Bhopal victims fight pays off
2004-04-19 11:06
San Francisco - It took an epic lethal disaster in India some 20 years ago to free Rashida Bee and other women of Bhopal to change the world.
The 48-year-old Goldman Environmental Prize winner wore a deep purple-and-teal sari and gold parasol earrings as she spoke of her life and how the "Burdah" tradition prevented her from beginning her fight against corporate greed in the vigour of her youth.
Bee was seven when her family masked her in the "veil" of the Burdah and hid from the eyes of men outside her home. She was wed in an arranged marriage at 13-years-old.
Before a toxic gas leak at a Union Carbide chemical company pesticide plant in Bhopal killed thousands of her neighbours in December 1984, Bee was illiterate and her vision of life confined to her home.
"I knew nothing of the world outside until the day of the disaster," Bee explained. "It changed my life drastically.
Her husband died. Her father began coughing up blood. With no men of the household working, there was no money for food.
To deal with the crisis, Bee's Muslim family decided to defy tradition and let her seek a paying job.
"I went to work and met so many other women in the same situation I was in," Bee said. "Many had debts because of the disaster. Almost all faced starvation because the men could not work. I realised it was not just me; I wasn't the only one."
One of those women, Champa Devi Shukla, became a cherished friend. The women's characters complemented one another.
Shukla's way was one of organisation and laconic perseverance to get things done. Bee preferred to think of "the big picture" and had a penchant for oratory.
Shukla, a Hindu, and Bee formed a partnership despite being of differing religions that have a history of clashing in India.
The women worked together at a stationery factory, where they established an independent labour union in 1986 to fight for improved pay and workplace conditions.
Shukla blames the chemical leak for the death of her husband; the loss of her health, and the deformity her grandchild was born with.