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10 Inspiring Women In Indian Cinema

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Indian women have excelled in the last few decades. No matter which field, Indian women have shown that they can surpass and outshone their counterparts.

Hindi cinema, also referred to as Bollywood, is part of the largest film production in the world. In the last century and this one, Bollywood has produced several show stopping actresses.

Leena Kundnani compiles a list of 10 inspiring women in Indian cinema. 

  • 1. Hema Malini

Also known as the “Dream Girl”, Hema Malini is the iconic, power woman. She is well known for her Hindi films, perhaps the most iconic one being Sholay. She is also remembered as a trendsetter, being one of the first actresses to wear bell bottoms and shirts in Hindi movies.

Hema Malini

Hema Malini is not only an actress but also a producer and a renowned Bharata Natyam dancer and choreographer. Born on 16th October 1948, she was born in the Tamil-speaking Chakravarthy household on in Ammankudi, Tamil Nadu. Her father was V.S.R. Chakravarthy and her mom, Jaya, was a film producer.

Jaya had performed as a dancer in a 1961 regional movie. However she was rejected by a Tamil Director, in the year 1964. However, Hema didn’t give up and eventually debuted opposite legendary showman, Raj Kapoor in ‘Sapnon Ka Saudagar‘ just 4 years after her rejection.

Hema has, since then, starred in nearly 155 movies; produced and directed two movies, and also directed a TV serial ‘Noopur‘. These days she is actively engaged in politics as well.

  • 2. Madhuri Dixit

Madhuri Dixit is perhaps one of the most inspirational and gorgeous female icon Bollywood has ever produced. Born as ‘Madhuri Shankar Dixit’ on 15th May 1967, in Mumbai, Maharashtra, she initially planned to become a microbiologist and attained her Bachelors Degree in Microbiology. While studying, she also trained as a Kathak dancer.

Madhuri shot to fame in the 80’s and 90’s. An all-time favorite, the beautiful actress is best known as the “Dancing Queen of Bollywood”. Besides being an excellent dancer, Madhuri is also a very talented actress who can play different roles with equal ease.

In recognition of her great talent, Dixit has won several Filmfare Awards for Best Actress. She holds the record for the highest number of Best Actress nominations at Filmfare. She also bagged the award for the Most Inspirational Bollywood Icon at the 3rd Annual Bradford Inspirational Women’s Award in the UK.

In 2008, she was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award by the Government of India. Not only is she talented but she also supports various charities such as Goodwill, Sotheby, and Emeralds for Elephants. She is married to Dr. Nene and shuffles between the USA and India.

Madhuri_&_Sridevi

  • 3. Sridevi

Sridevi hails from Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu, and was born to Ayyapan and Rajeswari on 13 August 1963. She started her career as a child actor in the 1967 in a Tamil movie, ‘Kandhan Karunai‘.

She also starred as a child actress in a Telugu movie ‘Bangarakka‘ in 1977, and in a Malyalam movie ‘Kumara Sambhavan‘ in 1969. She is regarded as one of the greatest and most popular actresses of Hindi Cinema. She is also often cited as “The First Female Superstar of the Indian Cinema”.

She has acted in a diverse range of movies and has an impressive 63 Hindi movies, 62 Telugu movies, 58 Tamil movies and 21 Malyalam movies between the years 1967 through to 2007. She was the only actor, perhaps, who was able to say no to films with Amitabh Bachchan and yet come up trumps.

Besides the big screen, Sridevi has also made her presence felt on the small screen when she appeared in the TV series ‘Malini Iyer‘. She also judged a TV show ‘Kaboom‘ as well as appeared in numerous print and TV ads. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Asian Academy of Film & Television.

Sridevi got married to producer Boney Kapoor, Anil Kapoor’s older brother, on June 2, 1996 and they are now proud parents of two daughters, Jhanvi and Khushi.

  • 4. Sharmila Tagore

Sharmila Tagore is an iconic Bollywood Actress. She was born a Hindu on 8 December 1946, and later converted when she got married to Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.

Sharmila shot to fame when she starred with Shammi Kapoor in 1964 in the movie Kashmir Ki Kali. She has several more hits under her belt such as An Evening in Paris (1967), again with Shammi.

Sharmila Tagore

That was the first appearance of an Indian actress in a bikini, and it not only shocked conservative Indian audiences but also set off a new trend of more Indian actresses, such as Zeenat Aman and Dimple, shedding their inhibition and appearing in bikinis.

Sharmila is the proud winner of the National Film Awards and Filmfare Awards for her performances. She was also part of the Indian Film Censor Board from October 2004 till March 2011.

  • 5. Rekha

Rekha was born on 10 October 1954 in Chennai to Tamil actor, Gemini Ganesan, and Telugu actress, Pushpavalli. Having acted in over 180 films in a career spanning over 40 years, Rekha has also done several arthouse films and played the role of strong female characters.

Rekha in Umrao Jaan

Her portrayal of a classical courtesan in Umrao Jaan (1981) is still remembered and also won her the National Film Award for Best Actress. She is also known for her role in Khubsoorat (1980), Khoon Bhari Maang (1988) and Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996).

  • 6. Madhubala

Madhubala was born as Mumtaz Jahan Begum Dehlavi in New Delhi, on 14 February 1933. She hailed from a conservative Muslim family and was the fifth child among eleven children. She was regarded as one of the most beautiful film stars and is sometimes still considered as someone with unparalleled beauty.

Madhubala in Mughal e Azam

She shot to fame with the movie Mahal, and later starred in several successful movies in the 1950s and early 1960s. It was the film Mughal-e-Azam that marked what many consider to be her greatest and definitive characterization as the doomed courtesan Anarkali.

Madhubala became one of the most sought-after actresses in India, and also attracted attention from Hollywood.

  • 7. Mumtaz

Mumtaz was born to Abdul Saleem Askari and Shadi Habib Agha on 31 July 1947 in Mumbai. She started her career as a child actress at the tender age of 12.

Mumtaz

Image: http://media.newindianexpress.com

She is best known for her roles in Tere Mere Sapne (1971) and Khilona (1970). She even bagged the Filmfare award for the Best Actress for Khilona.

Mumtaz acted in 108 films in a career that spanned 15 years till 1977. She married Mayur Madhvani on 29 May 1974, and they have two daughters, Natasha and Tanya.

  • 8. Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya learnt classical dance and music for five years during her teens. She also started modeling at a young age and was seen in several advertisements; some of the most popular ones being the garden sari and the Pepsi ad.

She narrowly missed being crowned Miss India and was crowned Miss World in 1994. She made her acting debut with the 1997 Tamil film, Iruvar. Her first Hindi film release was Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya, also in 1997.

Aishwarya Rai

Her first commercial success was the Tamil romantic drama, Jeans (1998), after which she received wider recognition and began her collaborations with the filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Devdas (2002).

She is quoted as being “The most beautiful woman in the world” and has been featured in “Time’s 100 most influential people in the world twice.” She is now married to Abhishek Bachchan and has a 4 year old daughter.

  • 9. Kajol

Kajol Mukherji was born on born 5 August 1974. Her father, Shomu Mukherjee, is from Bengal while her mother, Tanuja, is from Maharashtra. She has a younger sister, Tanisha Mukherjee who is also a Bollywood actress.

Image: https://zoramiss.wordpress.com

Image: https://zoramiss.wordpress.com

She made her acting debut with Bekhudi (1992), while she was still in school. She had her first commercial success with Baazigar (1993), opposite Shahrukh Khan.

As their screen chemistry was fabulous, she subsequently starred with Khan in several blockbusters such as Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001). Kajol starred with Sharukh in 5 movies, all of which were super hits. She won 6 Filmfare awards.

  • 10. Tabu

Tabu was born on 4 November 1971 as Tabassum Fatima Hashmi. Niece of veteran actress Shabana Azmi, Tabu spent her early years Hyderabad. She was known to study far too rigorously for her school exams.

This often worried her grandmother—a kindergarten teacher for 35 years who didn’t like children getting so stressed about studies. Says Tabu, “I always felt films were a big distraction. And all I wanted to do was stand first in class. And I could never achieve that, because there was always someone smarter.”

Tabu in The Namesake

Tabu is believed to have more than hundred nicknames such as Tabs, Tubs, Tubby, Tobler, and Toblerone. She has appeared in Hindi, English, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi and Bengali films.

Some of her most popular movies include Maachis (1996), Virasat (1997), Hu Tu Tu (1999), Astitva (2000), Chandni Bar (2001), Maqbool (2003), Cheeni Kum (2007), and Haider (2014). Life of Pi and The Namesake are some of her other well-acclaimed movies.

© Naaree.com


Emotional Stress Relief: 7 Tips for Healing

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Have you experienced trauma, upsetting emotions or overwhelming stress? Do you feel disconnected from people or emotionally numb a lot?

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The following 7 tips outline the main areas for beginning healing and recovery from the emotional stress in your life.

  • 1. Embrace Your Feelings

Rather than avoiding and pushing feelings away learn to hold and contain, like holding a baby in your arms, whatever pain you feel.

Be present with the sensations in your body without doing anything. Overtime the feelings will transform, without any effort.

See Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now.

  • 2. Examine Your Critical Self-Talk

Become consciousness of the negative things you say about yourself in your head, over and over.

Become aware of the related events, feelings, the critical self-talk.

Start reprogramming your subconscious mind with positive self-talk.

See Carolyn Ball, Claiming Your Self-Esteem.

  • 3. Begin Codependency Recovery

Become aware of how you give your power away for a temporary boost of self-esteem to feel better.

See Melodie Beattie, Codependent No More.

  • 4. Heal The Wounded Inner Child

We all carry wounds from our childhood, which still affect us.

Our inner child connects to our emotions. When the child heals, we heal.

See John Bradshaw, Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child.

  • 5. Heal The Unconscious Shadow

The negative parts of ourselves, which we avoid, remain buried where they continue adding to our suffering.

Our relationships and life situations mirror these parts back to us daily.

By bringing our shadow parts into the light of our awareness, they can heal and thereby reveal new strengths to us.

See Carl Jung’s writings on the Shadow.

  • 6. Conscious Choice

Choose to become aware of your resistances to life, to your unconscious reactions to say “No.”

Open to divine grace and miracles, which ease suffering like sunshine melting snow.

See Kandis Blakely, Your Body Remembers: A Conscious Choice to Live.

  • 7. Develop Your Strengths/Be Of Service In Your Life Purpose

When we follow our passion in service to others our personal sufferings fall away for we get out of ourselves.

When we rise above our personality selves, our sufferings fall away and grace can enter.

Dan Millman, The Life You Were Born to Live explains our life challenges and areas of service.

When will you start your healing for your emotional stress relief?

Michael David Lawrience is the author of Emotional Health: The Secret from Drama, Trauma, and Pain. His book provides ways for improving emotional health, easing pain and stress, healing physical and emotional abuse, and spiritual awakening. See book on Amazon http://ow.ly/zcTEo

 

Padmasree Warrior: Technologist And Woman Business Leader

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Padmasree Warrior is the former Chief Technology & Strategy Officer (CTO) of Cisco Systems and a woman achiever par excellence.

Padmasree_Warrior

Padmasree Warrior was born in a Telugu speaking family in the city of Vijayawada, which is located in the state of Andhra Pradesh, a state in southern India. Her early education was done in Vijayawada itself in the Children’s Montessori school called and Maris Stella College.

As she grew up she went to Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. She joined a Bachelor’s degree course in chemical engineering there. She then followed that up with a Masters in chemical engineering and received her degree from Cornell University.

In 1984, Padmasree joined Motorola and stayed with the company for 23 years. As she served the company she was appointed as Corporate Vice President. She also served as the general Manager of Motorola’s Energy Systems Group.

Not only this, she was also serving as Chief Technology officer and Corporate Vice president in Semiconductor Products Sector. In January 2003, she was named as Motorola’s CTO and by 2005 she was made executive vice president.

In 2004 while she was still with Motorola and working as its CTO, it was awarded National Medal of Technology. To present this award none other than the President of United States was called on to do the honours.

Ms Warrior is also known as the person behind “Seamless Mobility”. Although it was not received well by Motorola marketing presentations, she went on to criticize it in “Bits on my Edge”, her blog. Finally she had to leave Motorola and join Cisco Systems. In Cisco Systems she joined as its CTO.

She has many feathers in her cap. She was recognized by Fortune magazine, Forbes, The Economic Times. In 2001, Working Woman Magazine awarded her “Women Elevating Science and Technology” award. She was one of the six women chosen on an all India level.

In 2005, she received the honour of being named the eleventh Most Influential Global Indian by The Economic Times. She was also placed in the categories of “highest paid” and the “Young and Powerful” by Fortune Magazine. As of 2014, she is listed as the 71st most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.

