Rohini Pawar is a feminist, self-help group leader, onion farmer, juice stall owner, ASHA (health) worker, and a Community Correspondent. This woman of boundless passion and open-hearted courage dreamed of becoming a doctor, but her dreams were curtailed when she was married at 15. “I felt like all my dreams would crash and end there,” she says. “I was scared,…

Rohini Pawar

Share

Around half the girls in India get married before the age of 18. Maharashtra has one of the highest numbers of such marriages.

In her video, ‘Changing Attitudes on Child Marriage’  Rohini, IndiaUnheard community correspondent in Walhe district, Maharashtra, interviews two girls who recently saw their friend getting married. Both are thankful that it wasn't them. Rohini hopes that in time more people will become more aware of the problems of child marriage and that they will stop.

Women's issues are hardly talked about in public forums in villages. Community media can change this.

Community media has a special power because those who make the content have almost always personally experienced what they document. This empathy adds an authenticity, urgency and a personal perspective, which makes it very different from traditional journalism.

Female correspondents find that women in their communities feel comfortable talking to them as they feel that the journalists can relate to them

Rohini was only 15 when she got married. She didn’t want to. For the longest time she had hoped to study and become a doctor.

“I felt all my dreams would crash and end there but I was lucky in that I had good in-laws. Being 15 and married is not easy,” she says. “I was scared, everything was different. I wanted to make sure that other girls didn’t have to face the same problems.”

Now working not only as a correspondent but also as a video trainer and mentor of newer community correspondents, she says: “I want to change things in my society for women-- get them equal wages, stop child marriages, help them speak up and stand up for themselves.”

And she’s done just that. With each video that she has made she has ensured that the voices of the women in her community are heard and taken on board.

This video is a part of our Women's Day Blog - Bringing Change, One Video at a Time. You can read the whole blog HERE