Salt and Satyagrahi

How often when we use salt on our food and our roads do we stop to think of its origins and  history, well one woman  in India is doing that right now.  Her name is Jill Beckingham who is the wife of the British deputy high commissioner in Mumbai.

During the early hours of 18th November she started a 17 day 357 km walk from Ahmedabad to Dandi beach, Surat,  on the coast of Gujarat. Her fund raising walk is under the 'India UK Friendship' banner, the proceeds will be going to 6 NGO's (non-governmental organisations) and will be split between three in Ahmedabad and three in Mumbai.  She will walk 25kms each day and there will be three rest days during this period.

Jill Beckingham will be retracing the historic steps of Gandhi when he set off from the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on March 12th 1930.   This march was done to protest against the salt laws imposed by the British as well as colonial rule.

As with everything Gandhi did the protest was done by non-violent means and he was originally accompanied by some 78 male 'satyagrahi's' (activist's of truth and resolution).  The 24 day walk ended on April 5th.  All along the route crowds gathered to watch  him pass through their villages as they watered the route and threw fresh vegetation onto the path before him. Many villagers joined him swelling the group along the way.

On reaching the coast Gandhi bent down and scooped up a  handful of salt, so breaking the law, within seconds many of his followers repeated this passive defiance.  The Salt Tax made it illegal to either sell or produce salt, allowing complete British monopoly.  Equally the law made it illegal for people to collect salt for their own use from the coast ensuring they had to buy it . which many of them could ill afford.

Gandhi was to be arrested a month later but his resolve to free India from British rule never wavered and as history now tells us India did eventually gain independence. Jill Beckingham's walk is being done in a spirit of friendship and to raise money for the poor. 

Ladies of the Land

It seems perfectly fitting on this Armistice Day , to remember not only the men who suffered and made sacrifices during the war years,  but also the many thousands of  women who during both the First and the Second World Wars were called upon to work on the land.  They were known as the Women's Land Army (WLA).  They originally started to work in agriculture in 1915 and by 1917 there were some 260.000 women working on the land and on farms, digging and planting, ploughing and driving tractors.

                                                              (Photograph by dan)
In 1939 during the Second World War Britain needed to grow more food and the call went out again for women to work in agriculture.  Whilst many of the women and girls who volunteered were from the country up to a third of them came from London and industrial cities from the north of England. For many of these women the experience changed their lives forever not only in how they viewed themselves but also how the rest of society viewed them.

What is less well known is that  another  organisation known as the Womens's Timber Corps (WTC) was also formed.  They were known as 'Lumber Jills' and their origins also go back to the First World War. During 1940 in order to solve the problem of labour shortage, together with an increased demand for timber, the Forestry Commission started recruiting women to work in the forests and sawmills.

                                                                         (Photograph by dan)
Their work as with the Land Girls was tough, hard, dirty and ardous. They were put to felling trees, sewing them up, loading them and operating sawmills. With only a 4/6 week course before starting  work in the forests they nonetheless proved themselves to be more than capable of doing the work.  There was even a grudging acceptance of the fact that they were just as good as the men they had replaced.  They were paid anything from 35 to 46 shillings a week.    The WTC disbanded in 1946 and the women were recognised by receiving a personal letter from Queen Elizabeth.

Despite proving themselves on the land their work and contributions to the war effort went largely unrecognised for many years.  It was not until 2000 that they were allowed to take part in the annual Remembrance Sunday parade in London.  Later in October 2007 the Forestry Commission of Scotland unveiled a national memorial to the women of the WTC in the form of a life size bronze sculpture which can be seen in the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, near Aberfoyle, Stirling.

In December 2007 the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs recognised their work by  creating a badge of honour for the women of the Women's Timber Corps and the Women's Land Army and in July 2008 over 30,000 women received this honour.

Women of Spain

Like many women around the world, the women of Spain are the mainstay of the family and daily pull things together to ensure harmony within the home, but with the fall of fascism and the rise of democracy  things started to change for the women in Spanish society.