Padmasree is married to Mohandas Warrior, and they have a son, Karna Warrior. She is also a Board member of Box, Joffrey Ballet and Museum of Science and Industry. She also serves on the boards of Chicago Mayor’s Technology Council, advisory council of Indian Institute of Technology and Cornell University Engineering Council.

In the past she was a member of Engineering of the National Science Foundation, Advisory Committee for the Computing and Information Science, the Technology Advisory Council for the FCC and the Texas Governor’s Council for Digital Economy.

From 2005 to 2008, she was on the Board of Directors for Corning Incorporated. She also joined Gap Inc Board of Directors in October 2013. As if that was not enough she is also contributing as a mentor in the State Department’s International Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership.

Ms. Warrior is an amazing role model to all women, and especially to Indian women. She has shown that it is possible for women to excel in the male-dominated field of technology.

© Naaree.com

Interview With Solo Woman Traveller, Ansoo Gupta

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Ansoo Gupta is a highly qualified marketing professional. She has been in the media industry for almost 15 years working with brands like Star TV, National Geographic Channel, The History Channel etc.

She is currently the COO of India’s largest digital marketing firm Pinstorm. In her marketing career, Ansoo has launched and nurtured many successful brands across various product categories.

She was awarded ‘Achiever of Excellence in Marketing’ by Bombay Management Association and Bhujbal Knowledge City in the year 2011.

Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management Alumni Association conferred a ‘Corporate Excellence’ award upon her in February 2013.

Ansoo studied Physics and Mathematics as her graduation subjects and is an MBA. She feels that her travels taught her more about life, people and planet than her institutional studies.

Ansoo started travelling independently almost 20 years back when travel information in India was not that readily available.

She used to research and plan her own itineraries for her solo travels to exotic locales as Mcleodganj in India, Great Barrier Reef in Australia etc all on her own. She always came back amazed and enriched and then encouraged her friends to go too.

She has now travelled to over 35 countries and managed to see some fantastic sights such as Northern Lights, Yee Peng etc. She also managed to take a four month long leave from a hectic TV job to go backpacking all over Europe.

Ansoo wants everyone to do that. And that is why she now conducts travel talks and travel workshops where she shares her secrets and tips about cheap, long, independent, budget travels.

She conducts these travel talks purely out of passion and with her mission of empowering as many people as possible with information and inspiration about exploring the whole world.

Her travel workshops called ‘Get Out!’ are regularly conducted all over the country and have already taken place in venues such as Kunzum Travel Café , Bombay Connect and TTF – India’s first and largest Travel & Trade Fair. Ansoo was recently invited to represent India at the WITx – Women Redefining Travel Conference held at Bangkok, Thailand.

Naaree.com caught up with her to learn more about her travel experiences and to glean some tips for independent Indian women who love to travel.

At what age did you realize you have been bitten by the travel bug? That travel was a passion for you?

I did my first solo travel at the age of 21 years. It was to Mcleodganj and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Mcleodganj was very different at that time. It didn’t look like a part of India at all and nobody used to go there. Only foreigners would come.

There was very little information available anywhere – there were no guidebooks and no internet. All I knew was that Dalai Lama chose to establish his government-in-exile there so I assumed that it will show me a glimpse of Tibet within India. So it was a mini-adventure to go there and that too alone!

Once I reached, it wasn’t as overwhelming. I met many people from all over the world, sampled food from Israel, Germany etc. I had stumbled upon a magical world on my own. And that experience set me on the path of independent travel to off-beat places all over the world.

I came back more confident, more knowledgeable and connected to the world around me. That is when I realised that travelling can transform you.

You spoke recently at the Web In Travel conference in Bangkok on how women are redefining travel. Could you share with us some of the highlights of your talk?

I was the only speaker from India at this conference which had travel professionals from all over Asia representing the biggest travel brand names in this part of the world. The conference focussed on both women as travellers and on women in the travel industry.

I represent both so I spoke both about my experiences as an independent woman traveller and also as a digital marketing specialist who has helped large travel brands like Taj hotels, Jet airways, Accor group of hotels connect better with their customers through the internet.


One of the questions I was asked was if I had any suggestions for airlines to improve their services for women. In my view it is not as if women need any special assistance as compared to men but as women we’d appreciate if the staff is more sensitive so we can give brownie points just on asking if everything is fine. :)

And of course everyone was keen to know about my independent backpacking experience. It amazed people that right after the conference, I was rushing off outside Bangkok to see the world’s most dangerous market, alone! But that’s my style of travel – I like to see off-beat sights.

I know that two of the factors that hold me back from traveling to more places are finance and safety. Do you think most women have similar issues when it comes to exercising their passion for travel? How would you suggest they address their limitations?

I would add one more limitation that most people quote as their reason to not travel as much as they’d like to and that is Lack-of-time. Each of these limitations are self-inflicted to some extent. If you truly do want to go out and see a place, you will work towards it.

So what is required is a deep desire to see something, to experience something. Then you need to research. The more you read and research, the more answers will come to you.

You might be able to see how to reduce costs and work within your budget, or you might be able to come across another traveller who also plans to go there.

By hooking up with him or her you might be able to reduce your financial and safety concerns both. So basically what I am saying is if you dream hard and think hard about your dream, you will be able to figure out what needs to be done to overcome what’s limiting you.

Ansoo-Gupta---Moscow-pic-with-mark

What sort of a traveler are you? Do you like being a minimalist backpacker or going the whole hog and enjoying luxury travel?

I am a modern-day backpacker. Which means, first of all, that I don’t travel with a backpack at all :) I travel with a small strolley with wheels. :)

I am a minimalist when it comes to travelling – I travel very light, I like to look for great deals and I never get in a crazy-rush to tick things off some to-see, to-do list. I like to get into the feel of the place so I try to do the things that locals do there.

Take public transport, go to supermarkets to sample their daily shopping rather than souvenir shopping and stay at small boutique hotels rather than large hotel-chains which look the same all over the world. This doesn’t necessarily take away from the luxury aspect but connects you better to the local rhythm of life.

Many people ask me in my travel workshops “How long does one need to stay in a place to feel like a local” and my answer is the sooner you start behaving like a local and not live in some bubble. You can achieve it in two days if you do it right or always live and feel like a tourist even after spending months in a place.

Do you prefer a specific type of destination, like beaches or mountains? Are you drawn to one type of destination more than others?

I spent many years in Delhi before I moved to Bombay. When I was in the Northern part of India I used to think I am a mountain person as my trips were more to mountains close by and even my backpacking trip to Europe was mostly in the mountainous towns, though I also went to some stunning beaches in Croatia and Greece.

After moving to Bombay, I feel I am becoming a beach person due to my frequent trips to Goa and other coastal places nearby. :) Thailand has always been one of my very favourite countries and it has both lovely mountains and gorgeous sea.

I really do love both! I also love the snow and the desert equally – they are all very beautiful!

My favourite part of the day is mornings and I love clicking pictures of all these places – mountains, beaches, snow, desert and even streets early in the morning. That’s something I really like.

How many continents have you covered in your travels and which destinations were the most memorable?

I have been to all continents except Antarctica and have covered more than 35 countries. But frankly I have never tried to keep a count or reach a certain number of countries that I have travelled to or any such book-keeping. :)

All my trips to new places are a distinct memory but some of my fondest memories are about the trip to see Northern Lights, my 4 months spent on the roads in Europe, my very first backpacking trip to Australia and then so many other trips with my partner and friend.

Describe your most memorable travel experience and your least enjoyable one.

Least enjoyable is easy : None. Even crisis situations, once they pass, look mild in hindsight and leave you with stories.

Some of my most memorable travel experiences are the ones which weren’t very planned. When my partner and I went to see the Yee Peng festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand some years back – there was very little information about it on the net.

No one knew the exact dates even. But we took a most-informed guess and landed there. The festival of a thousand lanterns in the sky was indeed the same weekend that we were there and it was the most gorgeous sight that I have experienced till date.


Similarly trips to see candy festival in Spain, visiting small villages just outside London, accidentally landing in the small , beautiful town of Paraty in Brazil and many more.

What suggestions would you give to women who enjoy travelling solo when it comes to exploring safely in India and abroad?

There’s no doubt that women feel more unsafe in India than in some other parts of the world but frankly accidents can happen anywhere and there are nasty men all over the world. An Indian woman who travels alone daily to work or to study in India is already somewhat trained in handling unwanted situations.

The ground rules are the same: Don’t attract unnecessary attention either through your behaviour or your attire. Dress like a traveller, not like a showpiece putting your valuables on display. And keep your innate women’s antenna up.

If something does happen, don’t worry being in a foreign land or not knowing the local language. The language of admonishing in a firm tone or screaming loudly for help is the same all over the world.

You have given talks on traveling on a budget. What are the most important lessons you would offer to women who love to travel but have financial constraints?

(i) Once you have finalised your destination, do a lot of research. You will be able to find cheap/ free places to stay and important information like what free activities can you do there, when are the museum entrances discounted or free etc. Similarly, research can help you save some money on airfares as well.

(ii) If you really do want to go your dream destination, save up. You won’t mind not spending too much on buying clothes, shoes, new mobile phone, jewellery, another handbag, fancy restaurant lunch etc, if it helps add to your fund to go see Great Barrier Reef in Australia!

(iii) Try to take long holidays – this way, you can maximize the airfare that you will spend to get to a place. So rather than taking 2 trips of 5 days each in a year, see if you can take 10 days at one go and explore more places.

(iv) Don’t get caught in the trap of wanting to travel just because everybody else is going. You go where you want to go, when you are ready to go. Till then, taking a day off and just sitting in a book shop flipping through travel books and making plans can also be a nice getaway!

What have you learned about yourself and about people during your travels?

I learnt more about myself when I travelled alone and I got to know my friends better when I travelled with them. I learnt that people are all different and yet all the same.

That there is immense kindness in the world. That politicians are scoundrels everywhere. That everyone all over the world is complaining about excessive consumerism and our abuse of nature; yet our leaders and politicians are evasive about the real issues.

That global-warming is a reality and our forests and glaciers are shrinking. That ours is a really beautiful planet and it will be very unfortunate if we waste it all!

About ‘Get Out!’

Ansoo Gupta, an expert at world-travel will share the secrets of long, cheap travel and stay abroad. After listening to her talk, you will be motivated to realize your dream of leaving your daily rut behind and hit the road to travel and see the whole world.

Her workshop can provide everything you need including the kick to start your travel planning. The participants from her prior workshops say that it is a wonderful experience and the workshop opened their eyes to a new way of travelling.

Travel has the potential of changing your life. If you feel that travelling to new and unknown places will broaden your mind more than any educational degree and will give you a growth and exposure that no job ever can, then you must attend this workshop.

If you want to backpack all over Europe, go on a Round-The-World trip, see the Northern Lights or do the Inca trail in Machu Picchu but can’t find the time and/or money or don’t know where to start, just come and listen to Ansoo Gupta’s experiences and get inspired to travel more.

Ansoo Gupta can be contacted on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Click here to download Ansoo Gupta’s Interview with Naaree.com

 

Hillary Clinton: Inspirational Leader And Astute Politician

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Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton or simply Hillary Clinton, is one of the most well-known women of our 21st century. She rose to prominence in 1993, when she became First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS), driving her husband, Bill Clinton through two terms as President.

Hillary is the firstborn child of Hugh Rodham, affluent and successful fabric store owner, and Dorothy Emma Howell. Hugh was a staunch Republican from Pennsylvania while Dorothy, a closet Democrat, had left her own dysfunctional home at the young age of 14, and worked as a nanny in her early years.

Hillary_Clinton_speaking_at_Families_USA

Hillary was born on October 26, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois, her other two siblings being Hugh E. Rodham, Jr. (born 1950) and Anthony Rodham (born 1954). Hilary says that her parents inculcated in her the importance of hard work, self-reliance, service to others, and a love of God and country.

As a young woman, Hillary often worked as a babysitter, both after school and during her vacation. She often took care of children of migrant Mexicans who came to Chicago for itinerant work. Hillary had also applied to NASA and was shocked when she learnt that girls weren’t accepted for the astronaut program.

Hillary then went on to attend Wellesley College, where she actively took part in student politics. She was elected as senior class president before she graduated in 1969. Hilary then went on to attend Yale Law School.

While in law school, Hillary met and fell in love with her future husband, Bill Clinton. In the spring of 1971, Hillary introduced herself to Bill Clinton, whom she had seen around the Yale campus. They shared a common interest in social justice and politics, and began, what would become, a lifelong relationship.

Hillary graduated from Yale in 1973, after which she enrolled at the Yale Child Study Center and completed one year of post-graduate study. Here she was involved in new research on early childhood brain development.

