Katherine Sreedhar, executive director of the Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program, spoke to students, community members and faculty in Filene Auditorium on Thursday evening as part of the Tucker Foundation's Social Justice Lecture series.
Sreedhar's speech, titled "Empowering the Oppressed: Women, Dalits and Tribals in India," highlighted the struggles of poor women and criticized the shortcomings of local governments and international organizations, urging students to be the change they want to see in the world.
The speech began with a vignette about an impoverished, young, illiterate woman, who was able to turn her life around through the support of UUHIP and its affliates. Sreedhar focused on the plights suffered by women "untouchables," or Dalits, the lowest members of India's caste system.
"In the [Indian] social order," Sreedhar said, "man is superior to a woman."
Next she turned her attention to India's constitution, local governments and "powerful elite." Though she recognized the recent efforts made by India's government and international organizations at combatting poverty, Sreedhar said corruption plagued the process.
"When I first went to India in 1962, criminals used to buy influence. Now criminals are in politics," she said, noting that many members of parliament are the subjects of criminal allegations.
Sreedhar also criticized the lopsided justice system, where she said trials take 10 years.
Sreedhar condemned what she saw as the unfair distribution of wealth in India's economy.
"Conventional economic development does not lead to a decrease in poverty," she said. "India's fastest growing sector is not IT, it is inequality."
Sreedhar stressed the importance of change from the bottom up and identified UUIH as an organization that supports such efforts.
Based on the intensity of the question-and-answer session, students seemed enlightened by Sreedhar's message. Some students, however, attributed the large crowd of students in attendance to academic obligation rather than genuine interest.
"Judging from the number of students with notebooks and pencils, I'd say that most of them are here for their English classes," Maria Castilla '09 said. "Sometimes that's what it takes for awareness about such important issues to be raised."
