Introducing Tamil Nadu Women's Collective

Inter Pares is pleased to introduce our newest counterpart, Tamil Nadu Women’s Collective (TNWC). Founded in 1994, TNWC brings together over 100,000 marginalized women in the state of Tamil Nadu, India to address violence against women, promote agroecology, and support the political participation of women.

Women in Tamil Nadu face significant challenges. Violence against women, including domestic and sexual violence, sex selective abortion, and dowry, are extremely common. Many men have left villages to seek salaried employment in the cities, which often leaves women as the sole caregiver for families and for the farmland. TNWC helps women to organize into local self-help groups for savings and productive projects as a response to these conditions.

With Inter Pares support, TNWC will work with five young women and five young men from each of 20 villages to form local committees that will monitor and take action on women’s rights and especially the critical situation of violence against women. TNWC will provide training and accompaniment to them as they educate women and men on gender issues and act to ensure that laws are enforced.

Inter Pares has supported TNWC at a distance over the years through the Millet Network of India, an initiative of long-term counterpart Deccan Development Society. We look forward to developing a closer relationship with this organization and supporting their work in the years to come.