She was also actively engaged at the New Haven Hospital, where she took on cases of child abuse and the city Legal Services, providing free legal services to the poor. Once she graduated from law school, Hilary served as staff attorney for the Children’s Defense Fund in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 1974, when Bill returned to Arkansas to pursue his political career, Hillary decided to move to Washington to work as a member of the impeachment inquiry staff advising the House Committee on the Judiciary during the Watergate investigation.

However, unfortunately, with President Richard Nixon’s resignation later that year, Hillary’s job too, came to an end. At this juncture, Hillary made a life-defining decision to move to Fayetteville, Arkansas to be with Bill. It was here that they both taught at the University of Arkansas.

Bill and Hillary got married in 1975, in a small ceremony at their home. Just before Bill proposed to her, he had secretly purchased a small house in Fayetteville that Hillary had once remarked that she liked. Once Hillary accepted his proposal, Bill revealed to her that they owned the house. They lived here briefly, before relocating to the state capital of Little Rock, Arkansas, from which he conducted his first campaign, for U.S. Congress.

In 1979, Bill became governor of Arkansas, and in February of 1980, Hillary gave birth to their daughter Chelsea. In 1983 she was recognized as Arkansas Woman of the Year, and Arkansas Young Mother of the Year in 1984; in 1988 and ’91 she earned a spot on the National Law Journal’s list of the 100 most influential lawyers in America.

In 1993, the couple moved back to Washington when Bill was elected America’s 42nd president. Hillary was the first FLOTUS to have a postgraduate degree, her own professional career, and her own office in the West Wing of the White House. And she was the first since Eleanor Roosevelt to take on a prominent role in policy-making.

One year into marriage, Hillary joined the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Arkansas. A few years later, President Jimmy Carter invited her to join the board of the Legal Services Corporation in 1978. She holds the honor of being listed on the “The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” not once but twice.

As First Lady, Hillary successfully initiated the Children’s Health Insurance Program in 1997. This was a federal effort that provided state support for those children whose parents were not able to afford health coverage. She was also instrumental in increasing the research funding for illnesses such as prostate cancer and childhood asthma at the National Institute of Health.

As First Lady, she also gave voice to the illnesses that were affecting veterans of the Gulf War, with the possibility of their suffering the toxic side effects of the chemical “Agent Orange” used in warfare.

But Hillary’s life as FLOTUS was far from simple. The Clintons’ private life was marred by rumors and accusations around Bill’s extramarital affairs, culminating in the scandal that saw Bill Clinton impeached and which threatened to bring down his presidency. Bill had lied to his wife of 23 years, lied under oath to a grand jury, lied on national TV, and lied to his 18-year-old daughter.

Needless to say, the affair completely broke down Hilary. Pastry chef Roland Mesnier recalls doing whatever he could to help Hillary, saying that he often made Hillary’s favorite dessert, mocha cakes, during the height of the scandal.

He says, “Hillary would reportedly call the pastry shop in the late afternoons and say, in a “small, unassuming” voice, ‘Roland, can I have a mocha cake tonight?’”

The months following the affair were nightmarish for everyone. Bill Clinton would become the first sitting President to testify before a grand jury investigating his conduct and admit he’d had inappropriate relations with “that woman.”

The president paid for his indiscretions not just publicly, but at home as well. It is said that for three or four months, Hilary made Bill sleep on a sofa in a private study attached to their bedroom, on the second floor, rather than share the same bed.

But later, Hillary decided to stand by her husband, becoming one of his strongest supporters. In 1992, she defended him and their marriage in a notable and historic 60 Minutes interview, reaffirming her commitment to her marriage.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a swearing in ceremony to recreate her swearing in as Secretary of State at the State Department, Monday, February 2, 2009. Former President Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Vice President Biden and Secretary Clinton's mother, Dorothy Rodham were present for the ceremony. Original Filename: clinton202_007.JPG

Hillary decided to continue to stay with Bill and committed herself to her own political career, as well as Bill’s. Although she was criticized for not leaving her straying husband, Hillary was determined to making it work.

These famous Hillary Clinton quotes illustrate her mindset:

Forgiveness is a way of opening up the doors again and moving forward, whether it’s a personal life or a national life. ~ Hillary Clinton

In the Bible it says they asked Jesus how many times you should forgive, and he said 70 times 7. Well, I want you all to know that I’m keeping a chart. ~ Hillary Clinton

You don’t walk away if you love someone. You help the person. ~ Hillary Clinton

As per a survey in 1996 by non-partisan fact tank Pew Research Centre, the First Lady was often described as “strong, dishonest, intelligent’ to “strong, intelligent, brave, loyal and good” two years later after Bill’s confession, according to Hillary’s Choice.

By the time Bill was acquitted in 1999, Hillary was already making plans for her next phase, for the first time focusing on her own political career. After her husband’s service, Hilary followed her own political path and went on become the U.S. Senator of New York where she served two terms from 2001 to 2009.

In 2007, she announced her intentions of running for president for the 2008 presidential election. After losing the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama, she was appointed Secretary of State where she served the position from 2009 to the beginning of 2013.

In her recent memoir, Hard Choices, she offers an inside account of the crises, choices, and challenges she faced during her four years as America’s 67th Secretary of State, and how those experiences drive her view of the future.

Hillary Clinton is currently in the running for the 2016 Presidential election. In this endeavor, we wish her all the very best.

You can follow Hillary Clinton on Twitter at @HillaryClinton

Image source: Wikipedia and HillaryUnleashed

Naaree Interviews Vandana Shiva: Eco-Feminist And Radical Environmentalist

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By Swarnendu Biswas / Photos © 2010 Kartikey Shiva

She is a true radical. She has been one of the strongest voices in favour of organic agriculture and organic food on this ravaged planet, where natural resources are fast becoming depleted thanks to the unbridled greed of many large corporates.

Vandana Shiva

What is even more remarkable, is that she raised her voice at the height of the propaganda of the Green Revolution, exposing the myriad economic failures and human tragedies of chemical agriculture, when such opinions were not at all fashionable to voice, both in India and outside.

The Green Revolution, in her own fiery words, “have left a legacy of diseased soils, pest-infested crops, water-logged deserts, and indebted and discontented farmers in Punjab, within two decades of its spread.”

It takes tremendous resolve to swim against the popular current of public opinion with the objective to explore the truth behind the advertisements, and with a genuine concern to uplift a large part of humanity from the perpetual misery perpetrated by a cartel of powerful blocks, but she has managed to change the mindsets and lives of many along her way, spearheading an organic movement in the process.

Her humanism spruced with vast scholarship and revolutionary thought makes Dr. Vandana Shiva, a name, that today has the power to make many harmful pesticide and fertiliser manufacturers uncomfortable.

Vandana rightly believes that the continuous war of unbridled greed against the planet earth is bigger than the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. “The war against the earth has its roots in an economy which fails to respect ecological and ethical limits – limits to inequality, to injustice, to greed and to economic concentration,” she notes in her celebrated work titled ‘Making Peace With the Earth’.

And she is one of the few courageous proponents of enduring peace as an alternative to this ongoing war to deplete Planet Earth’s resources and decimate its fragile eco-system.

Over the last three decades, Vandana has fought a tireless battle to bring about potent changes in the practice and paradigms of agriculture and food, and made her enduring scholarly and activism imprints on the domains of intellectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics, and genetic engineering.

Apart from being one of the most important leaders of the organic movement in India, she has contributed to the grassroots organisations of the green movement in other countries of Asia, and also in Africa, Latin America, Austria, Switzerland, and Ireland, with campaigns against genetic engineering.

Beginnings of a Journey

Armed with a Phd. in ‘Hidden variables and locality in quantum theory,’ from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, Vandana was trained to become a physicist. But her urge to free our natural resources, and our toiling farmers, from the greed of multinationals, induced her to leave a promising career in academics, after successive tenures with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and IIM, Bangalore respectively.

Her fruitful experience with the Chipko movement, the famous non-violent forest conservation movement, in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttaranchal (a state that was once part of Uttar Pradesh) in the early 1970s, where activists hugged trees in order to prevent them from being felled by the contractors, gave a kick-start to her dormant conscience towards the environment and food security.

“My journey towards ecological sustainability began with the Chipko movement in the 1970s, when women and men in the region of the Himalayas protected forests by hugging trees,” she notes.

Later, her study on the environmental pitfalls of limestone mining around Mussorie, in the Doon valley, which was threatening to spoil the pristine beauty and environment of the area, induced a public interest litigation.

The public interest litigation was followed by a landmark Supreme Court judgement that eventually stopped limestone mining around Mussorie, in 1983. Seeing her scholarly study translating into tangible human welfare, Vandana was further encouraged to infuse her environmental conscience with scholarship and activism.

The environmental disaster originating from the Union Carbide India Limited’s pesticide plant – which sparked a colossal human tragedy in Bhopal – and the long-drawn violence of separatism in Punjab (which her research revealed to be influenced by huge ecological and political demands of the green revolution), eventually induced her to leave a glorious and secure academic career and charter a life amidst the turbulent waters of independent scholarship and environmental activism.

She began a new chapter in her life by founding the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in 1982, a participatory, public interest research organisation and that set the ball rolling. Over the years, studies by RFSTE have substantiated the ecological value of traditional farming, and played a crucial role in fighting anti-people development projects in India.

In 1991, she gave birth to Navdanya, a pioneering national movement with the objective of protecting the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seed, and the promotion of organic farming and fair trade.

Navdanya can also be construed as a sustained program of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, which, over the years, has acted to protect biodiversity, defend farmers’ rights and promote organic farming.

shiva 5Into Organic Farming

Organic farming is a form of agriculture that does not use or highly limits the use of manufactured fertilisers and pesticides, plant growth regulators such as hormones, food additives and genetically modified organisms. Here, pesticides, include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.

One can say that organic agriculture is a method of farming which primarily practices the cultivation of the land, and raises crops, by the use of organic wastes like crop, animal and farm wastes, aquatic wastes, and other biological materials along with beneficial microbes.

These materials release nutrients to crops, leading to sustainable agricultural production in an eco-friendly environment, without polluting influences. Organic farming relies on natural methods of pest control and helps to maintain the soil in good health for a long time.

According to Vandana, and many other proponents of the organic food movement, organic food is much healthier than artificial pesticide and fertiliser-influenced agricultural produce.

Simply put, organic farming involves crop rotation, use of green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain the productivity of the soil, and depends on a natural ecological cycle to keep the pests at bay.

According to the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, “Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved…”

Organic farming is not a novelty or a fashion in India, but has been a part of its agricultural legacy since millennia. However, since the advent of the Green Revolution, the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides has become rampant in Indian agriculture.

This has been largely to the detriment of the health of the soil, the health and financial health of the farmers, and also the health of the consumers of pesticide-laden agricultural products. The gainers have been the huge corporations, with the farmers and consumers being the losers.

An Earth Shifting Movement

Navdanya is one of the few powerful movements in the world in favour of organic farming, biodiversity and seed conservation. Navdanya is also a network of seed keepers and organic producers spread across 17 Indian states. It has also established 111 seed banks, which are spread across 17 states of the country.

For more than two decades, Navdanya has been tirelessly promoting biodiversity conservation, organic farming, the rights of farmers, and the process of seed saving.

“When I found global corporations wanted to patent seeds, crops or life forms, I started Navdanya to protect biodiversity, defend farmers’ rights and promote organic farming,” explains the visionary lady, adding, “Navdanya/RFSTE’s journey over the past two decades has taken us into creating markets for farmers and promoting tasty, healthy, high quality food for consumers.”

Navdanya has a primary membership of more than 70,000 farmer families spread across 17 states of India which include Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka among others.

In 2004, Navdanya also set up a learning center named Bija Vidyapeeth (School of the Seed), which is an international college for sustainable living, in collaboration with Schumacher College, U.K. This unique college was set up on Navdanya’s biodiversity conservation and organic farm, located in Doon Valley, Uttranchal.

Navdanya has its own seed bank and organic farm spread across 20 acres. Over the years, it has successfully conserved more than 5000 crop varieties which include 3000 varieties of rice, 95 varieties of wheat, 150 of kidney beans (rajma), 15 of millets and several varieties of pulses, vegetables, medicinal plants, etc.

Besides championing the ongoing organic food revolution, Navdanya is actively involved in infusing vitality into indigenous knowledge and culture. It has generated awareness and disseminated relevant information and knowledge on the hazards of genetic engineering, and has safeguarded people’s knowledge from biopiracy, and also defended food rights, which are continually being thwarted by globalisation and climate change.

The Human and Financial Cost

For pioneering scientist and environmentalist, Vandana Shiva, the right cure for our ailing planet is a shift from violent agriculture that is hugely dependent on pesticides and fertilisers and high-yielding seeds, to the sustainable, organic agriculture where nature is unhindered in providing food for its people.

She is one of the few fearless thought leaders of our times, who has the courage and the conviction to advocate putting the rights of Mother Earth and our future generations above ceaseless profit, and fight a constant battle against corporate control of the planet’s limited resources, despite shrill advertisements and manufactured news and research pointing to the contrary.

