Shahjehan Aapa

Shahjehan Aapa (1936 – September 8, 2013) was a women’s rights activist from India. After one of her daughters was murdered in a dowry death, Aapa was inspired to start a life of feminist activism, working alongside other Indian women and mothers to combat dowry murders, redress, and sexism in India. In 1987, Shahjehan Aapa co-founded the organization Shakti Shalini, which, centered in New Delhi, works to combat gender-based violence and provide support to thousands of Indian women.

Her life's work has been detailed by the University of Michigan's Global Feminisms Project, a series of oral history interviews with feminist activists and organizers.

Early life and education Shahjehan Aapa’s birth parents were killed during the 1947 Partition of India when she was 11 years old. Along with her sister, she grew up in a rural, impoverished neighborhood in Mathura, India with a foster family. Her foster parents allowed her to attend Madarsa, a religious Muslim primary school where she received a basic education on the Koran and Urdu.

At age 14, she was married against her will to the son of her foster parents. She completed the majority of the household’s agrarian and domestic labor, including tending to the buffalo and cows on their property. In total, she had seven sons and two daughters with her husband before leaving the marriage. The overwhelming grief she experienced, in combination with the failures of the justice system, encouraged her to step out of the domestic sphere and enter feminist organizing, specifically focused on mitigating domestic violence. The NGO was named after Shahjehan's work in a memorable case of a woman from Rajasthan named Shanti, who had been thrown off the third floor of a building by her partner. Shahjehan's investment in this case was so profound that she missed her own hearing, causing her personal case to be terminated. The group began by campaigning for legislation to protect victims of domestic violence, demanding institutional adjustments. However, the focal point of the organization's advocacy quickly developed more generally into ensuring proper housing for women, educating exploited women, and promoting gender equality. The group organizes jobs for women as they finish schooling, or helps them prepare for their exams if they are still in school (many in secondary school or college). The NGO continues to stay in touch with the women for years after their initial job placement, even aiding the children of these women and offering educational courses or shelter to them, when necessary. These courses are not only academically beneficial, but also contain feminist ideology to promote independence. Some women are brought to Shakti Shalini who don’t want to work, so the NGO also arranges marriages to appropriate families. The organization receives government grants for food and shelter, and donations specifically for education, to fund its operations. According to their website, Shakti Shalini has aided over 15,000+ individuals over the course of 36 years, with the organization having placements in at least 5 marginalized communities within New Delhi.