Manorama has dedicated her life to battling a host of interconnected issues related to oppressions arising from
caste,
gender and
class hierarchies. Among the issues she has fought for are the rights of domestic workers and the unorganised labour sector, slum dwellers, Dalits, and for the empowerment of marginalised women. She works at both the grassroots level as well as focuses on mass mobilisation and advocacy at the international level.
Positions held Manorama is an integral part of many organisations working for the rights of Dalits, women, slum dwellers, and the unorganised sector. Some of these are: • General Secretary,
Women's Voice Karnataka – Founded in 1985, it works for the rights of women slum dwellers and the unorganised sector. • President,
National Alliance of Women – This was set up following the
Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing in 1995 with the aim of monitoring government performance on its responsibilities to women. • Joint Secretary,
Christian Dalit Liberation Movement – Formed in the 1980s, this movement sought to mobilise Dalit Christians for reservations in public appointments and educational institutions. • Secretary,
Karnataka State Slum Dwellers Federation – This organisation educates & mobilises slum dwellers to fight for their rights. • Secretary, Organisation Building at the
National Centre for Labour – This is the apex organisation for unorganised labour in India and is involved in the lobbying and drafting the Social Security Bill for the welfare and rights of 394 million unorganised labour in India. • President,
National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW) – In 1993, Ruth helped organise a public hearing on Violence Against Dalit Women, which led to the creation of NFDW in 1995. It is a special platform to address the unique violence and discrimination faced by Dalit women, especially in rural areas and slums She is also a part of several international collectives and organisations such as: • Core Group MembPolier,
Asian Women's Human Rights Council – an Asian network of women involved in human rights work. • Member, Advisory Group Of The
International Women’s Rights Action Watch (Asia Pacific) – this group supports and facilitates advocacy campaigns for women's rights • Co-Convener,
International Lobby & Advocacy for Dalit Human Rights – In 1998, on the 50th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this campaign was founded to re-iterate that Dalit rights are human rights, and created a national signature campaign with 2.5 million signatures to root out casteism in India. Within India, she is also a member of the
Karnataka State Planning Board, the
State Commission for Women, the
Task Force on Women's Empowerment of the Government of India and a number of other state and national bodies.
Activism In the 1980s and 1990s, Manorama led processions of over 150,000 people to protest against
Operation Demolition by the State Government of Karnataka, which was a forced eviction campaign. She and other activists demanded protection for those to be evicted and the right to live legally and with dignity. On behalf of the slum dwellers, Manorama fought court cases at the High Court and the Supreme Court of India against this move by the Karnataka administration. Manorama also established the first trade union in the country in 1987 for domestic workers in Bengaluru and strove for inclusion in the Minimum Wages. Manorama has worked to mobilise the underprivileged from a grass-root levels since the 1980s. In more than 120 slums, she has been responsible for the mobilisation, training and empowerment of women to deal with the discrimination and violence that they face and to take leadership within their communities. Ruth is also committed to the cause of emancipation of Dalits. She has participated in several struggles against human rights violations, for land rights and for the cause of Dalit women and contributed immensely to the
mainstreaming of Dalit issues. ''“Dalit women in India are the Dalits among Dalits and suffer from three-fold oppression — on account of gender as a result of patriarchy, caste ‘the untouchable', and class — as they hail from the poorest and most marginalised communities. Eighty per cent of Scheduled Castes live in rural areas, are dependent on wage employment and have to contend with high rates of under employment which results in greater incidence of poverty,”'' said Ruth forcefully in an interview with The Hindu.
Politics Manorama has been vocal of her opinion that women should be more involved in politics. In a panel about 'Dalit Women in Politics: Past, Present, and Future', organised by
All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch and The Blue Club, she talked about the shortage of dalits, particularly women, who participated in politics. She spoke about the patriarchy that is so rampant in Indian politics so most women who entered politics was through nepotism and were simply used as a false token of equality in parliament. In the
2014 Indian general election, she was named as the
Janata Dal (Secular) candidate from
Bangalore South (Lok Sabha constituency) which constitutes fairly upper-class and literate voters. She campaigned on her live long dream of seeing a safe, corruption-free, and inclusive society. She gained 2.30% of the vote share. == Nominations and awards ==