“About 75 percent of degradation of soils is due to influence of chemicals like fertilisers,” asserts Vandana, pointing out that agriculture with fertilisers or chemical agriculture requires 10 times more water than sustainable agriculture to produce the same amount of food, causing quicker depletion of our water resources. She wisely terms chemical or industrial agriculture as “thirsty agriculture.”

Vandana explains that, as a result of practicing the Green Revolution model of violent agriculture, which is water-intensive chemical farming, India has over-exploited her reservoir of groundwater, paving a situation of water famine in the process.

Moreover, the huge costs of pesticides involved in chemical agriculture have also burdened countless farmers with mammoth piles of debt, from which the only escape for some of them has been suicide. Ironically, many of the suicides are through consumption of pesticides. She notes in ‘Making Peace With the Earth’ that “Pesticides which had created debt also become the source of ending indebted lives.”

Those who escape suicide, may not necessarily escape cancer, as some pesticides can cause cancer too. “The legacy of the Green Revolution has made Punjab the toxic capital of India,” adds Vandana. She affirms that from Punjab to Bhopal pesticides have been responsible for ending thousands of lives.

One of the potentially lethal pesticides is endosulfan, which, according to Vandana, is a broad-spectrum organochlorine insecticide, which is acutely toxic and an endocrine disruptor.

The aerial spraying of this potentially lethal pesticide across 11 Panchyats of Kasaragod district in Kerala, on the cashew estates of the state-owned Plantation Corporation of Kerala for over two decades has led to the bone-chilling Kasaragod Tragedy, leaving 500 people dead, and 10,000 deformed.

Many newborn children of these areas were also born with diseases and/or deformities. Of course, the surrounding environment was also damaged to a great extent. Only recently has endosulfan has been banned nationally. Vandana laments that its global production is still about 9000 metric tonnes.

That is not all. Besides incurring huge cost in terms of natural resources and health, chemical agriculture contributes to the erosion of our biodiversity. “In fact, 75 percent of the destruction of our biodiversity is accounted for by chemical agriculture involving fertilisers and pesticides,” claims the scientist-environmentalist.

shiva 2Saving the Eco-system and Environment

“Industrial agriculture is shoving many species to extinction through its sustained application of toxic chemicals which are contributing towards the elimination of bees and butterflies, and also towards the elimination of our earthworms and other soil organisms that create soil fertility,” observes Vandana.

The role of bees, butterflies and earthworms in our eco-system cannot be overemphasised.

Bees and butterflies with their pollinating potential are responsible for the survival of the flowering plants, and, without them, agriculture, the food & beverage industry and in fact, the entire eco-system may collapse, and earthworms enhance soil fertility, without incurring any great cost.

We are indeed paying a huge price for our excessive dependence on farming with pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers. Vandana opines that agriculture, which is excessively dependent on manufactured pesticides, “decimates the beneficial living organisms in the soil, which include beneficial bacteria and earthworms.”

The fact that chemical agriculture promotes a monoculture of crops and prevents diversity of crop production is another grouse against its practice. “Many plant and animal varieties are dwindling as monocultures are fast replacing biodiversity,” Vandana elaborates.

She enlightens my limited knowledge when she informs me that, besides using huge quantities of non-renewable energy for producing food and its transport, industrial agriculture contributes to 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn destabilises agriculture by creating chaotic climatic conditions.

This eventually jeopardises our food security. And there is no denying the fact that one of the common causes behind droughts, floods and cyclones is climate change.

“Industrial agriculture facilitates climate change through the direct use of fossil fuels and the emission of carbon dioxide and also through the application of fossil fuel-based nitrogen fertilisers, which emit nitrogen oxide,” explains Vandana.

As I was letting all this information and the extent of environmental damage sink into my mind, she also casually imparts the shocking fact that nitrogen oxide happens to be 300 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide!

Benefits of the Organic Movement

On the other hand, she says, organic farming contributes to mitigation of climate change, through eliminating agri-chemicals like synthetic fertilisers, and sequestering carbon in soil. “In organic agriculture, water retention and the drainage capacity of the ecosystem are being increased and the threat of floods and droughts are lower,” states Vandana.

In fact, this pioneering scientist claims that bio-diversity-based organic farming systems can provide solutions to the three huge problems of climate crisis, food crisis and water crisis. You don’t need rocket science or an Einstein to realise that these three mammoth problems, if perpetuated with the same degree, can take the planet to extinction.

She explains to me how organic agriculture can contribute towards alleviating the water crisis of the planet. “Organic agriculture entails agricultural production based on water-prudent crops, it uses one-tenth of the water that the chemical agriculture requires for producing the same quantity of food, and thirdly, the increase in organic matter transforms the soil into a water reservoir, which lowers the demand for irrigation, and facilitates towards conservation of water in agriculture,” elaborates Vandana.

The Menace of GM Crops

Vandana is also very critical of the direction genetic engineering is taking in the field of agriculture. “Genetic engineering was supposed to provide an alternative to toxic chemicals, instead it has led to an increase in the use of pesticides and herbicides,” she cites in her book, noting that genetic engineering in agriculture is responsible for the creation of super pests and super weeds.

She believes that genetic engineering in agriculture decimates the resilience and metabolism of the plant, and infuses genes for generation or toleration of higher dosages of toxins.

“Time and again, people have been told that genetically modified crops will increase yields and thereby produce more food, control pests and weeds, and provide the farmers with drought-tolerant seeds, which will be resilient to climate change. But all these claims have proved to be false,” states the champion of the organic food movement.

She informs me that genetic engineering has not been successful in raising the yield of a single crop till date. “Navdanya’s research has unearthed that contrary to Monsanto’s claim of the Bt cotton’s yield of 1500 kg per acre, the reality is much more dismal. Its yield is an average of just 400-500 kg per acre,” states Vandana

Vandana notes that, though genetically engineered crops cannot feed the world, it can easily harm health. She cites biochemist Arpad Pusztai’s research that according to her, shows “the rats fed with GE potatoes developed enlarged pancreas, suffered shrunken brains and had damaged immunity.”

The recent French study that showed that mice who ate genetically modified corn sprayed with weed killer were more likely to develop tumors, organ damage and die early, has also raised concerns globally, with a number of nations now banning the use of GM corn.

According to Vandana, during the 20 long years of commercialisation of genetically engineered crops, only two facets have emerged on a significant scale. The GM crops are showing huge herbicide tolerance and insect resistance.

“In India, Bt cotton, which is sold under the trade name Bollgard, was supposed to check the bollworm. But on the contrary, the bollworm has become resistant to Bt cotton. Therefore now Monsanto is selling Bollgard II, which is laden with two additional toxic genes,” affirms Vandana sarcastically.

According to a report by 20 Indian, South-east Asian, African and Latin American food and conservation groups representing millions of people, genetic engineering has failed to increase the yield of any food crop, but has greatly increased the use of chemicals and the mushrooming of ‘superweeds.’

As expected, it was Vandana who co-ordinated this path-breaking report. Control of GM or genetically modified crops, in the hands of few corporate, has also lead to negative economic repercussions on farmers. In India, monopoly over cotton has caused mass suicides among farmers.

“The 1965-66 drought was used to push the Green Revolution, which has increased vulnerability to drought; the 2009 drought was similarly being used to push the second Green Revolution with GMO seeds and patents on seeds,” maintains Vandana in her book.

The fact remains that Monsanto, Dupont and Syngenta, the three largest GM seed companies on this planet, together accounts for approximately 70 percent of global seed sales. This enables them to own and sell GM seeds through channels of patents and intellectual property rights and thereby to charge farmers more. The study unequivocally accuses Monsanto of having control over 95 percent of the Indian cotton seed market and of hugely escalating the cotton prices.

“Monopoly over the cotton seed market and the introduction of genetically engineered Bt cotton has led to an epidemic of farmers’ suicides in the country,” Vandana explains. She believes that the genetic engineering model of agriculture undermines farmers who are trying ecologically sustainable agriculture, and states that, “There is no room for co-existence between GM and conventional crops.”

shiva 7Towards Seed Sovereignty

She expresses deep concern over the fact that the control of seed and food is being transferred from the hands of farmers and communities into the clutches of a handful of corporate giants, and continually translates her concern into proactive and tangible actions, addressed to the welfare of the farmers.

Guided by Vandana’s empowering, intellectual and uncompromising vision, Navdanya has not only facilitated in setting up community seed banks across the country, but has also trained over 500,000 farmers across the country in seed sovereignty, food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture, and helped set up the largest direct marketing, fair trade organic food network in the country.

She likes the fact that despite the cartel of pesticide producers, who work in connivance with the government, India still has myriad drought-resistant crops, some of which, according to her book, “are conserved in, and distributed from, Navdanya’s community seed banks which farmers used in the drought year of 2009.”

Since 1991, Navdanya has mobilised farmers through the Bija Satyagraha Movement, to keep the seed in the farmer’s hands, and to not cooperate with IPR laws that endeavour to make seed a corporate monopoly, and seed saving and seed sharing a crime. Bija Satyagraha is a grass-roots campaign on patent issues; an assertion to people’s rights to biodiversity. It thrives on a determination of not to co-operate with faulty IPR systems.

The Champion Campaigner

Vandana’s mission with Navdanya and RFTSE is not limited to its intellectual and economic dimensions. Her sagacious scholarship is amply complemented by her flaming activism, that is highlighted by several campaigns. Navdanya has led the national and international movement for biosafety and against the dangers of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture.

During the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial in 2005, Navdanya joined hands with 740 other organisations in presenting their opposition to the WTO’s attempt to undermine the right of individual countries, and also to take appropriate steps to protect their farmland, environment and consumers from the risks posed by GM foods and crops.

“Through Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), we have also filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court in 1999, against the US seed giant Monsanto and Indian authorities for the illegal and unauthorised introduction of GMOs in India through field trials of these crops, while bypassing and violating environmental laws, and without involving and informing the local authorities and the local public,” states Vandana.

Vandana’s campaign against biopiracy is world renowned. RFSTE/ Navdanya began its potent campaign against biopiracy with the famous neem campaign in 1994. The organisation managed to mobilise 1,00,000 signatures against neem patents and filed a legal opposition against the USDA and WR Grace patent on the fungicidal properties of neem (no. 436257 B1) in the European Patent Office (EPO), in Munich, Germany.

Along with RFSTE, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) of Germany and Magda Alvoet, former Green Member of the European Parliament were party to the challenge. The patent on neem was revoked in May 2000 and it was reconfirmed on 8th March 2005, when the EPO revoked, in entirety, the controversial patent.

In 1998, Navdanya started a campaign against Basmati biopiracy of a US company named RiceTec. On 14th Aug 2001, just a day before our 55th independence day, Vandana-led Navdanya notched another triumph over biopiracy and patent on life, when the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) revoked a large section of the patent on Indian Basmati rice by the US corporation RiceTec Inc.

Vandana led Navdanya to the next decisive victory against biopiracy in October 2004, when the European Patent Office in Munich revoked Monsanto’s patent on the Indian variety of wheat ‘Nap Hal.’ This was the third consecutive victory on the IPR front for Vandana, Navdanya and RFTSE, which helped Vandana emerge as the symbol of hope and courage for the marginalised and downtrodden, in the agricultural sector across the globe.

“Through the citizens’ actions, we have won three biopiracy battles and have thus contributed to the defense of farmers’ rights, indigenous knowledge and biodiversity,” claims Vandana modestly. It is a modest claim indeed, for it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that Navdanya has been one of the major forces that has been instrumental in sparking a global movement for the defense of the intellectual property rights of communities.

Due to the efforts of empowered minds like Vandana, organic farming and organic food are again gaining popularity in the Indian socio-cultural milieu. Though the popularity of organic food is still limited to the upper spectrum of Indian society, the day does not seem to be far when her genius and activism will make organic food a part of ordinary lifestyles too.

However, government subsidies towards organic agriculture are the need of the hour, which can make organic food reach common people with more affordable prices. Eventually, increased intake of organic food can not only lead to better health and well-being of the society, but can in the long-run uplift the financial condition of many marginal organic farmers (who become organic farmers by default, and not choice, as they cannot purchase artificial pesticides and fertilsers) in the country.

Her Other Voices

However, the indomitable humanism of Vandana is not only confined to the organic food movement. She is equally critical of the lopsided economic growth of India, and of the mindless and insensitive globalisation that is often supported by the government and the mainstream media in the country.

She debunks the popular myth that growth translates into prosperity for the majority. “While the Indian economy has grown, the majority of Indians have grown poorer, because, as a result of globalisation, they have lost their land and livelihoods,” affirms the thought leader in her book titled ‘Why Is Every 4th Indian Hungry?’ which has Kunwar Jalees as the co-author.

