The thought has been there a long time. Every time they looked a woman up — a woman belonging to Kerala and had contributed to the society she lived in, in a big or small way. Every time, they found nothing documented — even in the vast internet which boasts of having something of everything. Parvathi Devi gives an anecdote to explain this. She had once taken up an assignment to write about freedom fighter Accamma Cherian. She took her friend Suja Susan George along and they were disappointed to find hardly any memorial, barring an unused bus shelter covered with weeds, in her hometown Kanjirappally. Stories like that inspired PSC member and writer Parvathi to join two of her friends — Suja, Malayalam Mission Director and Suneetha Balakrishnan, editor and translator — and begin Womenpoint, an online platform that will document the lives of all women who contributed to Kerala, as biographies, news pieces and discussions.
Exactly a month after the launch, the three busy women finally found time to come together again and sip lime juice at Suneetha’s brick house in Thiruvananthapuram. “It is difficult for all of us to be at one place together,” says Suneetha. Parvathi has just come from Kochi last night. Suja, who was to go to Kottayam, is luckily staying back for the week.
You can watch the easy friendship between these three, when they laugh together silly. Parvathi’s and Suneetha’s friendship go back a long way, to the time when one was five and the other, seven. Suja and Parvathi got close through their involvement in the Left movement, cultural activities and the Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP). The two of them had planned to bring out a women’s newspaper to cover news that the mainstream media ignored. “The stories that come are also rarely positive. It becomes a victim-only space. But there are so many positive contributions women have made — it could even be small successes, which are largely ignored,” Parvathi says. But the newspaper didn’t materialise.
So then two years ago, the three of them began to work on the idea of Womenpoint. Every positive contribution began getting written about, every ignored bit explored. “In the Sooryanelli case (rape), several media wrote it was the problem of the girl and her mother, then sensationlised it. The family’s real issues, as getting alienated from society and religion, were neglected,” Suja says.
They found examples everywhere of women who did much and didn’t get known. Anna Mani, the first woman scientist, Mary Poonen Lukose, the first woman surgeon general, even Lalithakambika Antharjanam, famous writer and social reformer, had little written on them. “For all of these to reach the younger generation, going digital was the best way,” Suja says. She is managing the interactive part of the website. “We call it Vatta Mesha (Round Table). There will be discussions and debates on several issues. We realise that few women have access to internet. So we will also include participants over phone calls, or use their written comments.”
Suneetha will manage the documentation. “The mainstream is always about what happens to women, not what they make happen. They should be on focus,” she says. They are bringing to one point the contributions made by women of Kerala. “How many people know Pattom Saraswathi, senior Kathaprasangam artiste? Even famous names like Parassala Ponnammal have little documented on them.” They will not only document biographies, but audio and videography, so there are records of their voice, pictures of their face.
They have decided to include a Helpdesk too, with all details of emergency numbers, short stay homes, and other details. “If you have a problem and you don’t know how to solve it, send it to us, and we will direct you to the right place, to how or where you should proceed,” Parvathi says. She manages the news part. “We pick up what appear as small pieces of news and sometimes find larger stories there. Like P.V. Sindhu, is now the second highest paid endorser from the sports world in India, after Virat Kohli.” A girl — Vijayalakshmy — does the reporting. There are columns too, with contributions from writers like Saradakutty Teacher. Saasvaap Techies does the website management. Parvathi, Suneetha and Suja have big plans for Womenpoint — to add a Youngpoint for young people, a gallery of photos of women at work and to introduce a book market, for books by women.
