Commemorating Women’s History Month! Tune in to our latest podcast episode where four South Asian women come together to discuss misogynistic behaviors and attitudes that we women face every day. From overtly offensive behaviors to subtle, normalized attitudes, we delve into the spectrum of experiences women face daily. Join us in identifying and confronting misogynistic attitudes and behaviors. Together, let’s explore strategies for dismantling this toxic culture and envision a future where...

Are South Asian youth comfortable sharing their dating experiences with their parents? Do they receive enough guidance and support from their families in understanding the concept of healthy partner relationships? To discuss these questions we invited 3 South Asian youth community members. Hajra Usman, Sid Barathi, and Nidhi Satyagal joined us to shed light on the unique challenges South Asian youth face when navigating conversations about dating and relationships with their families. They...

Female genital cutting/ mutilation has been recognized as a human rights violation by the World Health Organization. This topic is highly controversial due to its roots in cultural and religious practices so we should have multiple conversations to have community awareness around it. To discuss how we can end this oppressive practice and bring positive social change, we invited Mariya Taher, the co-founder and U.S. Executive Director of Sahiyo. Listen to this episode...

Mariam Azimi, a survivor with her courage and resilience not only paved her future with safety and dignity, but also gave support, guidance, and emotional confidence to many survivors that they needed after suffering from domestic violence. Mariam has been working relentlessly to break the stigma of divorce. In this Maitri podcast episode, Mariam shares her journey and hope. Mariam Azimi is the founder of Care2Elevate.space and established CircleofsiSTARhood...

We invited Yasmin Azad, the author of Stay, Daughter on our podcast to talk about her experience and reflection on the dilemmas that Muslim women faced and are facing in balancing the rules of orthodox Islam with the freedom and innovations of the modern world. Fahria Khan, our Donor Engagement Manage had an in-depth conversation with the author. Please listen to the episode here! Yasmin Azad grew up in Sri Lanka and was among the first group of girls in her Muslim community to go away from...

In this episode, Flavia Agnes joined us to share her journey from a survivor to a trailblazer. Flavia Agnes is a women’s rights advocate, legal scholar, and one of the central figures of the women’s movement in India. Her own experience with domestic violence inspired her to become a women's rights lawyer. As co-founder of MAJLIS, a legal and cultural resource center in Mumbai, India, her primary engagement has been to provide quality legal services to women and children. **About Flavia...

In this episode we discussed inter-generational cultural conflicts that many South Asian parents and teens face. Three South Asian teens, Tara Sardana, Alina Shah and Kaushal Namuduri shared their thoughts on how this cultural conflict can be damaging for individual, family and community well-being. If you are a parent or a teen, then you must listen to this episode to learn what can be done to reduce and end intergenerational cultural conflict. Please share this episode with your network....

Did you know that between 2000 and 2018, an astonishing 23,588 children were married in California alone? This sparks the question as to why it continues and who opposes the reform initiatives. In 2023, SB404 was introduced by lawmakers to prohibit marriages before the age of 18; however, it was changed to only make it a misdemeanor to arrange non-legally recognized child marriages without actually ending child marriages in California. Passing the Senate, SB404 awaits a vote in the Assembly...

Marital rape has been a crime in all 50 States in the US since 1993. The current California criminal code makes no distinction between rape by a stranger and an intimate partner or spouse. The non-consensual sexual relations within a marriage are subject to the same penalty and consequences resulting in registration in the sex offenders’ list among others. As an agency primarily serving immigrant survivors from South Asia, it has posed and continues to pose a unique challenge for Maitri in...

While men have always played an important role in shaping public policies and community awareness in many areas, domestic violence prevention often remains ignored within this group. How do we engage South Asian men in the movement? Maitri's long time advocate Zakia Afrin sits down with S Suresh, a past member of Maitri leadership and outgoing Board member in the Statewide organization CPEDV to discuss men in the DV prevention movement, his passion for social justice and writing novels in...

Immigration status based on marital relationships often creates barriers for a victim and survivor of domestic violence to address the abuse. Yet there are rights and resources available for individuals in those situations and many opportunities to advocate for policies focused on immigration reform. In this episode, we hear about Maitri's immigration assistance program observing its 12 years in existence and important lessons learnt throughout the process. This project was made possible by...

A shift is taking place in our community as the stigma that has always surrounded mental health is beginning to fade. RCoz is providing a platform in normalizing our conversations around mental health. Many community members are sharing their stories openly to let others know that it is necessary to take care of our emotional wellbeing. Listen to this podcast to know why people are talking about mental health, what they are sharing and how RCoz is helping. Please visit Rcoz.us to find many...

