As a member of the journal’s advisory board In God’s imageJessie Tellis-Nayak sought to question the absence of women in church and society who have responsibilities such as the structure and teachings of a patriarch.
Her life is an example of courage and determination for women’s rights. A struggle to transform society that focused on ensuring basic rights for women, from education to freedom from oppression. The fundamental right to education is a fundamental right under Article 21A, which states that the state is responsible for providing education to all children aged six to 14 years. This prospect resulted in the number of female students in higher education institutions increasing by 32 per cent, from 1.57 crores in 2014-15 to 2.07 crores in 2021-22.
From a middle-class family
Jessie Tellis-Nayak was born into a Middle class family in Mangalore, Karnataka. She was the first in her family to use Nayak along with the Portuguese surname to emphasize her tradition. In the academic field, she trained abroad to fulfill her dream on her own terms and resist marriage. She completed her master’s degree and doctorate in social work at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. While in the country, she worked with marginalized people in shacks and participated in protests for Black people for their basic human dignity.
Source: Daijiworld
Her return to India came after listening to a speech at Lincoln Hall in which Martin Luther King delivered his iconic lines “I Have a Dream” while refusing to accept the lucrative job offers in the US. In 1965, she got a job at the Delhi-based Indian Social Institute, where she worked primarily with tribal communities from several states. Later, an organization called Vikas Maitri was created to focus on development programs supported by professionals from the tribal communities. In this program she found that the representation of women at the planning and decision-making level in development bodies is lower. This representation could be enabled through opportunities, moral support and necessary skills for their development work to highlight women’s potential.
It was 1975 when Jessie Tellis-Nayak was appointed Director of the Women’s Development Unit at the Indian Social Institute (ISI); a program called Grihini training program was launched, which gained nationwide fame. The aim of this program was to provide education to illiterate girls who did not receive basic education due to poverty and family problems. In addition to organizational community and welfare support for women, Tellis-Nayak has published 16 books and several research articles. There are books written by co-authors and the most notable are Emerging Christian Woman, On Legal Bondage, Women in Church and Society and Indian Women Forge Ahead.
Her return to her birthplace came in 1982 when a group of committed women from the Catholic community founded the Women’s Institute for New Awakening (WINA). The aim is to create awareness of the situation of women and to promote feminist theology. This toil led to the establishment of contacts with other women’s groups, the establishment of libraries for women to read, and the introduction of a newsletter to disseminate information about the situation of women under WINA Vani. Their initiative impacted some cities like Bengaluru, Mangalore and Mumbai.
Their efforts were recognized at international conferences, for example at the 1970 Asian Conference in Tokyo on the topic “The church and development‘ elected them as delegates. Meetings were organized in Rome and a colloquium in Belgium, which she attended, including the women’s conference in Nairobi, Kenya. She also participated as a contact person in workshops for rural women in Manila (Philippines) and Bali (Thailand).
Decision of the protagonist
Jessie’s first work was divided into two parts, working with the Indian Social Institute (ISI) in Delhi. One part was about women in India and the second part focused on women in the church. Her article celebrates the efforts of women who not only manage the household and take care of everyone, including their in-laws, but also actively engage in agriculture along with their spouses.
Source: Daijiworld
A single woman’s enduring purpose of not joining a religious order or secular institute or choosing not to marry is revered. She was constantly told by a priest that she should get married, and one day she answered in exasperation, “You respect my calling, and I will respect yours.” Later, the priest never pursued her again.
A Pune-based organization, Ishavani, supported Jessie Tellis-Nayak and her co-editors. Her task was to contact women known for their advocacy and collect their testimonies and views into a manuscript. The title of the book was “The Emerging Christian Woman – Church and Society,” which seemed conservative; Her contributors used words like feminism and feminist liberally.
Jessie has written 14 ways for women to raise their consciousness using new organizing approaches and new types of programs development workers. She argued that an activist approach was needed to advocate for rights and redress grievances, which emerged from the 1982 survey conducted by Caritas India. She also emphasized the importance of women as participants of the Church in the implementation of development projects.
The late 70s and early 80s changed women’s lives as part of the feminist movement. The efforts of activists like Jessie Tellis-Nayak have changed policies for women.