During Franco's reign social values were strongly conservative, oppressive and restrictive,  enforcing a set of social structures aimed at preserving the traditional role of the family in general and women in particular.

After Franco's death many social and sexual mores started to relax. After 1975  criminal laws against homosexuals were either lifted or no longer enforced,  indeed today Spain recognises civil marriages between gay couples.

Many magazines and films previously prohibited were allowed into the country, one such being 'Playboy which had been banned until 1976. Issues around contraception and abortion where extremely restrictive under Franco's rule, together with the strict attitude of the Catholic church.  Today Spain has a more liberal aproach to such issues.

But perhaps the most significant change in social values revolves around the role of women in Spain. For many women the opportunity of a professional career was very limited,as the woman's role was thought to be in the home as wives and mothers.   The return of democracy also brought about the changing place of women in the work force and society.  During the years since his death women have grown both  in the work place and have increased in number in the Universities.

During Franco's years, Spanish law discriminated strongly against married women. They would need their husbands approval to engage in economic activities, employment, ownership of property or even travel away from home. Over the years there have been many sweeping changes which have become law which centre around marriage, contraception, abortion and divorce. But one of the biggest changes is that the role of women has greatly expanded. Spanish women are rapidly catching up with their European counterparts.

The lives of women under the Franco regime have been captured by Joan Fallon in her book 'Daughters of Spain' and is the story of the hard won changes within society that the women of Spain have achieved.

The Road to Equality?

Although premiered last week, today sees the general release of this new and enlightening film 'Made in Dagenham'.  In these days of austerity and cut backs it is a timely story of a group of women workers from the Ford Dagenham car plant in Essex, UK, who in 1968 went on strike for equal pay. The women not only took on the Ford Motor Company but also the Government of the day to highlight the injustice.

The women were employed to sew seat covers for Cortina's and Zephyr's.   They worked long hours and in poor conditions, for during the summer, the shed they were based in was so hot they practically worked in their underwear and during the winter the conditions were freezing and the roof leaked.  Health & Safety today would have a lot to say about that!   The final straw came when the bosses at the plant declassified and downgraded the women to unskilled workers. For many women workers during this period,  this will not come as a surprise.

Despite many women going out to work, men were still considered to be the breadwinners.   Women have always had to fight for their rights in the workplace and the women car workers were no exception.   The only difference is that these women decided to do something about it. There was little known about the strike at the time as the newspapers did not carry the story for very long, despite some 300 women coming out on strike for 3 weeks. Nonetheless the strike created many heated discussions in households, pubs and clubs, as well as fuelling the all important political debate that the women were hoping for.

                                                        (Photograph by Graur  Codrin)

Another woman of particular note during the time of the strike,  was Barbara Castle who was a cabinet minister in the then Labour Government. Whilst making  no secret of the fact that she was in support of the women, she found it extremely exasperating dealing with Harold Wilson who was  Prime Minister at the time, as he was more ambiguous. Despite dealing with opposition from their bosses  and their male colleagues, the women were not to be daunted.  As a result the first Equal Pay Act was passed in 1970 and later in 1975 Barbara Castle brough in legislation making it illegal to pay women less than men for the same job.

It is interesting to note that some 35 years on,  there are still disparities to be found. The Dagenham women strikers may have won the battle, but it is debateable as to whether they won the war.  Whilst it is now illegal to pay women less than men for the same job, women are still not equal to men in the workplace, because  in the main women's work still has a lower value than  men's.  It is arguable therefore that despite the Equal Pay Act employers are still getting away with it. I guess you would have to ask the women strikers from Dagenham what they think of todays wages for women!

Whilst only the soundtrack to 'Made in Dagenham' is available at the moment, the DVD will not be far behind.

Spitfires in More than One Sense

As the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain comes to a close it would not be right to let it go by without highlighting the work of these incredible women. As in every war women were called upon to do mens work and then at the end of the war pushed back into domesticity as if they had never been out of it, and these women were no exception.

Aeroplanes came off the production line and into the hangers at an ever increasing speed during the second World War as the battle's in the air were fought and won with the loss of lives as well as aeroplanes. The very few women who had flown before the war saw their opportunity, but their own battle was not an easy one either.