According to her, “Economic growth in India has gone hand in hand with growth in hunger. India is perceived as a potential economic power, but its impressive growth is based on large-scale take over of the land of tribals and peasants and massive destruction of livelihoods of millions engaged in agriculture, textiles and small scale industries. Poverty has increased, as the basic securities for the poor have been crushed by the forces of globalisation.”

For her ecology and feminism are inseparable. Diverse Women for Diversity is the gender programme of Navdanya which works at various levels, that is, at the local, national and global level. It was founded as a global campaign of women on biodiversity, cultural diversity and food security by Dr. Jean Grossholtz and Beth Burrows from the US, Dr. Christine von Weizsacker, Germany, and Dr. Vandana Shiva, India.

Diverse Women for Diversity brings women’s voices from the local and grassroots level to global fora and international negotiations. Its focus is biodiversity, food and water. It seeks to strengthen women’s grassroots movements and provide women with a common international platform.

Author of many acclaimed books, Vandana has won scores of prestigious awards and recognitions during her mission towards a better, healthier world. In 1993, Vandana won the Right Livelihood Award also known as the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize. In 2010, she was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize for her commitment to social justice.

However, like all genuine champions, she doesn’t believe in resting on her laurels. Neither does she let herself get bogged down by her international fame. As I was moving on, after a two-hour long invigorating session with one of the greatest minds of our times, I couldn’t help but be impressed by her unassuming persona.

Despite achieving a cult status she never did once let me feel my utter ordinariness, and patiently explained the concepts to my largely unreflective mind. I am sure the passion for a better world in her voice, and the twinkling of uncompromising intellect in her eyes would help us to guide towards a better, healthier and a more nurturing world in the years to come.

Quotes

“Shiva … has devoted her life to fighting for the rights of the ordinary people of India … her fierce intellect and her disarmingly friendly, accessible manner have made her a valuable advocate for people all over the developing world.”—Ms. Magazine.

“One of the world’s most prominent radical scientists.” —The Guardian.

“All of us who care about Planet Earth must be grateful to Vandana Shiva. Her voice is powerful, and she is not afraid to tackle those corporate giants that are polluting, degrading and ultimately destroying the natural world.” — Jane Goodall, the UN Messenger of Peace.

“Shiva is a burst of creative energy, an intellectual power.” — The Progressive.

© Naaree.com

Naaree Interviews Antarctic Explorer, Felicity Aston

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Whether you are a woman or a man, any great adventure must begin in the mind. Without immense mental power it is difficult to conquer the physical challenges that a truly great adventure entails.

A great adventure should make you conquer your own physical and mental limits and help you go beyond them. It is essentially an exploration of the self, and also of going beyond the self. In this process you become an even more potent, an even more evolved person than before.

Felicity Ashton 1

On one such great adventure concluded on the 23rd of January, 2012, a 34-year-old British adventurer and explorer from Kent, named Felicity Aston became the first woman in the world to ski solo across Antarctica.

Earlier a team comprising of female and male explorers did ski across Antarctica without kites or machines, but Aston has become the first person to do this solo.

She not only reached the superhuman limits of mental power and physical prowess to do what no human has done ever before, but also became the first person to ski across this icy continent without the help of kites or machines.

In doing so, she not only conquered Antarctica, but also her own limits and fears. We feature here, an account of her amazing journey and an interview with Ms Aston herself by reporter, Swarnendu Biswas.

Creating Her Story In Antarctica

It sounds unbelievable that she skied through 1084 miles of extreme cold and loneliness pulling two sledges carrying her supplies weighing 85 kg alone across Antarctica.

She hauled the two sledges around yawning crevasses, over tall mountains and into seemingly never ending headwinds to complete her expedition in 59 days without any human, machine or animal support.

On such lonely trips, there is no expectation of help coming from any quarter if something goes seriously wrong. You have to rely only on your talents and endurance to see you through.

Fortunately, Felicity has both of these in unimaginably high quantities, which helped her to achieve this seemingly impossible feat, with the support of only her uncommon mental and muscle power.

Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, sponsored Felicity’s journey. The expedition was named Kaspersky ONE Transantarctic Expedition.

Felicity Ashton 3

“My title sponsors were Kaspersky Lab with whom I have had a continuing relationship since they supported the Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition that I led in 2009. I was also supported by CGR Group and Fantasea Adventure Cruises, as well as several equipment suppliers such as Montane and Mountain Equipment,” elaborated Felicity.

On the completion of her journey, Felicity said: “I cannot express how happy I am to have finally made it! The Kaspersky ONE Transantarctic Expedition represents a culmination of everything I experienced and learned before on other challenging journeys.”

“I prepared for it physically and mentally for a very long time. And finally here I am having reached my final destination, having got through some rather severe conditions, but most important of all having overcome my own fear. I will never forget this moment, and I am sure the memory will lead me on to other ventures in the future.”

Her 59-day-long expedition began at the Ross Ice Shelf and culminated at the Hercules Inlet.

“I flew from Punta Arenas in Chile to a base camp in Antarctica called Union Glacier. I was then flown by a small aircraft to the Ross Ice Shelf at the foot of the Leverett Glacier (S 85 25).”

“I passed through the trans-Antarctic mountains via the Leverett Glacier and onto the plateau. Following that I arrived at the South Pole and then continued towards the far coast on the Ronne Ice Shelf to a place called Hercules Inlet (S 79 58).”

Felicity Ashton 4“I was lifted from this point by a small aircraft and returned to the base camp at Union Glacier, before flying back to Chile,” elaborated Felicity while summing up her momentous journey quite dispassionately.

In order to give a more accurate assessment of her Herculean achievement, you need to know that Antarctica is the world’s southernmost continent, which also encapsulates the South Pole.

The continent does not have any permanent human habitation, except for the 1000 to 5000 people who reside at the research stations scattered across the continent.

Though she undertook the Kaspersky ONE Transantarctic Expedition from the 25th November to 23rd January, when it was summer in Antarctica (when it is bright daylight at night for 24 hours a day), the temperature on her journey fluctuated from Minus 28 to Minus 40 Degrees Centigrade.

That is twice as cold as the inside of a refrigerator! Moreover, the continent is almost permanently covered throughout the year with a thick sheet of ice. Only cold-adapted organisms like algae, penguin, mites, seals, survive there on a permanent basis.

Enduring the Cold and the Bad Weather

“The cold was challenging because it was relentless. In fact, you cannot escape the cold in an Antarctic expedition unless you are keeping yourself comparatively warm by moving about or in a tent,” she affirmed the lady. But the cold was only one of her many challenges in the expedition.

“The wind brings the temperatures down even further and it was windy pretty much all the time! I also gained a lot of altitude during the expedition as the South Pole sits at over 3000 meters, so the effect of high altitude and the cold, dry air made things difficult physically,” she added as her blue-grey eyes twinkled with excitement while she reminisced about her journey through the remotest place on Earth.

4The much-more-than-freezing iciness was of course supplemented by tricky terrain, crevices, transatlantic mountains, and frequent bad weather. Yes, her Antarctic expedition was frequented by bad weather, and sometimes there was bad weather for three to four days at a stretch.

“But then when the sun eventually used to come out, it used to feel nothing short of a miracle, which used to make me euphoric and moved me to tears,” observed Felicity, expressing her delight on seeing sun dogs and sun halos, which are fascinating tricks of light seen around the South Pole.

Felicity was moved by the little things that occurred. “It was usually the small things that made my day during my expedition; the dramatic cloudscapes, the texture of the snow, a rainbow around the sun will all be permanently etched in my memories” she said as her voice became heavy with emotion.

It is an amazing reflection of her resilience that she only stopped “once for the day due to weather.” Bad weather did delay the start of her expedition by two weeks.

“Luckily I was able to cover much more ground than expected once I left the South Pole and headed for the coast due to the fact that this part of the journey is mostly downhill and the wind is behind you,” says Felicity.

Wasn’t there a risk in travelling despite persistent bad weather? Or does nature sometimes bow down before the unwavering human spirit, we asked.

Felicity didn’t answer this question. Instead she says, “There was always a time pressure throughout my trip and this was foremost in my mind, so although I experienced a lot of bad weather, I felt I had no choice but to ski despite that.”

The Sheer Challenge of Loneliness

Besides the sheer and relentless cold, winds and drifting snow, there was the incomprehensible cold of loneliness with no one to speak to or ask for support, which made her journey still more daunting.

Felicity had to counter the challenge of deep crevasses, trans-Antarctic mountains, and headwinds across the vast central plateau to the South Pole.

Felicity Ashton 8

But according to this intrepid explorer with a continual thirst for adventure and several challenging and successful expeditions to her credit, “The greatest challenge was not the physical difficulties pertaining to the cold, the altitude, etc. but the mental challenge of being alone in such a remote and hostile environment.”

She admitted that though the journey was extremely arduous and demanding in physical terms, but the mental challenges were tougher to handle. She hadn’t seen a single person in the last three weeks of her journey!

Felicity admitted that she found the mornings most challenging to handle, where the incredible loneliness of being, almost unnerved her. At times she thought she couldn’t continue with the expedition any further but she countered such negative thoughts eventually.

She said that sometimes she countered such thoughts with positive thinking and other times with a good cry, and some other times simply with music.

She was also extremely candid to admit that she was indeed scared time and again during her journey. However, her resolve to conquer Antarctica was much stronger than all her fears combined.

In fact, she was more enthusiastic to talk about the euphoric highs and the scary moments of her exploration than her stupendous success.

One such scary moment occurred when she had to cross two crevices on 22nd January; in the last leg of her journey. Another fearful moment occurred earlier in the trip, when her lighter stopped working.

She had to clutch on to her remaining 46 matches and had to count them time and again while spending them extremely frugally as her journey progressed. Thankfully, the lighter started working again at a lower altitude.

Her honesty not only heightens her greatness, but also proves to us again that true courage is not the absence of fear, but the sheer grit to conquer it. And true strength is not the absence of vulnerability but the ability to persevere despite it.

In extreme adventures like this, the thin line between fear and euphoria, challenges and opportunities gets blurred. “It is strange that often the most difficult experiences during the expedition were also, in retrospect, some of my most treasured memories because it is when times are hard that you really find out about yourself,” states Felicity.

Humour and Food

Having a great sense of humour too helped. The fact she is able to see the funny side of an extremely grim situation helped her to relentlessly carry on her journey against all odds.

Felicity Ashton 6Despite the loneliness and the desperation she sometimes felt, she also felt that there were lots of funny moments too, during those 59 days and ‘day-like nights.’ “It was important to keep laughing at myself and recognising the absurdity of my situation.

Crawling around on my knees to put up my tent in the evening because I was so tired, or attempting to wash my underwear and ending up with it being frozen solid, could all have been demoralising if I had not been able to see the funny side of those situations,” she admitted.

I was extremely curious to learn about the diet that facilitated her courage and strength to reach supreme heights during the expedition.

“For breakfast I would eat porridge or instant noodles followed by coffee, and in the evening I would eat a freeze-dried meal high in carbohydrates and protein, along with lots of chocolate and a protein drink. During the day I couldn’t stop to eat and so would snack on chocolates, nuts and sweets as I skied.”

“I also used carbohydrate powders in my water and took a number of vitamins and minerals each day including magnesium, zinc and antioxidants. My daily rations contained around 5000 Kilocalories,” she says.

Her calorie intake during the trip was just double the calorie intake of an otherwise healthy man. Considering her enormous physical challenge, it was surprisingly low.

A Date With Antarctica

“I wanted to explore alone across Antarctica to explore my own mental and physical limits and also to satiate my curiosity to see more of this wonderful continent,” said Felicity when I asked her what induced her to undertake this momentous challenge against such huge odds of nature.

“I was also keen to see whether I was capable of completing this challenge that I first set up in my mind, and that kept me going,” she elaborated. Despite such insurmountable odds, she describes her latest journey across Antarctica as “an amazing privilege.”

Felicity is no stranger to Antarctica. A seasoned meteorologist by training, this veteran explorer who has taken part and has also led many successful expeditions across challenging geographies, began her date with Antarctica when she was barely 23.

Felicity Ashton 9

“My first job after leaving the university was with the British Antarctic Survey. At 23, I was sent to Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula to be a meteorologist. I arrived at the base in December 2000 and didn’t leave again until April 2003.”

“So I spent three summers and two winters continuously in Antarctica, at the early part of my career. After that, I was hooked to adventure,” she said as her engaging laughter resonated through my mind.

In fact, this record-creating trip was her fourth visit to Antarctica. “The first time I stayed in this wonderful, lonely and icy continent for three long years, the second time I led the Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition, comprising the largest and the most international team of women to ski to the South Pole, and the third was an expedition to drive to the South Pole in modified 4×4 trucks,” she explains.

