India: A Nation Wakes Up to Violence Against Women

March 26, 2013 | Spiegel Online

Carl Gierstorfer

In Dharavi, a Mumbai slum, sex selection begins before birth. Girls aged six and under are in the minority. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

Selvis's baby is only a few weeks old. Had it been up to her father, she would not be here today. Born a girl, she was born flawed. Space for women is limited in the patriarchy of Indian society. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

Nearly a million people from all over India are living in Dharavi. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

There is very little daylight in the narrow alleys of Dharavi. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

Nayreen Daruwalla and her team from SNEHA, an organization that combats violence against women and children. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

Sunita, 25, lives with her family in Dharavi and works as a volunteer for SNEHA, a charity active in combating violence against women and children. At 14, she was pressured by her mother into marriage with an older man, an alcoholic. To escape this fate, Sunita ran away with the boy next door. She knew for this dishonor that she'd no longer be desirable to the older man. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

For Nitya, 36, it's a real concern that girls are coerced into marriage at 15 or 16 years old. Their bodies are not ready for sex or childbirth. "The girls are unprepared for what awaits them with these men." she says. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

Sunita (right) meets regularly with a group of women in Dharavi. Thanks to the educational work of many charities in Mumbai's largest slum, the women meet frequently to talk about their problems and discuss domestic violence. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

Dharavi is Mumbai's largest slum. People have come together here from all over India. Movers, shakers, untouchables and Brahmins, for whom former villages would be just a speck on the map next to this mega-city. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

Indian boys are brought into society as little princes. Sunita rallies against it, but she too suffered through childhood at the hands of her mother. At home, her sons are expected to help in much the same way as her daughters. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

Dharavi is a microcosm of Indian society in just two square kilometers. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

The slum is a major production site for textiles and leather. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

A residential and commercial street in Dharavi. Image by Carl Gierstorfer. India, 2013.

Editor's note: This gallery of photographs by Pulitzer Center grantee Carl Gierstorfer originally appeared in Der Spiegel under an assumed name for security reasons. Captions were translated to English by Katherine Doyle.

In India, where female fetuses are aborted by the thousands, violence percolates all through a woman's life. These images were taken in Dhavari, a Mumbai slum, where oppression is so commonplace that it frequently goes unnoticed. Follow this link to view the original story and photo gallery in Der Spiegel (In German).