The persistence of one woman in particular Pauline Gower, saw the breakthrough. A shortage of pilots and the need to get the aircraft from factories to squadrons up and down the country prompted the British Air Ministry to engage trained women pilots. Pauline Gower who was an experienced commercial air pilot also ran pleasure flights before the war.  When civilian flying  was banned during the war she saw her opportunity and approached the Director General of Civil Aviation to discuss with him the newly formed Air Transport Auxilliary.   Despite some resistance she was not to be denied nor defeated and it was agreed that there should initially be only 8 women who would be allowed to fly the aircraft provided they were sufficiently trained.  It comes as no surprise that the women had to be more qualified than the men to be able to fly them.   Throughout her time with the ATA she ensured the highest levels of competence amongst the women and demanded the utmost professionalism.  By the end of the war there were overf 165 women pilots, many of whom had joined from overseas.

                                                     (Photograph by Bernie Condon)

Diana Barton Walker a  wealthy young socialite learnt to fly after just six hours of training, by the age of 22 years she had delivered over 200 Spitfires and other aircraft to squadrons throughout the country. In 1963 she was the first  British woman to break the sound barrier.

Another woman of note was Amy Johnson who became the first British trained woman ground engineer and for a time the only one in the world.  During the 1930's she set off in a Gypsy Moth from Croydon, London to Darwin, Australia, completing the flight in 19 days and 11,000 miles later.  Tragically her life was cruelly cut short in January 1941 when after joining the ATA her plane crashed into the Thames Estuary and she drowned.

So many of these women when interviewed in later life were to remark that it was the best time of their lives despite the dangers and difficulties surrounding them and not always due to the flights but also from some of their male colleagues.   Not surprising then that most of them had to return to a life of domesticity!

Empowerment of Women

Not long after moving to Andalucia I was given the opportunity to go and listen to this amazing woman.  Just like many people around the world who do good things and actually make a difference to other people's lives, she presented as a quiet and unassuming woman who instantly made everyone feel at home and welcome.

Not quite knowing what to expect, I left two hour's later feeling humbled and chastened,  realising that I took for granted the luxuries in my own life and the opportunites which have come my way. A timely reminder that this is not always a good thing or indeed a necessary feeling for well being.

Paula Gianturco is a photojournalist who  has travelled to fifteen countries on five continents bearing witness to the incredible work being done by women and girls in the places she visited. Just as her talk was inspiring so too is her book 'Women Who Light The Dark'.

Throughout the book there are amazing stories and photographs about how women are helping each other to take on their problems ranging from sex trafficking, war,  domestic violence, poverty, discrimation, illiteracy,  malnutrition, disease and inequality.   Despite lacking  material resources these women have forged ahead with indomintable spirit and imagination.

The book and the writer are inspirational and after hearing Paola talk I left feeling there was hope for the world if left in the hands of women.   Their creativity and courage left me feeling that all things were possible where there is a will there is a way, where this a wish to make things happen things can and do change for the better.

The purchase of this book benefits The Global Fund For Women, which over the past 20 years has supported and strengthened local organisations in 164 countries.  All the organisations are run by women whose creative and effective work advances women's rights and empowers them.  http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/

South from Granada

Living in an area known as south from Granada  I just had to buy this book. The area is not only beautiful and tranquil to live in but it is also the name of a famous book written by Gerald Brenan who lived in a Spanish village called Yegen in the Alpujarran district between 1920 and 1934.  As an officer and a gentleman having survived the first world war he wanted nothing more than a haven of peace and tranquillity for himself and his books.  He was not to be disappointed.

Due to his connections with the Bloomsbury set he was during his years in the village visited by many luminaries including Lytton Strachey and Virginia Woolf, whose views on the area were not quite as his own.  