A Born Explorer

Besides her adventures in Antarctica, Felicity has to her credit the success of leading expeditions to Greenland and Siberia. She has also taken part in adventures in the Canadian Arctic.

That is not all. She has searched for meteorite craters in Quebec, traversed the winter ice of Lake Baikal, and completed the infamous Marathon Des Sables across the Moroccan Sahara.

“I have been extremely fortunate to travel to some incredible places in the world but my heart lies in the colder regions,” states Felicity.

She is a pilot too with a private pilot license to her credit, though she doesn’t fly much these days. She is also a prolific author and an inspiring public speaker.

Her globally acclaimed book, “Call of the White: Taking the World to the South Pole” is about selecting, training and leading the Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition team in 2009. It was an eight-member all women team.

“The book describes how the project came about, my travels to each country to select the women and how we trained together before travelling to Antarctica. It then describes the ups and downs of our journey together across Antarctica; to the South Pole,” describes Felicity. The book is available online through both international book sites and India-specific sites.

I asked her about the Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition team in 2009 and learned that her eight-member women team comprised members from the Commonwealth countries of Cyprus, India, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, New Zealand, Jamaica and the UK – many of whom had little or no previous expedition experience.

In fact, before joining the expedition many of the team members had never been in sub-zero temperatures, put on a pair of skis or spent the night in a tent – a fact which made the challenge they undertook even more remarkable and challenging!

Felicity led the international women’s team who skied through 900 km across Antarctica, and on 29th December 2009, she and her team reached the Geographic South Pole.

Felicity Ashton 10

“The aim of the expedition was to demonstrate the potential of greater inter-cultural understanding, raise awareness of the work and value of the modern Commonwealth and to highlight the achievements of women around the world. The 900 km journey from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole took 38 days, with us arriving at the Pole in time to celebrate the 60th anniversary year of the Commonwealth,” explains Felicity.

Reena Kauchal Dharmshaktu was the member of the team from India. By taking part in the expedition she became the first Indian woman to ski to the South Pole from the coast of Antarctica.

Despite achieving legendary status, Ms Ashton denies having any superhuman quality that propelled her to successfully undertake this near impossible solo exploration.

“I don’t think that I have any superhuman quality. I am no more special than anyone else; I believe we all have great potential to persevere and to achieve,” she states enthusiastically, adding, “The only difference is that I have chosen to test myself in this way whereas others might choose business, academic achievement, the arts or another field of their interest and passion.”

Felicity has great advice for mankind too. “As human beings, I don’t believe we give ourselves enough credit for what we are capable of. We can all do great things and each of us needs to explore her/his own talents and get the most out of herself or himself,” explains the great lady.

Her inspiring words made even a person like me aspire to something great, even if in a dream. Despite her superwoman strengths and achievements, Felicity came across as an extremely down-to-earth person.

As the interview was winding up, I realised an iota of her inspiring power transmitting within me too. I asked her to come to India in the near future.

“I would dearly love to come to India and have some memorable adventures; you have a thriving adventure community here already. I would love to make some journeys with my ex-team mate Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu in the Himalayas that she knows so well,” she expressed.

Her Adventurous Self

The adventure bug bit Felicity quite early in the day. At the end of her first year at the University College London (UCL), where she studied Physics and Astronomy, Felicity joined a British Schools Exploring Society expedition to South-West Greenland.

There, she and her team members spent three weeks mapping the archaeological remains of Viking’s settlements, which was supposed to be followed by spending a week exploring Greenland’s inland ice.

They made it to the fringe of the ice-cap before having to turn back. Felicity remembers looking over her shoulder at the ice as they left and promising herself that one day she would make it over that white horizon. She did fulfill that promise in her Arctic Foxes Greenland Quest, in 2006.

Two years later, on her first expedition to Greenland, Felicity travelled to a remote part of northern Quebec in Canada with a small group of students to search for evidence of meteorite impact craters.

Though the findings of the expeditions were inconclusive, the experiences, which included the team’s hired boat being decimated by lightning, taught her a great deal about being prepared for the unexpected.

After completion of her degree, Felicity did her Masters in Applied Meteorology from the University of Reading. Then she got her first job as a meteorologist with the British Antarctic Survey. The rest is history, sorry HERstory…

During her maiden stint in Antarctica, Felicity spent two-and-a-half years at a stretch in the ‘bottom of the world,’ living and working at Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula, between 2000 and 2003. Besides monitoring ozone depletion and climate, her job involved looking after a small outpost and aviation re-fuelling depot during the austral summer.

It is simply amazing that at times, Felicity and a colleague were the only two people on an island whose size was approximately that of Wales!

Since 2004, Felicity has established herself as a freelance travel writer and professional speaker besides continuing to organise and lead her own expeditions.

Felicity’s projects have been awarded the Captain Scott Society ‘Spirit of Adventure Award’, the Wilderness Award, and Timberland ‘Make it Better’ Scholarship, as well as earning support from the National Geographic Expeditions Council in the US and the Transglobe Expedition Trust.

In the UK, she has been made a Churchill Fellow by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and an honorary member of both The Commonwealth Club and Rotary International.

© Naaree.com

 

Naaree Interviews Nidhi Seth Of Empower

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Nidhi Seth founded “Empower” to help Empowerment of Women through various awareness projects. She is one of the Managing Directors of the Luxury Solutions & Board Advisor to ASSOCHAM on the National Luxury Council.

She was recently honored with the “Super Women Achiever Award” at “The World Women Leadership Congress & Awards” where women from 66 Countries were awarded.

Nidhi Seth Empower

She is also State Chairperson of Luxury for All India Ladies League. An MBA in Finance & Marketing, she has worked in various Corporate organisations for 17 years including a few MNC banks.

Naaree caught up with Nidhi Seth to learn more about her Empower Initiative that aims to help victims of Domestic Violence.

Tell us more about the Empower Initiative and what you hope to achieve with it.

Empower is a movement to sensitize women not to silently bear atrocities from their Spouse. More than help them, the need is to mentally attune them to realise that they don’t have to continue to go through the situation they are going through by tolerating abuse.

They have a CHOICE to get out of the situation by not taking abuse in any form. Abuse constitutes verbal, physical, emotional, where a husband would hit his wife causing her physical pain, emotionally blackmailing her and verbally say abusive words to her.

Men who are abusive to women emotionally weaken the woman such that she feels that she is at fault. Such men even cry and apologize that they will not repeat abusing the women, but in actual sense, continue it again again. It puts an emotional drain on the recipient and healing can take ages to occur even when the situation is over.

Empower, Let’s Be The Change” will try to sensitize women who might be suffering in a similar situation to not suffer silently. Nobody has the right to hit you. DO NOT suffer in silence. Please speak up.

We will try to break this vicious circle by reaching out to women to garner the mental strength to Stand up for their Sake. We will sensitise Women to Be “A Victor” Than “A Victim.”

Though Empower we will reach out to women who will in turn reach out to more women. This chain will surely bring about an evolution. To not let any woman suffer, and to help this world become a better place to live for each human being.

What made you want to help victims of domestic violence and how do you plan to go about it?

There are many other Causes being spoken about like Cancer awareness, etc, but Domestic Violence which is such a sensitive topic is never discussed.

You would be surprised to know that Domestic Violence is prevalent in educated strata as well. And many women bear this silently. Your next door neighbor would be going through Domestic Violence and you would not even know about it.

I felt the need to do so when I realized there are women going through silently for years together. I went through Domestic Violence 10 years back when I was married to an abusive man. I almost saw a near-death experience when he tried to strangulate me.

Although I was an educated girl who had worked in the corporate world for many years, I was in that violent marriage for many months and did not have the mental strength to move away from the relationship, until my family helped me and stood by me.

Men like my ex-husband take advantage of the fact that we women don’t speak up and suffer silently, taking abuse physically, verbally, emotionally, mentally, etc.

I bounced back in life after moving away from the sour marriage and started living life again. People like him not only damage the dignity of one person, but always remain like this. He married another girl and continued with the same incidence of Domestic Violence with her.

When I won the “Super Women Achiever Award” last year at The World Women Leadership & Awards, I realized I need to do something more for society at large and need to speak up, for the sake of women at Large.

To show that we are not Victims but Victors in Life. I will not let another abusive man ruin the life of another girl.

You will be surprised, there are women going through Domestic Violence for years together silently, just because they don’t realize they can live a life of tranquility out of the relationship by speaking up. My aim is to sensitize society so that there is a dramatic shift mentally to support women which are going through Domestic Violence so that they can come out of their situation.

If we now let ourselves be defeated by cowardice, we lose the fundamental essence of humanity, turning us into objects submissive to the authoritarian power that is generating violence and fear in society. We will reach out to women stand up to take action and open the way forward for humanity.

What initiatives do you plan to take?

Causing harm to another human is inhuman, and the perpetrators besides inculcating mental, physical and verbal abuse , demean women to such an extent that they start feeling they themselves are the reason for the Cruelty and they deserve to be in the situation.

Women in such situations get emotionally weak and remain in the situation as the perpetrators manipulate the situation. If you can help one individual, you will help ten. Because in the circle of that one person, there will be ten others whose way will open.

We will reach out to women through Social Media and other events. This will help to create awareness amongst women to stand up against any abuse and to speak up.

We are tying up with Lawyers and other associations to provide emotional support and guidance to women who are looking for any help externally.

One action to consider is that society should boycott and ridicule men who inculcate Domestic Violence. Such perpetrators are freely roaming in society amongst us after hurting, not one but many, women. We, through Empower will encourage society to not support such men but speak up against these perpetrators.

Nidhi SethWhat message would you like women to understand with respect to domestic violence?

Women who go through Domestic Violence, never talk about it as society has conditioned us to remain silent.

And they become emotionally so weak that they start feeling after sometime that they this is their fate throughout life – that they have to undergo Domestic Violence and pretend to have a blissful married life to society.

They get conditioned to it and do not have the mental strength to think that they need to get out of the traumatic situation. It starts with a decision – to make up their mind to move out of the current situation. And the next step is to seek for help to move out of situation.

There are two ways to handle this situation:

One is to mentally and emotionally strengthen women by creating a society that allows women to come out and share what they are going through. The decisive moment when they realise that they will not stand any abuse.

The second is to tackle the situation legally or in other ways.

The biggest problem I think is the mental and emotional low that women who are going through. They do not realize that they should not stand through any abuse even for once, as people who inculcate Domestic Violence promise to change, but never change.

• To sensitize women to never tolerate any kind of abuse at any level-physical, verbal, emotional. Do NOT tolerate any of these.

• To never put up with abuse, no matter how contrite your partner is later. An abusive person rarely reforms. If you condone the first offence, chances are you’ll end up in a vicious circle of abuse – adoration – more abuse – apology. An abusive can really be manipulative. To sensitize women to come out of this vicious circle.

• Forgiving an errant partner is fine only if your partner has his basic values right. If your partner however makes his errors his habit, he will not change. He is just faking an apology.

• Don’t fool yourself that the situation would change automatically, and that your partner will improve. If he is abusive or an alcoholic, he does not care for basic human values.

• Children exposed to a foul marriage get permanently damaged. Scars rarely heal.

It is not easy to end a bad marriage. It is difficult, traumatic and hurtful. There is nothing more destructive than a damaged relationship. If the air you breathe in your house is foul, how healthy can be your life as a couple?

An enriching marriage is one which is based on love and respect. It should help both partners grow.

Do not tolerate abuse in the name of adjustment. A person who inculcates physical abuse on his wife is committing an act of inhumanity.

So stand up & don’t take abuse at all!

Any other insights you would like to share with us?

Some studies show that nearly 7 out of 10 women in India have suffered some kind of Domestic Violence. Most of the cases are unaccounted for.

Domestic Violence is prevalent both in educated & uneducated strata. It is surprising to see that it is more silent in the educated upper strata, where women bear atrocities silently and the men pretend to be the perfect husbands.

In many cases of abuse, women are hit badly and asked to cover up their bruises and lie to society that she fell down, etc. If she does not agree to the perpetrator’s demands, she is hit even more and sometimes maligned with false allegations. Such men fake an apology and continue to make their violence a habit

• An abusive person will try to put you down in front of people at every opportunity.

• An abusive husband will either have a drinking problem, a false ego problem or a feeling that he is superior in everything.

Each of us can help. Turn around and see if there is anyone in your neighborhood or friend circle who is going through Domestic Violence. Maybe you can make a difference.

Many women bear this through silently. Let’s stand up to take action and open the way forward for humanity. You can empower women to stand up as self reliant beings able to break thru crisis and redirect their lives to a better future.

Plant the seeds of empowerment now will make this a reality. The morning never fails to arrive. It represents hope. Let us open the doors to a brilliant future. Let us open the doors to life.

EMPOWER WOMEN TO EMPOWER THE NATION. Let’s Be The Change!


