Interview with D. Sharifa

Global Feminisms Project

2004-07-12

Abstract: D. Sharifa is a much-talked about person in Tamilnadu and among activists because of the stand she has taken on Muslim women's rights. She runs an organisation called STEPS at Pudukottai, Tamilnadu. The organisation was started because Sharifa strongly felt that there was a need to make women aware of their rights. Her initial action based programmes dealt with problems as they came to her. Most of the problems she dealt with arose from the politics of everyday life. After a research study she did in 1995, Sharifa decided to concentrate on the needs of Muslim women because she felt that this was a much neglected area. For the past few years Sharifa has been fighting to build a mosque for Muslim women that would provide a space for them to both pray and discuss the issues of their life and act as a community centre. Sharifa has received several national awards for her work among women.

Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/55733

Series/Report no.: Global Feminisms India Site Interview

Subject(s): global, feminism, feminists, intersectionality, cross-cultural, India, Indian Feminists

Description: The 'Global Feminisms Project' is a collaborative international project that examines the history of feminist activism, women's movements and academic women's studies in China, India, Poland, and the United States. We are examining the histories of feminism in local contexts by collecting ten videotaped oral histories of women's movement activists and women's studies scholars in each country. The Project is based in the Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG) at UM, which is also the home for the US site research team. Our international collaborators are: SPARROW, Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women in Mumbai, India; Fundacja Kobiet eFKa (Women's Foundation eFKa) in Krakow, Poland; China Women's University in Beijing, China; and Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. DIRECTIONS FOR VIEWING THE GLOBAL FEMINISMS INTERVIEWS: Users may launch QuickTime Player by clicking on the “View/Open” link associated with the MPEG, or video, file under the “Files in This Item” heading. Due to large file size, the video may take up to ten minutes to load. If the picture breaks up or does not flow freely, play the video for a minute, pause it for a minute, and then play again.

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