Blog

Social justice

Social justice as an idea is embedded in our acknowledgement of the deprivation, exploitation, and marginalisation of large populations. It underscores the obligation of humanity worldwide to respond to and correct this injustice. Social Justice welds together the goals of social development and human rights. Read more

हस्तकला क्षेत्र मे महिला शिल्पियों की सम्मानजनक पहचान जरूरी

प्राचीन काल से हस्तशिल्प कला हमारे संस्कृति और हुनर की पहचान को बनाने का एक अहम् हिस्सा रही है। हस्तकला की लोकप्रियता दूर दूर तक है चाहे वो विदेश हो या यहाँ अपने देश मे। हस्तकला क्षेत्र में हस्तशिल्पियों की महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका रही है, और उनका हस्तकला को आगे बढ़ाने मे योगदान और उसके प्रति उनका समर्पण बहुत ही सराहनीय है। किसी भी कला मे उकेरी गयी आकृति हो या उनमे मन मोह लेने वाले रंग, सभी मे कला और रचनात्मिक्ता है। Read more

ENTRELEADERS - Reshaping Women’s Economic Leadership

This blog draws from the inspiring engagement I have had with four ENTRELEADERS - Bujji Pallepogu from Somavaram, Kirti Vartha from Palghar, Raina Roy, Subharthi Mukherjee from Kolkata, and Rehana Molla from Sundarban. Read more

Women for Women is the need of the hour

Let us remember, celebrate and resolve to lift each other as women because it is only when women rise together we can truly claim a world of equality Priya Paul Chairperson - Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels & Co-Founding Director of WFI (SAWF IN) Read more

Funding gender equality and women’s rights: From intent to action

While we have come a long way already, donors need more humility, introspection and internal transformation before claiming to be credible partners for gender equality and women’s rights.  Subhalakshmi Nandi Independent Consultant (Gender equality, women’s rights and sustainable development) Read more

Journey to my inspiration

They were leading simple rural lives, yet the passion inside them burned so deep that they projected the power to transform society from its core Debdatta Purkayastha Supporter- Feminist Movement @WFI (SAWF IN) Read more

Women for Women

Women for women can be a global phenomena and a very local day-to-day happening as well. Something which you might have noticed everyday but couldn't acknowledge in its entirety Pooja Sanghavi Supporter- Feminist Movement @WFI (SAWF IN) Read more

SAFE SPACE for other women TO BE

Women belong in places where decisions are being made- It shouldn’t be that the women are the exception Sunanda Rangarajan Head of CSR, Omega Healthcare Read more

Women in Power

My identity as a woman percolates all aspects of my existence – a mother, colleague, sister, wife, community member, leader, and so on Deepa Misra Capability lead AMEA; Mondelēz International Read more

Showing up in a feminist way

I think of the innumerable times I have drawn strength from women’s collectives and groups I have been part of and marvel at the bonds we built across lines of language, caste and class Anuradha Rajan Executive Director - WFI (SAWF IN) Read more

Sisterhood” is an incredibly powerful word when women redefine their societal roles, solidifying their identities

Both my children have been taught to respect all those who help us in our daily lives, like my domestic workers, and they care for them like family. These are certain values that I’ve learned from childhood and have passed on to my children. Suvena Bansal Marar Business Head - Affordable LAP U GRO Capital Read more

The power of sorority

There are no limits to what a woman can achieve when she sets her heart to it, and when empowered women empower other women, there is a ripple effect in terms of a strong, conscious, enabling community. Salon-I is a living testament to this Sagarika Bose Lead CSR, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd Read more

A deep relationship is practising solidarity every day

हम अक्सर राहत पहुँचाने का 'रास्ता' ढूंढते हैं, कभी कभी लोगों के साथ बस 'उस रास्ते' पे होना ही लोगों के लिए राहत का काम करता है. बदले में हमें दिल के गहराईयों तक राहत दे जाता है. मसला बस उस रास्ते को तय करने का है. मयूरी/Mayuri Supporter- Feminist Movement Read more

Women For Women

Where I stand today, I cannot be grateful enough for all the women who contributed towards my well-being on both professional and personal fronts.The responsibility to give back and provide the same support or even more that was offered to you. To recognise that women have to be the biggest agency for other women. - Shruti Goel, Director-Impact Measurement and Management- Upaya social ventures Read more

