India’s Women Leaders: Empowering Communities, Inspiring Change

For India to reach its highest potential, significant and sustained investments in women and girls are essential. While gender disparities have existed for generations, the combined efforts of government, businesses, philanthropy, and grassroots movements in women's leadership are paving the way towards a more equitable future for India.

हम | When Women Lead, a book released earlier this year from UN Women India, supported by the Ford Foundation, explores this momentum and introduces us to 75 remarkable women who are transforming their communities and beyond. Their leadership stands as an example of the potential across India, a country that is home to 300 million women ages 18-35 and has over a million women in local governance roles. This book calls us to imagine what is possible when women have greater access to education, economic opportunities, and financial resources. It was developed by an all-women team of nine writers, three photographers, and the noted writer and noted Indian feminist writer and publisher Urvashi Butalia, who edited the book.

"The question is no longer about 'Why women leaders?'" writes Reshma Anand, Ford Foundation's regional director for India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, in हम | When Women Lead. "It's time to ask instead, 'How can we support India's vibrant women leaders?'"

The book highlights the multifaceted nature of women's leadership across India. The stories shed light on the innovative solutions borne of local needs and contexts, and how these women used inclusive decision-making approaches to amplify underrepresented voices and drive sustainable development. As noted in its pages, women in leadership positions often consider factors beyond personal gains to build more resilient communities. They recognize that empathetic decision-making and conflict-resolution tactics uplift everyone in their communities, paving the way for future generations of women leaders.

"India has undergone a transformative journey in recognizing the pivotal role of women in development, and this book stands as a testament to the significant strides we have made," Amitabh Kant, India's G20 sherpa and the former chief executive officer of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), wrote in a letter accompanying the book. "The narratives woven within these pages resonate with the impact of transformative policies, initiatives, and programs championed by the government to empower women across diverse sectors."

Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, shared similar zeal at the book's launch at a United Nations Commission on the Status of Women event. "A concerted effort to galvanize India's vibrant base of women leaders at the frontline will be the country's unique advantage to contribute to sustainable development goals," he said. "I hope this book enthuses and excites those with the resources, the policies, and the platforms to partner and unlock India's gender dividend."

Now, meet some of the amazing women featured in हम | When Women Lead.

Archana Mane

Swati Kamble, UN Women

Archana Mane is a member of the board of directors of Manjari Sakhi Producer Company, a women-led farming group working to develop a sustainable and fair value chain in Marathwada, Maharashtra, where she grew up.

The only child in her family to receive any formal education, she put herself through university as an adult and mother. After graduating, she became an entrepreneur, farmer, and community leader. When a four-year drought hit Marathwada, Mane played a key role in promoting drought-resistant agriculture, led her village in building water-harvesting structures, fought for local women's financial independence, helped start small businesses, and advocated for water conservation.
"When one woman breaks barriers and sets out on her journey, she inspires others to do so, too," she told the authors of हम | When Women Lead.

Dr. Gayatri Swahar

Krithika Sriram, UN Women

"The patriarchy is astoundingly high in agriculture," said Bengaluru-based industrial sociologist Dr. Gayatri Swahar. "A village woman is conditioned to feel that it's wrong to be paid more than a man, even if she's earned it."

Dr. Swahar's story started with the launch of her food start-up, Y-Cook, which partnered with an initial 13 local farmers to create a sustainable supply chain. By the time the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she'd begun exporting to 12 countries, but supply chain disruptions ground business to a halt. She pivoted and took an Indian Administrative Fellowship with the Karnataka state government to bring start-up culture into its agriculture sector.

She also began to mentor CEOs of Farmer Produce Organizations (FPOs) on marketing skills and global agricultural practices. Many of the farmers she worked with in her new position were women, but few had any decision-making power. She worked hard to change this, mentoring women CEOs on how to stay their ground in a male-dominated society and helping found a women-led FPO collective.

"Given half a chance, women can do so much," she said.

Kumari Girls

Ruhani Kaur, UN Women

Dipika, Priti, Rani, Aparna, Usha, and Puja Kumari were 18-year-old high school students when Cyclone Yaas devastated Odisha and West Bengal in May 2021-only a year after electricity cuts during the pandemic had forced many students like them to miss classes.

Motivated to address the problems they and other villagers faced regularly when their electricity went out, the teenagers underwent extensive training as solar panel installation technicians, began to manufacture and repair LED bulbs, and studied electrical repairing skills through a vocational training program. Together, they invented a solar-powered charger for mobile phones made largely of waste materials: The tripod comes from discarded pipes, and the switchboard and batteries are recycled.

"So many of our friends are already married. Girls in our village seldom have a choice; parents get them married as soon as they finish the 9th or 10th grade because they can't support them," the Kumari women-who named themselves "the Tech Giants"-said. "We're not going to be like this. We've learned these skills so we can be financially independent, and we hope to open up a different path for other girls in our village."

Jhulan Goswami

Paromita Chatterjee, UN Women

"I want young women in India not to fear pressure and to seek their passion as if their lives depended on it," said Jhulan Goswami, a retired international cricket player.

Goswami, who is celebrated in India as one of the most important women to ever play the male-dominated sport, grew up in the village of Chakdaha in a remote area of West Bengal. Her parents weren't keen on her pursuing cricket, but her coach convinced them to let her for two years. At the age of 15, she began traveling to Kolkata, about 70 kilometers away, for practice three days a week. She made her international debut at 19 and played for more than 20 years, including for the India women's national cricket team.

Today, she mentors, scouts, and sponsors cricket training and education for girls from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Drishana Kalita

Sahiba Chawdhary, UN Women

Drishana Kalita founded Puppet People, a group that uses the regional art of folk puppetry to raise awareness about issues including early marriage, girls' education, gender equality, sanitation, menstruation, and gender-based violence.

"I saw a fair amount of gender violence in my childhood, which troubled me," Kalita said."I also noticed that traditional puppetry was becoming almost extinct. I felt like I could do something that combined both."

Puppet People, based in Assam, works with women writers to develop scripts, with a focus on reimagining the misogyny in folk stories as well as working with local communities to tackle inequality and encourage dialogues of change. The organization created the first-ever puppet show in the Sadri language, which is spoken by the state's tea tribes. The use of their language encouraged the community to take part in conversations on issues including teenage pregnancy and human trafficking.

Sandhya Gupta

Mithila Jariwala, UN Women

"I've often been one of the very few women wherever I've gone," said Sandhya Gupta, the founder of Aavishkaar, an organization dedicated to STEM education. "It didn't discourage me; instead, I saw it as an opportunity."

Gupta trained initially as an engineer, earned a doctorate, and studied again for a masters in public affairs from the Humphrey Institute in Minneapolis. Then, determined to make a difference in the lives of women and girls, she returned to India and began working with organizations dedicated to girls' education.

She found that there were many more girls than boys in public educational settings, and that many of the girls expressed that they were intimidated by math. She founded Aavishkaar in order to create pathways for girls to enter STEM fields and address math anxiety among students. Today, Aaviskhaar has trained hundreds of women to become skilled math educators.

"Dream and pursue your dreams," Gupta said. "Nothing can stop you if you believe in yourself."

Photo credits:
Archana Mane: Swati Kamble, UN Women - Gayatri Swahar: Krithika Sriram, UN Women - Kumari Girls: Ruhani Kaur, UN Women - Jhulan Goswami: Paromita Chatterjee, UN Women - Drishana Kalita: Sahiba Chawdhary, UN Women - Sandhya Gupta: Mithila Jariwala, UN Women

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