Feminist counselling and its methodology

Abstract

Counselling as commonly practised in Gujarat's Family Counselling Centres puts family at the centre of the counsellor's concerns. 'Family has to be saved' was the motto and so all efforts were directed towards that. In a dispute (i.e. a case) brought to the centre the parties were asked to arrive at a compromise. The husband was asked not to batter his wife and the wife was advised to be careful about serving him so that he was not annoyed. In the process largely the woman was asked to improve her behaviour, the husband was asked to promise that he would not torture her. Once the compromise was arrived at the parties went home, some counsellors followed up some couples for some time. Ms. Charumati Yodha, who initiated the system of rescuing tortured wives and restoring them to the family after getting promises from the in-laws, was full of remorse about
the process during the last months of her life. She kept saying that the promises were not kept and the wives committed suicide soon after.