Recognising the link between Perceived Safety and Economic Choices

The question we need to foreground and reflect on is - What impact this constant fear of violence (both within and outside homes) has on women and girls’ decisions regarding higher education, aspirations and career choices?- Alifya Loharchalwala, Strategic Initiatives Lead, Gray Matters Capital Read more

What is required of the Donor Community to advance a women’s rights agenda

Grants narrowly focused on few strategies to prevent or address GBV to the exclusion of a more comprehensive understanding of women’s lived realities may miss how changes in different spheres can work together to empower women. Feminist organisations shouldn’t have to demonstrate why they work on so many different fronts which touch upon women’s lives and not have a narrow specialized focus of work. The funding community need to be able to make flexible funding available so that organisations can tailor their programs to their particular contexts, of which they are the experts- Amita Pitre, Oxfam International Read more

Building women’s access to justice paves the way for their economic agency

The system for dealing with complaints must be robust and should inspire confidence in all parties. That is the key to ensuring that as and when women face sexual harassment, they have the trust and confidence to raise their voices and seek redressal as per law. This needs to be a fair, sensitive, unbiased, non-judgemental, time-bound and confidential process.- Adv. Anubha Rastogi Read more

Mitigating VAW: attempts to improve formal interventions for prevention

VAW manifests itself in the public as well as within private spaces. While incidents of violence in public spaces intimidate women and act as barriers for women’s mobility and accessibility of such spaces including workspaces, domestic violence or violence in private spaces are often manifested in deteriorating mental and physical health of women and children within the household in addition to acting as barriers in mobility. The triggers to VAW are often linked to exercising control and power of women’s bodies but recent data by NFHS also reveals that as women earn, violence is triggered to gain access to women’s earnings.- Sona Mitra, Principal Economist, IWWAGE and Preethi Rao, Associate Director, Lead at Krea University Read more

Philanthropic efforts to end violence against women have to address root causes

We need a conscious shift from the approach of using a band-aid where surgery is required. Fundamental questions need to be raised regarding power, privilege and patriarchy. The philanthropic community needs to finance and persevere with efforts towards a change in social relations, while acknowledging that this is a slow and complex process.- Shipra Jha, Gender and Development Specialist (She/Her), UNICEF India Read more

Role of critical thinking in realizing gender equality

‘In my own efforts at implementing programs in the past, I have had a chance to see how activities within the school setting normalize gender-based roles...Thus any effort to bring parity of gender in textbooks can lose its edge or capacity to spur critical thinking unless the teachers make a conscious effort at bringing attention to the social structure which continues to dominate the sense of what is normal.- Ujjwal Banerjee, Senior Programme Manager, Education, HT Parekh Foundation Read more

Catalysing Philanthropy for Gender Justice

Traditionally, funding for social justice-related work in India has come from foreign sources, but this has also been gradually drying up. The need of the hour is two-fold. Firstly, there is a need for more funding for advancing gender justice and human rights. Secondly, there is a need to focus on ‘how’ funders are unpacking the root causes of discrimination and violence and how they are empowering those who are living that reality.- Urvi Shriram, Lead, Centre of Philanthropy for Social Justice, Indian School of Development Management (ISDM) Read more

Strengthening philanthropic action against gender-based violence

As a key supporter of SAWF IN’s one-of-a-kind Legal Fellowship Programme I am convinced that strengthening women lawyers working at primary courts and equipping them with Feminist Lawyering skills are necessary to make justice truly accessible to women survivors of violence.- Priya Paul, Founding Director, SAWF IN Read more

Building women's economic agency as a route to addressing gender-based violence

While gender-based violence has economic consequences, is the reverse true? Does improving women’s economic empowerment/ access to resources reduce their vulnerability to violence?  The evidence base is unsurprisingly pretty mixed, given we are speaking about norms and systems of power that are deeply gendered.-  Yamini Atmavilas, President (Strategy & Research), The Udaiti Foundation Read more

Because ending violence against women is about claiming resources

As we raise our collective voice against the shadow pandemic of domestic violence, we have to recognise the need to marshal measures that build women’s self-confidence and awareness but also enable women to claim resources that consolidate this consciousness-raising. Among these resources, economic resilience building is known to play a very crucial role in enabling women to navigate the choices they have to make in the face of abuse. Read more

Strengthening Trans person rights through environmental justice- Raina (Dhiman) Roy

“As a transgender human rights and environmental justice defender, I feel it is very important to do justice with the environment at a time when we face ecological crisis,” says Raina (Dhiman) Roy. Know more about how this vocal activist of transgender rights is empowering the transgender waste collector’s community in Kolkata. Read more