How To Report Domestic Violence In India: Call These Helplines

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Domestic violence is not just a problem of the lower and middle classes. It is very prevalent even among prominent people. For many it came as no surprise that Aam Aadmi Party MLA Somnath Bharti was involved in a case of domestic violence. The red flags were all there for those who know what to look for.

Domestic Violence

However, the signs of domestic violence (DV) are not always so obvious and a lot of women don’t report that they’re being abused. Even the woman’s own family is not always supportive at such times, because of the shame and guilt that surrounds such issues. Another concern that women face is how to prove domestic violence in India.

But, there is hope for women. On Sep 4, 2015, a Times of India news report stated that the Bombay high court set aside that part of a state government circular which prohibited counselling and mediation in domestic violence cases without a court order.

What this means is that domestic violence cases can now be resolved out of court, with the help of NGOs, counsellors and police, who will be allowed to counsel a woman “with regard to the course of action which she can take including joint counselling/mediation with her spouse/husband or her family members/in-laws.”

The guidelines further state that a violated woman must be informed about her right to choose her future course of action and that she must be guided with regard to her legal rights under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.

Naaree.com caught up with Barkha Bajaj, the Executive Director and Head counselor for Aks Foundation, which deals with domestic violence situations in Pune, to find out the options available to women suffering from domestic violence.

How severe is the problem of domestic violence in India?

It is quite severe – 80% of our calls are of domestic violence. Also, a lot of violence in India is not looked at as violence. As it is a patriarchy a lot of violence against women is expected and accepted.

What has been your experience with women who call in for help with domestic violence situations?

They need support more than anything else. There is a lot of self-blame, confusion, guilt and shame as they love their partners but are also fed up. A lot of them feel helpless and hopeless as they feel stuck in their situations.

How do the Aks Foundation and other organisations go about helping such women? What kind of support can women look to you for?

We provide 24/ 7 support through our crisis lines. Within Pune we also provide legal support and advocacy where our volunteers go with the survivors to the hospital or police station.

One line is dedicated for counseling services. We also liaise with other NGOs or look for lawyers in the city if the call is outside Pune.

What is your advice to women who are suffering from domestic violence and dowry demands? What is the first thing they should do when faced with such a situation?

If they want to leave, the law is strong and they should use legal channels. However, the first thing is to tell someone they can trust and get support. Don’t hide it and suffer alone.

How can women be aware of signs of controlling men and those prone to Domestic Violence? Can we take clues from how his parents treat one another?

Well there are red flags for eg:
– Extreme jealousy
– Isolating behaviors
– Controlling- who she sees, what she wears
– Intimidation and threats
– Emotional manipulation- making you feel guilty all the time

Power and control wheels are available online – which show you strategies used by perpetrators.

(You can download a printable copy of the power and control wheel here to help you understand what you’re going through)

Women often overlook red flags, thinking they can change the man once they are married to him. What would you like to tell such women?

We can only change ourselves and we cannot change someone else unless they want to change. Trying to rescue and change someone is a lost battle.

What change in mindset is required, for women and their families, to avoid getting into a situation involving domestic violence?

Education – gender sensitization, talking about gender in general and gender based violence. This should be part of all school curriculum.

What parting advice would you like to give young unmarried women in India?

Know the signs of power and control. Domestic Violence is about power and control so be aware. Also, if you feel in your gut it’s a bad decision – get counseling. Also, financial independence is important. :)

See our related post: Working Women Less Prone To Domestic Violence, Say Legal Experts

For women involved in a situation of Domestic Violence, please contact the helpline of the Aks Foundation in Pune below. They are available 24/7.

  • Domestic Violence Helpline In Pune

Aks Helpline Numbers: 8793088814 to talk to our volunteers anytime.

For legal advice, call: 8793088815

For psychological counselling, call: 8793088816.

The following organisations can be contacted in Delhi:

  • Women’s Organisations In Delhi

Sakshi Violence Intervention Center: (0124) 2562336/ 5018873

Shakti Shalini: 1091/ 1291 (011) 23317004

Shakti Shalini Women’s Shelter: (011) 24373736/ 24373737

SAARTHAK: (011) 26853846/ 26524061

All India Women’s Conference: 10921/ (011) 23389680

JAGORI: (011) 26692700

Joint Women’s Programme (also has branches in Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai: (011) 24619821

  • DIAL 1298 Women Helpline in Mumbai

DIAL 1298 Women Helpline, a toll free women-dedicated service managed by Ziqitza Healthcare in Mumbai has successfully helped more than 38,000 women in distress through its network of 80 partner NGOs.

Launched in 2008 with the support of 10 NGOs, DIAL 1298 Women Helpline offers women across socio-economic strata legal, psychological, psychiatric, trauma, medical and other kinds of counseling through its associations with a variety of women oriented NGOs.

The Helpline addresses a wide range of complaints including dowry harassment, eve teasing, abuse, domestic violence, cyber crime, divorce and maintenance, sexual harassment at workplace, among others.

The helpline was initially launched with the support of 10 NGOs and now works closely with over 80 NGOs in and around Mumbai. DIAL 1298 Women Helpline is a referral helpline service. Any woman who needs help can DIAL 1298 and it will connect to Silver Innings Foundation.

The foundation will refer the caller to an NGO that will either address the issue at hand and provide counseling or negotiate with the family members to resolve the issue. In instances where the woman requires immediate assistance, then the call will be forwarded to 103 Police Helpline.

DIAL 1298 Women Helpline

If you work with a Domestic Violence Helpline in India, please post your contact information and comments below. We will add it to this post.

Naaree Interviews Actor And Director, Nandita Das

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By Swarnendu Biswas

Her razor-sharp intellect and uncommon sensitivity towards social issues complement her enchanting beauty and compelling aesthetic talent.

But while talking to Nandita Das it was very difficult to comprehend the gravity of the fact that I was conversing with a world-renowned actress and director, for she lets the weight of her astonishing achievements and enviable fame sit lightly on her slim, elegant and strong shoulders.

Her unassuming and easy going personality belies the fact that she is one of the most critically acclaimed actresses of serious Indian cinema of our times, and also the fact that her maiden directorial effort has made the world of cinema to sit up and recognise the arrival of a new cinematic genius from India; a country whose film repertoire is even now by and large perceived by overtly melodramatic and utterly mediocre mainstream Bollywood fare.

Casually Famous

Even the immense significance of the fact that the French Government had conferred her with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres), one of the most prestigious civilian awards in the world, in 2008, for her contribution to art and culture, hasn’t infused any hint of arrogance into her friendly personality.

In this context, it also deserves a mention here that, in 2011, Nandita became the first Indian to be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Women’s Forum.

The honour recognises Nandita’s “sustained contributions to the arts and to the world as one of the most gripping cinema arts leaders of our time who has shown us what both-feet-on-the-floor authenticity looks like and how keeping your values in focus and applying your talent can fuel women and the world forward,” said IWF in a statement.

Despite having a journalistic experience of more than one-and-a-half decades and the experience of doing numerous stories and interviewing a galaxy of celebrities behind me, my voice trembled like a newbie as I asked my first question to the tall and elegant embodiment of inspired aesthetic vision sitting before me, dressed in a casual blue jeans and a white top.

The lady with a refreshing smile that flows like a cascade, however soon put me at ease. In fact, her apparent softness belies her tremendous strength of conviction within. Nandita has always had the courage and the conviction to tread the uncommon path, provided that path leads to the fulfillment of her social sensibilities and her aesthetic conscience. As far as her film career goes, she has chosen those films which she believed in.

Her revolutionary streak is reflected by the fact that in only her second film as an actress she essayed the role of a newly married woman who gets involved with her sister-in-law in a loving lesbian relationship, a relationship which fulfilled the characters’ need for the love and passion which they couldn’t find in their oppressive and claustrophobic conventional marital relationships with their respective spouses.

Playing With Fire

Fire, which was released in India in 1998 (the film was made in 1996), can be regarded as a watershed film in the Indian context, where three awesome cinematic talents (Deepa Mehta, the director of the film, Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, the two female leads of the film) managed to make an extremely potent and path-breaking commentary on the feudalistic character of Indian arranged marriages (a great majority of them, at least), and at the same time on the exploration of the evolving gender equation in modern day India.

Fire Movie Nandita Das

Fire is probably the first feature film which was brave enough to explore the radical concept of female homosexuality in the regressive backdrop of urban Indian social milieu.

Fire not only gave Nandita international acclaim at the early stage of her career, but also helped her grow into a more evolved person. “Fire made me a more open and less judgmental person. My own sensitivity towards what we perceive as the ‘other’ grew,” says the lady as she brushes aside her locks of hair from her vibrant visage.

The film ran to full houses in most metropolitan cities throughout India for almost three weeks, but soon the violent protests against this revolutionary film surfaced. The film, as was expected, created quite a bit of social outrage that quickly snowballed into a series of violent incidents perpetrated by the self-styled moral police of Indian society, on many of the cinema halls screening this revolutionary movie.

However, despite the moral policing by self-righteous Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal workers, the film’s international fame continued to grow, and Fire went on to become a post-modern classic.

“Through the wide range of questions and comments that I encountered after the screening of Fire, I was appalled to see how prejudiced and intolerant our society was,” declares Nandita. Unfortunately, the attitude of our society, where hackneyed mindsets are predominant, still hasn’t changed much, after 15 years. Nandita says that she takes every opportunity to dispel unfounded myths on homosexuality that prevail in our society.

Fire also did awaken Nandita to the power of cinema, and induced her to take cinema seriously as a passion and profession. “While I never wanted to be an actor, Fire showed me how the medium of cinema could be a powerful instrument for public debate and advocacy. After the experience with Fire, I found a new platform and a creative medium to express myself,” articulates the great lady.

Theatre of Conscience

Nandita’s artistic exploration has a history of being influenced by the burning concerns of society. Born in New Delhi, to the celebrated painter Jatin Das and the noted writer, Varsha Das, Nandita’s early sensitivity towards society is perhaps reflected in her choosing to do a Master’s degree in social work.

After her Master’s in social work from the Delhi School of Social Work, she begun working with an NGO called Ankur, that works with women in the slums of Delhi. Her stint with Ankur was followed by her work with Alarippu; an organisation which is engaged in making education enjoyable for children from underprivileged homes. “The various realities which I got exposed to during my work with NGOs did impact my choices in films, both consciously and instinctively,” articulates Nandita.

Her acting forays began with a street theatre group named Jana Natya Manch, which was started by the late revolutionary playwright, Safdar Hashmi, where she also propagated several social causes through her acting skills. However, she doesn’t take her theatre background too seriously. “Many feel that I have come from a theatre background but doing street theatre and amateur plays during my college days cannot be counted for any great foundation in theatre,” explains Nandita candidly.

“The reasons for doing those street plays for four years were less to do with acting and much more to do with the social issues that those plays raised. Those plays in some ways induced me to pursue my Master’s in social work,” admits Nandita. She also modestly says that she has “worked on only two professional plays, which are The Spirit of Anne Frank, and Heads Ya Tails,” before embarking on to act and direct her own theatre production.

This trained social worker and actress notes that she entered the film world by “default.” However, despite not being armed with any formal training in either acting or direction, Nandita, with her spontaneous talent, managed to create new milestones in both the spheres.

Today, Nandita with an impressive repertoire of 37 films (many of them award-winning ones) in 10 different languages — English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telegu, Urdu, Marathi, Oriya and Kannada and Rajasthani —is an icon in the realm of Indian cinema.

Between the Lines

Nandita is happy to return to the stage after eight years with her maiden theatre production titled Between the Lines, that was recently staged across various cities of India.

Despite knowing very well that theatre and films are two entirely different mediums, and despite having much less experience in theatre as compared to her rich and varied experience in cinema, she took on the enormous challenge of co-writing, directing, producing and acting in this play.

It is exceptional people like Nandita who always have the courage to experiment with new forms, styles and mediums.

“It was both challenging and exciting to explore the medium of theatre, that is comparatively new for me, but I have always enjoyed doing new things without the fear of failure. For instance, I directed Firaaq without any formal training in film direction and learnt a lot in the process. I like to dabble in different things and will continue to do so,” asserts the courageous lady with a soft smile that never fails to reflect a sense of tenderness.

Her ardent love for experimentation and the absence of fear for failure is shared by her present entrepreneur husband, Subodh Maskara (she was divorced from her first husband, Saumya Sen, in 2009), and these attributes, together with Nandita’s love for stage acting before a live audience, has compelled the couple to start their own production company named Chhoti Production Company Pvt. Ltd.

Through Chhoti, their intention is to explore new forms of creative expression and to tell compelling stories through various mediums, across the country and beyond. Between the Lines is their first venture.