In this podcast South Asian youth are talking about different stress factors that impact their mental health, how they need support from their families, community and system to take care of their emotional well being and community's role in breaking the stigma associated with help seeking. After listening please take this short quiz to help improve our podcast! https://shorturl.at/mzQ03 Resources: National Alliance on Mental Illness: https://nami.org Community Health Awareness Council...

Listen to this powerful narrative from Shamita Das Dasgupta about the South Asian Gender Justice Movement. In the seventies and eighties, South Asian women across the nation started addressing feminism that was different from white feminism where issues faced by immigrant women were raised. This momentum led to the growth of the South Asian gender justice movement which impacted South Asian survivors, advocates, communities, and the larger society. Please listen to this episode to learn about...

This month, the Maitri podcast was able to bring on four UCLA students to discuss what a healthy partner relationship means to Gen- Z. What does a healthy relationship look like for young college students? What do they expect from their partners? All of this and more is discussed during this months episode of Between Friends.  This project was made possible by funding provided by the County of Santa Clara Office of Gender-Based Violence Prevention. [www.sccendviolence.org] #EndDV,...

Maitri joined South Asian SOAR in a remembrance campaign to honor and remember 10 beautiful souls who we lost to disturbing acts of gender-based violence in 2022. And we are dedicating our first episode of the new year to show our grief and frustration toward these senseless acts of gender based violence. Representatives from South Asian SOAR  joined us in the discussion. This episode is our effort to keep our community members engaged as we continue to discuss on how we can prevent gender...

Sharing a powerful story of a survivor. She suffered violence and abuse inflicted by someone she loved and trusted. Her life has been a continuous struggle during and after the abuse yet she didn’t give up. She turned her pain into purpose and started a new journey to find her peace. #SurvivorSpeaks, #MaitriPodcast, #EndDV This project was made possible by funding provided by the County of Santa Clara Office of Gender-Based Violence Prevention. [www.sccendviolence.org] --- Send in a...

South Asian youth are doing their part in breaking the stigma associated with mental health. In this episode students are discussing some common issues that can affect emotional wellbeing of community youth, how generational and cultural gaps can impact their mental health and what can be done to uphold the message that our mental health is too precious to risk. To find resources and information please Visit: nami.org/Home, MannMukti.org, www.humecenter.org. Sutter health.org....

PurpLE Health Foundation, a non-profit transforming healthcare for survivors of gender-based violence through comprehensive healthcare, research, and economic opportunity. A wonderful initiative from health care professionals in treating women who have endured intimate partner violence, sexual assault and human trafficking. Dr. Anita Ravi, the CEO and co-founder of this nonprofit shared her experience and hope on our podcast. Know about the PurpLE Health Foundation: ...

Archaic expectations in a marriage, playing to reasoning fallacies like "appeal to tradition," enforcing strict gender roles, these and some other similar narratives can be used as justification for perpetrating domestic abuse. These abusive tactics can be particularly hard to prove as they border on emotional abuse and can be damaging to a victim's psyche.    In this podcast, we are joined by long term California resident Ganesh Gigamani who is a social observer and lends his voice to bring...

The stigma of divorce in South Asian communities is real. Divorce is viewed as a failure for women. In this episode, we're joined by Neha Gill form Apna Ghar (www.apnaghar.org/) and Kavita Mehra from Sakhi for South Asian Women (www.sakhi.org/) to discuss the impact of divorce, its stigma within the South Asian community and community’s role in destigmatizing divorce. We all can play a key role. Let’s recognize our own biases that patriarchal culture engraved in our minds and start the...

Reproductive coercion can be used as a control mechanism against survivors of domestic violence. In this episode advocates from Maitri, Daya Houston and Rakhsha Inc. are sharing their experiences working with survivors facing reproductive coercion, how the recent Supreme Court decision on overturning Roe v Wade can add more problems for these survivors and organizational strategies to educate community members about women’s reproductive rights. This project was made possible by funding...

A Maitri podcast with Rennu Dhillon, an entrepreneur, educator, motivational speaker and author. Rennu suffered domestic violence yet she didn’t give up, with her courage, dignity and hard work she has rebuilt her life. Listen to Rennu’s unbelievable life journey. www.maitri.org | 1-888-8MAITRI @maitribayarea: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn This project was made possible by funding provided by the County of Santa Clara Office of Gender-Based Violence...

In this episode Dr. Preet Kaur Sabharwal and Dr. Sheetal Siledar-Lee discussed the stigma associated with mental health in South Asian communities. Also, they talked about what can harm the emotional well being of South Asian youth and elderly populations and what they can do about it.  #maitri #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/maitribayarea/message