The book is a fascinating insight into the ways and day to day living of the people at that time. He talks of the festivals, fiestas and folklore and describes the landscape. But what struck me as I read it was to realise that apart from the infrastructure the area really has changed a great deal. Villagers still sit out at the end of the day in the cool of the evening  chatting with their friends, children and grandchildren,  many of them having never moved away from their own village.   Mules still roam around the villages and the valleys still groan beneath the many orange and lemon groves and goatkeepers still tend to their flock.

It goes onto describes the food of the area, religous activities, schools and education, births, deaths and marriages, beliefs and rituals and the village calender. Throughout it all he brings to life the rich and varied cultural life of the time.  But I could not help but be struck by the similarities in my own Spanish village nearby.  You really do not have to look very hard to see it all today here in the Lecrin valley in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

                               

Many people compare and contrast Brenan's book with the more recent one by         Chris Stewart 'Driving Over Lemons'  who also wrote about the area but in more recent times.  His book became an international best seller and describes an idyllic life in a remote, sunny part of southern Spain.  He also came to live in the Alpujarra's but in the 1990's. His account although written in modern times and in the modern idium nonetheless resounds with passages that could have come straight out of Brenan's book.  As is often the case, Brenan's book became more popular after his death, with the advent of tourism and people actually coming to live in and nearby the Alpujarra's. But should you come to the area and stay still and quiet and look very closely you will still see life as it was described by Brenan all those years ago.

Life after Divorce

For many women the thought of divorcing is almost too horrible to contemplate, too risky and  too scary, leaving you insecure both emotionally and financially as well as vulnerable.  But for one woman it was a step which put her onto the path of living again.

Elizabeth Gilbert was born in 1969 and was brought up  on a small family farm in Waterbury, Connecticut in the United States.  The farm was isolated and there were no neighbours, no television nor even a record player.  As is often the case when people are thrown back onto their own devices she escaped into her imagination and entertained herself and her sister by writing little books and plays. 

She could have had no idea that later in life she would write a novel that would prove to be such a phenomal success.  The novel 'Eat Pray Love' is such a novel.  By July 2010 it  had been on the New York Times  'Best Seller List'  for 180 weeks.  It has recently been made into a film of the same name starring Julia Roberts. Her come back film after many years off the wide screen.   Basically it is the story of a thirty something woman facing a mid life dilemma, should she stay or should she go?  After a bitter divorce she sets of on her own journey of discovery, travelling to Italy, India and Bali.

During one of her conversations with a friend she said "I want to go some places where I can marvel at something".  She has certainly done that in many more ways than one.  The book has sold over 7 million copies in over 30 languages.  During her travels she goes to India and this has not been lost on women who have either seen the film or read the book.  Many more people have been to India this last year including women travelling solo or with other women's groups.

With the recent global financial downturn, it would seem that western materialism would appear to be to steering many people towards a more spiritual search for inner peace and India certainly provides this if  you are willing to look.

Women and Leadership.

As a former Police Sergeant and  lawyer, and having worked around the courts and prisons a great deal of my life, I am full of admiration for this woman, especially as she is Indian which by any definition is a very macho country.

Kiran Bedi was born on the 9th June 1949, the second of four daughter's, already a difficult start in India. Although born into a  well to do family she was nevertheless aware of her privileged position compared to the majority of Indian children.  Her parents sacrified a great deal in order for their daughter's to go to the best schools, learn sports and to be exceptional in a male dominated country.

Having become a lawn tennis champion as a teenager, Kiran Bedi went onto to graduate in Arts and then obtain a Master's degree in Political Science.  She then went into active service with the Indian Police and obtained a law degree (LLB) from Delhi University.  In 1993 she was awarded a Ph.D in Social Sciences by the Department of Social Sciences.

She is a courageous woman both in her personal life as well as her public life, for  she also kicked the traces when it came to relationship's. She did not believe in the dowry system.  This is where the girl's family give the boy's family goods and money in return for their daughter's marriage.  She was also not willing to be domesticated, wishing to concentrate on her career and so ended the relationship.  This would have taken a great deal of strength of mind and courage.

It is not surprising therefore that she went on to become India's first and highest ranking woman in the Indian Police Service. She then became the Director General of one of Delhi's toughest and largest prisons and began to turn a hellish institution into a humane one.  Many prisons around the world would do well to look into her methods, but that is another story!

