Pushparani Biswas, her three children and husband were living a happy and healthy life in the village of Dema. Or that is what she felt until she attended a workshop on violence against women and gender.

Even though Pushparani studied law after her marriage she was unaware of gender and violence against women. But in her own way she was already making change through her knowledge of law. During discussions about various laws (such as Hindu land law and Muslim marriage laws) she noticed that the men were just as interested in the subject as the women. With the encouragement of her friends she decided she needed to provide legal information to the larger community. After engaging with a campaign ally she realised that “if I don’t change my own family how can I help change others?”

Although there was no physical violence, a patriarchal attitude underlined every activity in her home. While studying law, her husband was supportive, perhaps because he was too languid to care but many from the community disliked the idea. When she became a Change Maker they actually went to her husband complaining about her behaviour and frequent outings. They told him that his wife was getting out of his control. “Not only is she immoral herself but introducing evil ideas to other women,” they argued. To this her husband said, “My wife is doing good work, I have met some of the people she works with, and they seem like good people”.

Pushparani has helped three families by providing legal advice. One of these families was saved from aggravating a careless mistake by the husband - the common notion that if the husband says ‘talaq’ three times under any circumstances then the wife ceases to be his wife.

Through the ‘We Can’ campaign she has interacted with more than 300 people. Pushparani believes that at least a 100 of them will be Change Makers themselves. She says, “The fact that I am here sharing my story would not have been possible if I had not been educated about my rights. Now I know what violence against women is, I know my rights. I have confidence to express myself. I hope that this campaign reaches more women; they will be even more aware than me and do great things. I wish to God that I continue to do this work until my death.”