In the Mahabharata, the wife of the Pandavas, Draupadi had to face all forms of inequality. This shows that women were treated lower than men. The ideal mindset of the society was to make the girl-child marry at a very young age. However, this state of affairs was weird and different as, on one hand, the daughters had the right to choose their husbands and on the other, they had to perform the practice of Sati. The British era brought various changes and improvements in this context as, in the West, women were treated equally and on par with men.
In 1848, Savitribai Phule became the first woman educator in India. This gave women the courage that they can get out of the clutches of various forms. With the freedom struggle going on, women’s empowerment was the most important agenda for various social reformers and freedom fighters. Here are three women who are making a different in the present day.
1. Gayathri Devi
(Tamil Nadu) –
Gayathiri Devi always creates a friendly rapport with the people she meets and that makes her more approachable to the girls in their teens. She has made many awareness programs promoting mensural hygiene, balancing life between studies and sexual attraction. She has helped girl build up confidence and make them face life with stronger ideas and thus empowering them to make wonders in their life. ‘WALL OF KINDNESS’ is concept introduced on the birthday of president Gayathiri Devi Balaji, by Rotary Club of Erode, where people can give their things which are rarely used or things that they need no more to the people who are badly in need of those things. These included books, dresses for girl children, etc through wall of kindness. The wall of kindness went viral in all the social media’s and was covered by media. This project is an ongoing project and has helped people even during the pandemic times. Nearly 20,000+ women have benefited by this project. The “Wall of Kindness” project is a space at the nominee’s shop in a local bazaar. Some 5,000 donations of books, dresses and materials have been donated to benefit 8,000 impoverished girls. An estimated $3,000 has been donated.
2. Prathibha Arun
(Karnataka)-
Prathibha Arun founder of “Team Prayathna” firmly believes in the bright future of every underprivileged girl child. She believes to build a healthy society in the future, a girl child plays a pivotal role as a daughter, mother, sister, teacher, etc. She works for poor girls to give equal opportunity to express oneself and thrive to become a stronger individual. Prathibha Arun finds government schools and orphanages to serve this underprivileged girl child who are facing financial, sociological, and psychological challenges. She believes in building a strong support system to uplift them. She is a strong lady with a vision for better tomorrow and works on the ground to achieve the same by teaching life skills for every girl child. Through her program ‘Akshara’, 35,000 notebook were distributed to poor students, enabling them to take notes and study at their own time as well as submitting the assignment given by school teachers regularly. As seen, there was a difficulty for the purchase of notebooks by these poor students. Hence decided to take up this project for free supply of notebooks. This was led by Rotary Club of Shimoga.
3. Nalini Nanjundayya
(Bangalore) –
Education is key for empowerment. The girls who have received education in this school are showing interest for further studies. Rotary Club of Bangalore 3190 is assisting in giving scholarship facilities to girls and enabling them to become independent to assist their families. This in-turn helps elevate quality of life of their families. Girls are also showing assertiveness, decisiveness, and independent thinking. During the pandemic, with the provision of smart phones, their education was continued through e-learning/ remote learning facilities. Nutritious food was provided through mid-day meals to improve their health. Education on menstrual hygiene was given so that they are still able to attend school during that time. They were exposed to musical performances from British group Tocatta which could be inspirational to choose future careers worldwide. Most important is that these girls take the learnings back to their families and indirectly, their mothers are also empowered.