India dazzles and never disappoints you visit http://www.tigertravel.co.uk/

The Bandit Queen

Phoolan Devi - who?   Very few people outside of India know who this woman is or have ever heard of her and yet she has had a remarkable life.  She was born not in the last century but in 1963 and her name translates to 'goddess of flowers' in Hindi.  But her life was anything but a bed of roses! Born into the lower mallah caste (boatmen).

From a young age she was repeatedly raped by men of various standing and was oppressed, molested and undervalued.  The final straw would seem to come after the breakdown of her marriage when she became a social outcast, although  her life up until this point had been a series of disasters, disappointments and injustice.  At one point spending a short time in jail and being repeatedly beaten and raped.  This experience left her indelibly scarred and ignited her hatred for men who routinely denigrated women.   She then became akin to the 'Robin Hood' of her area, a superwoman to the economically and socially lower classes.

In 1979 a gang of dacoits (bandits) abducted Phoolan.   She became the symbol of people like herself but unlike most women and especially Indian women she chose to take vengeance in a more extreme manner. Having been taught how to use a rifle she took part in the dacoits raids on high-caste villages where they would ransack their houses and kidnap upper-caste landowners for ransom. 

Despite being labelled a murderer, kidnapper and self appointed desperado  she became a legend within her own lifetime. Phoolan Devi became a famous female warrior and rebelled against the Indian social system. 

Following a massacre in an Indian village in 1981 when twenty-two men were killed, there followed a massive police hunt for her, but they did not find her.  She eventually surrendered herself to the police in 1983 denying any involvement in the killings.

After 11 years in prison, justice prevailed and the charges were dropped and she was a free woman.  She then stood for election and became a 'Member of Parliament' for a town in Northern India.  At the time she was quoted as having said  "My main goal is that things that only the rich and privileged have enjoyed until now should also be given to the poor: for example drinking water, electricity, schools and hospitals...."

On the 25th July 2001 Phoolan Devi was assassinated, being fatally shot as she got out of her car at the gate of her New Delhi residence.

Make what you will of her life, was she a bad woman or one who had had the great misfortune to suffer within the Indian caste system and at the hands of men?  Whatever you decide there is no getting away from the fact that she was denied a life with dignity even in the manner of her death.

To see this amazingly complex country visit http://www.tigertravel.co.uk/

Famous Woman Bullfighter.

One thing that Spain is renowed for is bullfighting.  For many Spaniards it is an art form and courageous, but for many others around the world it is felt to be cruel in the extreme.  Just as the UK banned fox hunting there is now a movement in Spain to ban bullfighting.    In July 2010 the Catalonian parliament voted to ban it, the first region of mainland Spain to do so. The ban will take effect from January 2012.

Whilst the main and oldest bullring is in Barcelona, support for bullfighting has waned.  Just as in the UK with foxhunting the argument against banning is that it will affect many livelihoods as well as possible tourism.  

It has a deep rooted tradition and the fight usually lasts some 20 minutes.  During this time the bull is stabbed several times before a fatal blow with a sword between the shoulder blades.  

One of the most famous fans of bullfighting was Ernest Hemingway  an America  writer who wrote about it in his well known book.

A lesser known  fact is that a woman called Cristina Sanchez who was born in 1972 in Madrid was also a famous bullfighter.  Upon leaving school she started her working life in a beauty salon, but soon changed to bullfighting.  Having been in bullrings in both Mexico and Ecuador she debuted in Madrid one week before her 21st birthday.  She was a very successful female bullfighter having cut a total of 316 bull ears.  This is a sign of conquest over the bull. 

