We wanted to focus on real issues faced by women and politicize ourselves, and society around us... Read more

About Sakhi

Mission and Vision

Sakhi for South Asian Women is a community-based organization in the New York metropolitan area committed to ending violence against women of South Asian origin. Recognizing oppression based on class, immigration status, religion, and sexual orientation, we work to empower women, particularly survivors of domestic violence. Sakhi strives to create a voice and safe environment for all South Asian women through outreach, advocacy, leadership development, and organizing.

Founded in 1989 by a group of five South Asian women from diverse professional fields such as banking, film, law, and public health, Sakhi, meaning “women friend,” was created to fill a critical need—in spite of an abundance of religious and cultural centers, professional associations, and ethnic-specific groups within New York’s large South Asian immigrant population, there was no place for women to address the silenced subject of domestic violence.

Sakhi structured its programming to follow a two-pronged approach in addressing domestic violence within the South Asian community:

1. We create a safe place with support, friendship, and a full range of culturally-sensitive, language-specific information, services, and advocacy to South Asian women facing abuse in their lives; and,
2. We work to inform, actively engage, and mobilize the South Asian community in the movement to end violence against women forever.

After 18 years of working with and being an integral part of our community, we at Sakhi know that in order for families to be healthy and happy, violence, and oppression must be eliminated at the heart and root of our communities. We know that community members themselves must be aware of and participate in the dialogue in order for true and sustainable change to occur. Our vision of a society without domestic violence lies within the community’s ability to take ownership in the fight to end violence against women.