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In 1982, shortly after Dr Sasiprabha Stanley married, she traveled with her husband to Odisha, in eastern India, to a village called Champakenda.
“That was the first time I stepped into another state where I did not know the language. I was a foreigner, simply sitting and watching the women.”
She sat on a stone - but it was a stone that the villagers called a “saddar,” where men were allowed to sit and have community meetings and make decisions for the village.
“No women were allowed to sit on the saddar,” she said.
An old man, the village head, Nayak, called to her, and asked her to please get up, because she wasn’t allowed to sit there.
“Then I wondered,” said Stanley, “and I asked him a question: why?”
She followed with another question: “Is there any written document in the village that forbids women from sitting here?”
Although there was no document, the man proudly said, “It’s the decision-making place for men in the village.”
Stanley pondered then about what would become her lifetime passion: “I argued with him and challenged him that I would see women sit on the same saddar and make decisions.”
Since her first advocacy work in that village, Sasiprabha “Sasi” Stanley has become known for her persistence.
“Today, all the women sit on the saddar along with the men and make decisions in that village.”
Stanley identifies that as the first “women’s issue” she handled.
“I decided then I would work with women on issues such as participation; decision-making; political leadership; equal pay; domestic violence; land ownership; housing rights; and occupational equality, particularly in farming, carpentry, and masonry.”
Since then, Stanley has advocated for many women’s rights, and each success inspires her to do more. For example, as she began working with Adivasi women on land ownership, she successfully advocated for women to be treated as equals.
“All the women staged a dharna - a rally - in front of the district collectorate,” recalls Stanley. “As of today, the women have received 4,000 acres of land in the area. Whenever I take an issue on behalf of women, it inspires me to go further and continue to work for justice for women as well others.”
‘Jewel of India’
Stanley is now a renowned Christian activist who recently earned two national awards in India for her social justice work.
The International Institute of Education and Management deemed her a “Jewel of India” and the Indian Solidarity Council tilted her as “Mahila Rattan,” or “Diamond Woman,” recognizing her 35 years of grassroots holistic development engagement.
She was also recognized for her contributions to Adivasi and Dalit Women, gender justice, child protection, rural child development, malnutrition, child labour, youth poverty, child-focused community development initiatives, and eco-justice initiatives.
She has consistently worked with churches and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for empowerment and development of the marginalized communities. People who live off the land occupy a special place in Stanley’s work and in her heart, she said.
“It is indeed a very uncomfortable situation for people who live off the land if they have no land or very little land.” Learning about viable alternative opportunities for livelihood is very important in sustaining a community,” said Stanley.
“There are skills in rural communities, and skills in urban communities, and also certain life-enhancing skills that not only shape individuals and families but also shape the community as a whole.”
Looking to the future, she advises young people to go back and work in the villages and not search jobs in the cities, “because villages have built the cities and now if there are no villages, then all the cities will face an acute crisis for water and food.”
She founded the Centre for Humanitarian Assistance, an NGO at Visakhapatnam that promotes and defends the rights of children, seeks gender justice, and fosters care for the earth. Prior to that, she served as a director of the Integrated Rural Development of Weaker Sections in India.
Church as an institution has no doubt been one of the most successful institutions in the world, Stanley notes, and ecumenical work brings even more power to the church.
“The strength that churches would display if they were all united would be a collective power on which we could rely and organize within, and explore the possibilities of teaming up with other players to play a vital role in today’s global development work.”
She remains concerned that, sometimes, ecumenical work confines itself to a mere spectrum of religion and gospel readings.
“Practically associating gospel with grassroots reality and finding solutions through a different eye of understanding and interpretation, is a dire need today,” asserts Stanley.
Information about WCC work for a Just Community of Women and Men