Cristina Sanchez was viewed by many people as a step towards the feminist movement in Spain in the 1990's, as bullfighting was and is still  regarded as a macho sport. She retired however in 1999 as she felt she was not being given sufficient credit and top billings because she was a woman, indeed many of the male matadors refused to be billed alongside her. A film of her life can be obtained from the link below.

http://icarusfilms.com/new97/sunshadow.html

Why not come and see Spain for yourself visit http://www.senoritasinthesun.com/

Flamenco & Granada

We are very lucky to be living in this amazing part of southern Spain and no this  is not me dancing!!  At this time of year the various small villages in the valley resound to the sound of guitars, singing and of course flamenco and you don't even have to book to go there.  All we had to do was turn up, sit down and be entertained by this fabulous dancer.   It really was riveting as the power and energy came off the stage, for the aficionados the best flamenco creates what is known as 'duende'. 

Although hard to define it is a combination of both mind and body creating an intense emotional state, which is part desperation and part ecstasy.  When done properly it is tangible and impossible to tear your eyes away from. 

This was just such a night, a balmy, heady, sun kissed Spanish night when we went to one of our local fiestas and witnessed flamenco dancing for the first time.

Throughout the summer months each village has its own fiesta which does not start until after 10pm, you can forget about sleep as music drifts in through the windows until long after midnight, so we join the fun and and enjoy the reason we came to Spain.    You could come and see it for yourself visit:

http://www.senoritasinthesun.com/

Oranges Really Are Not the Only Fruit.

You have heard of the saying 'going out on a limb', well this literally happened to me last week. This lovely sleepy village in the hills of Andalucia is surrounded by oranges, lemons, almonds and figs,  to name but a few but mainly oranges, although they are not the only fruit in the Lecrin Valley!  Now it would seem that one of the local's was determined to feed me up on all of these but in particular figs, of which you can only eat so many!  So with bags a plenty we set off to harvest the fruit.  Having risked life and limb to climb up the valley with the local farmer, he then risked life and all  of his limbs to climb out on the branches of the fig tree to get every last one of them. Having eaten all the figs and somewhat thinner, another trip involved crashing through the undergrowth to collect radishes and onions all on the side of a perilous slope.  A three point turn I can do, but a 90 point turn is something else!. The only one happy with the situation and who was blissfully unaware of all the drama was his mule eating his way through lunch.

When I first moved to this beautiful part of southern Spain I thought it was a sleepy area where nothing ever happened, but nothing could be further from the truth. With fiestas, fireworks, flamenco and fruit a week never passes without something happening. It is beautiful hidden valley and is still very much how people think of Spain with its white villages and relaxed way of life.  There are plenty of things to do for walkers, cyclists, birdwatchers,  surfers, lovers of architecture and being just 30 minutes away from the coast, surfers. Or you might just want to laze about in the sun with a chilled glass of wine and tapas.  My dog Harvey loves it too!

It wasn't long before I realised that I wanted to share this special valley with others and so the idea was born to create a holiday company similar to our other one that takes women to India. So now, if you have a taste for figs and want to have a relaxing holiday away from the maddening crowd as well as having fun why not check us out .  You never know you might even lose weight?http://www.senoritasinthesun.com/

Life in the Lecrin Valley

Hello/Hola, my holiday in India now seems a very long time ago so I am now looking foward  to enjoying yet another blue sky summer here in southern Spain. The Lecrin Valley in Andalucia is one of Spain's hidden gems. The valley is beginning to turn lush and green due to the recent rains which have left the it fully refreshed and ready to produce yet another amazing crop of oranges and lemons. But what I really enjoy is meeting my many guests who come to stay in my house in Saleres.

The only noise for miles around is the sound of the river below the house, the birds and of course the occasional mule as they contentedly graze. The valley is ideal for walkers, cyclists, and skiers as the Sierra Nevada is about 50 minutes drive away and the coast 30 minutes away.  Like the Taj Mahal in India, no visit to Granada would be complete without a visit to the 'Alhambra Palace' where there is exquisite art work of varying forms and breathtaking gardens. Where else can you go skiing in the morning and then enjoy a sumptuous meal and a cool glass of wine at one of the many upmarket restuarants overlooking the mediterranean. In a busy world where there are few unspoilt places left I have never become tired of the peace and quiet which always restores me. If you want to see for yourself what you are missing visit http://www.rentinruralspain.iowners.net/and maybe I will be able to meet you too. Adios.