We can have an email address for the blog, so women would be able to write back. It can also link to relevant blog posts and resources.
It would be awesome to have some first person accounts of how women dealt with new situations - whether moving to a new city or learning to cook, or getting a divorce or finding a job.You needn't even write anything unless you have something to recommend. Even if it's a virtual support group, it could still be a group. Also, we need not write new stuff. We can link to existing information eg. An example would be Starry Eyes on adoption.
What do you think? And will you be willing to participate? How do you think we could improve on this idea? Should we even pursue it? If enough people are interested, I personally think it would be a good step to take. Write back.
5 comments:
I think this is a really good initiative. I am happily divorced now. A friend of mine is going through divorce and I did not know how to get her to accept that her life can only get better after living with an abuser. I thought then a group therapy would have helped her.
@ Chilli: Thanks for writing back. I have also often been called on for such advice. Let's wait and see if more people want to participate in this. Unless we have a lot of collective knowledge, this site cannot be effective enough. Som link or blog about this initiative so that more people can participate.
I think it is a really great idea. In my single days (I lived in several cities alone) I often wondered if there was a space which would help me connect with other like minded women/friends. In fact I went to Indus Ladies for that very reason. If you do this, I will help you all I can. I think we should have city reps who can get info about their cities and also issue reps like someone working with domestic violence survivors who can give all kinds of practical reference...
Cheers,
Suchi
Hey, did not realise you linked to me, and wondered how come ppl were commenting on my adoption posts.
Great idea...but a lot of implementation required! You're welcome to link to any of my old posts...but am presently on a blog break, hopefully it's temporary.
@ Suchi, Chilli on Fire, Starry Eyed: Can you email me on carelesschronicles at gmail dot com and we can discuss this. A group blog perhaps, where people can write guest entries. Even if we start with just three people, we have a reference point for others to join?
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