Sahiyo is a non-governmental organization founded in 2015 whose purpose is to advocate women rights and end the practice of female genital mutilation, principally among the Ddawoodi Bohra community in India. The organization lists its main concerns as females being victims of social norms and old traditions, working to eliminate these traditions through media, proper education, collaboration with other human rights organizations and social discussions. Sahiyo aims to empower victims and help them to spread their stories through public awareness campaigns and advocacy initiatives.
History
In early 2015, five women started the collective; Mariya Taher, Aarefa Johari, Priya Goswami, Insia Dariwala and Shaheeda Tavawalla-Kirtane, decided to take a step against female circumcision and create a collective, they managed to partner with national and international NGOs such as German-Iraqi NGO Wadi, SpeakOut, Breakthrough and others. In July, Sahiyo launched an exploratory online survey to understand the motive, expanse and effect of female circumcision around the world, significant researchers participated in the survey including Gerry Mackie. In June, they partnered with Breakthrough to uncover the different connections of violence that are based on gender by highlighting the effects of orthodox ethics and customs that suppresses female sexuality in specific communities. In August 2016, convened a media workshop in partnership with IAWRT. In September, Sahiyo collaborated with Inclusive Mosque Initiative, they participated in the “Gender Justice” session at the Islamic Society of North AmericaAnnual Conference. In October, Sahiyo participated in lecturing, discussing and collaborating over female genital mutilation challenges at Justice and Peace Commission in Mumbai which is run by Catholic Church in Mumbai. In January 2017, Sahiyo launched a worldwide online petition on Change.org appealing to United Nations and other establishments to invest in more research and support to push to end female genital mutilation in India and Asia and then to eliminate it globally, the petition was launched in collaboration with 33 non-governmental human rights organizations, including Equality Now, Orchid Project, Tahirih Justice.
Approach
‘Sahiyo’ is the Gujarati word for ‘friends’, which indicates the collective's mission to end female genital cutting through social discussions with the community in order to reach collaborative solutions towards ending the practice. Advocating its views against female genital cutting, Sahiyo uses online media to present stories of women who undergone mutilation to spread awareness of female circumcision, often drawing special attention to survivor stories. Sahiyo started its first Thaal Pe Charcha in 2017, a meeting for Bohra women to discuss their life challenges concerning social norms and community fear of women sexuality, with an emphasis on female genital mutilation. In July, Sahiyo held the second Thaal Pe Charcha meeting in Mumbai, the third meeting was convened in October, in which the organization received an invitation for speaking at Hilton Humanitarian Symposium in Los Angeles on their recent work and engagement with local and global communities.
Research
Through its local research, Sahiyo found that 80% of Bohra woman had undergone clitoridectomy procedure. Also it has released an investigative report revealed publicly for that first time that female mutilation cutting was carrying out in several parts of coastal state Kerala, including cities of Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode, the reporters and researchers interviewed clinic doctors who agree on the illegal procedure and also encourage it, which caused controversial reactions among supporters and opposers in India. The global survey found that female genital cutting is not only present in some African and Asian countries, but happens also among these communities in developed countries such as the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.
Campaigns
In February 2016, Sahiyo partnered with NGO Speak Out to run Each One Reach One, a one-month campaign was launched to motivate different people to participate in social discussions with Bohra women. In the following year, they have launched the second edition of the campaign. In March, they started I Am Bohra Photo campaign, encouraging women and men of Bohra to post their photos with comments to condemn khatna activities.