She has directed, produced, co-written the maiden play of this production house, besides playing one of the two pivotal roles in it. Between the Lines is a contemporary play on a lawyer couple set in urban India. In the play, the couple ends up arguing on the opposite sides of a criminal trial, resulting in the blurring of their personal and professional lives.

Human relations and gender issues are explored in this engrossing drama. According to Nandita, “Between the Lines is set in contemporary India and explores the relationship between a lawyer couple, who have been married for 10 years. One day, they end up on opposite sides and as they fight the case in the court, their own inequalities begin to surface. And now they have to cope with it, finding a new balance and a new understanding of each other.”

The popular myth that gender inequality in the Indian cultural milieu is largely a characteristic of the lower or underprivileged strata of the society gets undermined after seeing the play. If we explore a bit, we come to the conclusion that gender inequality is an all-pervasive bitter truth in India, a fact which Nandita is extremely opposed to. “Even in so called progressive societies, many gender inequalities in subtle forms thrive along; we only have to scratch the surface to see or feel them,” commented the wise lady.

Nandita’s strong belief that the people are not averse to strong content and their interest is not limited to crass commercial fare is endorsed by the positive audience reaction to the play, which was screened in major cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Ahmedabad in the recent past. The play was even performed before audiences in Dhaka, Bangladesh. “We hope to take it to the audiences outside India, to various other countries,” declares Nandita with enthusiasm.

Though she has not done much professional theatre before Between the Lines, it now seems she is very much in earnest to take her passion for stage to great heights. Nandita is presently playing the lead role in a play named ‘Gates to India Song’ which is being held during Bonjour India!, the festival of France in India. However, this time her role is limited to acting only.

The play is directed by Eric Vigner, written by Marguerite Duras, features an Indian cast, and is being/will be staged during 13th February to 14th March of this year, across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Kolkata.

Joys, Challenges and Awards

Being totally overwhelmed by her powerful and extremely attractive personality, I blurted a clichéd question about the various challenges that she was involved in her cinematic career till date. She gracefully laughed at my immature question but gave her insightful answer, nevertheless.

“I have acted in 10 different languages, so at times doing a film in a language unfamiliar to me was not easy, especially acting in films made in the South Indian languages. At times it was the shooting conditions that were daunting like that of in Bawander or in Maati Maay – A Grave-keeper’s Tale. And at times emotionally some films pushed my boundaries and became insightful experiences,” articulates the diva of post-modern cinema, while adding firmly, “However, the exciting part was to overcome those challenges and do justice to the characters.”

I also requested her to name the five best film directors that she had worked till date, but she refused to play favourites. “I have been fortunate to have worked with many renowned directors, and also a number of first-time directors. By listing favourites, I would be doing injustice to all the influences that they and many others would have had on me,” affirms Nandita.

While she says that she has been fortunate to have worked with many renowned directors like Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Mani Ratnam, Deepa Mehta and Adoor Gopalakrishnan, there are many other lesser known directors who have influenced her cinematic sensibilities over the years. “On every set, I have learnt the craft of filmmaking and most of those learnings were not conscious. The biggest lesson that I have learnt in my journey through moving images is that there are no rules in filmmaking. I have observed everyone and then taken the path that suited my film and its sensibilities the best,” explained Nandita, in her down to earth manner.

Nevertheless she named some of the directors with whom she immensely enjoyed working with. Besides working in the great Deepa Mehta’s Fire, which she says “had a wonderful cast and crew,” she loved working with “Mani Ratnam, for his relentlessly energising shooting style; Santosh Sivan for being so spontaneously creative and having such a fantastic team to work with; Adoor Gopalakrishnan, for his uncompromising puritanical approach to cinema; Shyam Benegal for his intellect and warmth; and also with first-time directors like Chitra Palekar and Kavitha Lankesh for their passion and commitment.”

Nandita has various fond memories of working in Bengali films. She recollects that it was Suman Ghosh’s film named Podokkhep –Footsteps, which gave her the opportunity to get to know and work with Soumitra Chatterjee, the iconic film actor of Bengali cinema who had been featured quite frequently in Satyajit Ray’s internationally renowned films, and has recently won the Dadasaheb Phalke award (India’s highest award in cinema, given annually by the Government of India, for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema).

“I also enjoyed working with Mrinalda (the noted director Mrinal Sen, one of the pioneers of the New Wave Cinema movement in India), who is such a special person, brimming with thousands of stories that I so loved listening,” reminiscences Nandita.

She says that she has a multitude of amazing experiences about her work with different directors. “If I had the time, I could have written a book on those experiences,” she notes.

Her superlative performance in Mrinal Sen’s Amar Bhuvan got her the Best Actress Award at the Cairo International Film Festival, in 2002, which is one of her several acclaimed awards. Some of her other prestigious awards for acting include the Best Actress award for Bawander – which is a film based on the trauma of Bhanwari Devi, a rape victim from Rajasthan – at the Santa Monica Film Festival in 2001, the Best Actress award for Maati Maay – A Grave-keeper’s Tale at the Madrid International Film Festival in 2007, and the Best Actress award at Nandi Awards for Kamli, in 2006.

A Riot of Cinematic Creativity

Nandita, who served as a member of the prestigious jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2007 and the Marrakech International Film Festival in 2009, began her own journey behind the camera with her directorial debut in Firaaq. To say her maiden directorial venture in cinema is a sheer masterpiece, would be an understatement. In terms of inspired cinematic expression, the movie has few parallels in the Indian cinema during the last decade.

Working Still- Firaaq

Perhaps Firaaq’s aesthetic quotient can be regarded at par with that of Pather Panchali by Satyajit Ray (1955), Bhuvan Shome by Mrinal Sen(1969), Ankur by Shyam Benegal (1974), Fire by Deepa Mehta (1998) and Paromitar Ek Din by the ultimate diva of Bengali cinema, Aparna Sen (2000).

Nandita’s maiden directorial work has every chance to be regarded as one of the greatest films ever made in the world cinema, by the future generations to come, for a significant work of art like Firaaq can be best evaluated in retrospect.

Nandita’s directorial debut in the realm of feature films had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008 and thereafter it travelled through more than 50 international film festivals across the globe, winning over 10 international awards and 13 Indian awards.

Of course, it garnered critical acclaim and popular appreciation across the globe. The Purple Orchid Award for Best Film at the Asian Festival of First Films, Special Jury Award at International Film Festival of Kerala, Special Prize at the International Thessaloniki Film Festival are only some of the coveted awards won by Firaaq.

Inducing Firaaq

Nandita describes Firaaq as the “manifestation of all the helplessness, anguish, anger, frustration which I have felt over the years about the way things are happening around us.” She also chooses to describe her cinematic masterpiece as “a work of fiction, based on a thousand true stories.”

The time of the film is set a month after the horrific Gujarat riots in 2002, which killed 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus, and where more than 2500 people were injured. A riot where many people became homeless, and many women became rape victims.

According to Nandita, “Firaaq traces the emotional journeys of ordinary people; some who were victims of riots, some perpetrators and some who chose to watch silently.”

The film explores the impact of sectarian violence on their life and relationships. “It is an ensemble film that follows multiple narratives that are at times interconnected and at times discrete. What unites them is their spatial and emotional context,” elaborates the director.

Firaaq was not an easy story or a rather a collection of stories to be made into cinema, but Nandita’s masterful handling made the multiple narratives coalesce into montages depicting universal human drama that does have the potential to move any sensitive soul in the world.

“I didn’t scout for a story that I could direct, instead the stories compelled me to become a director,” articulates the filmmaker, who directed actors of the caliber of Naseeruddin Shah, Raghubir Yadav, Paresh Rawal, and Deepti Naval in her landmark directorial venture.

Firaaq Still nandita das and naseeruddin shah

What makes Firaaq strikingly different from other riot films is that it does not show the gory violence of riots, but explores the nerve-wrecking tensions between people that prevail just after the riots. The story is set over a 24-hour period. “The exploration of the fierce and yet delicate forms of fear, anxiety, prejudice and ambivalence in human relationships during such times is the substance of Firaaq,” points out the filmmaker.

Emboldened by her friendly disposition, I even acquired the temerity to ask her what factors influenced her to chose such a sensitive or rather a controversial subject as her first directorial venture. “Most people wonder why I chose this subject, even though I have not personally been a victim of violence. But for me it is no less a personal film as it brings together a lot of my life’s experiences and my interactions with people,” explains the sensitive lady.

There were other factors too which induced her sensitive mind to create this thought provoking cinematic venture, for which she also co-wrote the screenplay with Shuchi Kothari.

“The making of Firaaq was also influenced by the waking up to newspapers with stories screaming with violence; having conversations about religion and identity and soon finding oneself in a very polarised heated debate; meeting victims of violence and seeing their vacant helpless eyes penetrating into my soul; feeling deeply disturbed by the constant ‘them and us’ from all quarters… Firaaq is a reaction to all that and more,” Nandita elaborates with uncommon passion.

The challenge of her directorial debut was however, not that easy to overcome. “The journey of making Firaaq has been an all consuming, but also a cathartic experience. At any given point, hundreds of factors need to be dealt with and many simultaneous decisions had to be made,” confesses the dusky, alluring and breathtaking beauty. At the same time, she did enjoy each phase of making Firaaq “with all its challenges, big and small.”

However, she refuses to take the whole credit for her brilliant effort, which fetched multiple awards. “I am grateful to all those who had their faith in me and in the story I so wanted to tell,” acknowledges Nandita.

Leading Children’s Cinema

Recently, the diva has completed her tenure as the Chairperson of the Children’s Film Society, India, a position in which she has been since 2009. She feels the experience had been a learning one for her. The prestigious position was perhaps another opportunity for her to explore her awesome creative versatility.

“I found my work as the Chairperson of the Children’s Film Society, India (CFSI) as both daunting and rewarding. It was an opportunity to make a difference, to try out something new and explore yet another area of interest,” she explains.

Nandita laments the fact that there are few distributors for children’s films in India. “There aren’t too many takers for children’s films in terms of distribution, despite the fact that kids form a huge part of the audience,” Nandita points out. It is really distressing that in India there is dearth of quality cinema that can provide enriching entertainment to children.

“Children form a huge film audience the world over. I wonder why we haven’t explored the children’s film segment enough,” aired Nandita, who rightly thinks that “a great majority of our films for children are either preachy and boring, or fluffy and sometimes even violent.”

Becoming More Selective?

Considering the fact that the last feature film where she acted was made in 2010 (I Am), I asked her why she isn’t appearing more regularly on the screen in the recent times. “My last two years were extremely hectic, as I had the twin responsibilities of being a new mother and the Chairperson of CFSI,” admits Nandita, which left her with little time for acting assignments.

“I had enough on my plate during those years, with my son Vihaan and CFSI as my top priorities,” asserts the multiple prestigious award winning actress and director, who has become a one-woman institution of sorts in a very short time. However, she informs me that she had finished the shooting of two films recently; one in Tamil and the other in Hindi. “Now that the CFSI responsibility is over, I can look forward to doing many different things,” says Nandita.

Nandita Das 2

However, besides being extremely busy on the personal and administrative front in the recent years, her graph of cinema acting gives indication that she has perhaps also been extremely choosy and selective in her choice of films for quite a few years.

In fact, from 2007 to 2012, she has appeared in only three released films, they being Mehreen Jabbar directed Ramchand Pakistani in 2007 (the film, which was premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, in 2008, and won the People’s Choice Award at the Fribourg International Film Festival in Switzerland, garnered huge critical acclaim), Adoor Gopalakrishnan directed Naalu Pennungal (Four Women) in the same year, and Onir-directed I Am in 2010. As compared to that in 2006, she had five releases as an actress.

Despite her awesome intellectual prowess and her renown across international film fraternity, Nandita doesn’t exhibit any snob value in dismissing the predominantly mediocre and crass Bollywood fare altogether. However, she admits that “Mainstream Hindi cinema has mostly played safe in an attempt to please large numbers of people.”

But at the same time, she takes note of the account that “in every era we have seen some bold films in the realm of mainstream Hindi cinema, which have gone beyond the comfort zone and have told different stories irrespective of their box office performances.”

She is happy that “quite a few young film makers from Bollywood these days are stretching the boundaries and experimenting with both form and content.” One such pertinent example, according to her, is Dibakar Banerjee’s Love, Sex aur Dhoka.”

She also laments the fact that often Indian films are construed as only Bollywood fare. “Indian films are not just Bollywood films and there is a whole range of films in regional languages that constitute the gamut of Indian cinema,” points out one of the finest talents of Indian cinema.

Socially Conscious Shorts

Besides full-length feature films and theatre, Nandita has also shown her enviable creative mettle in the realm of short films. She and her first husband, Saumya Sen, began Leapfrog, an advertising company geared towards making socially conscious ad films.

For Leapfrog she directed a 90 second long public interest spot for the Delhi-based and the world renowned NGO Centre for Science & Environment, on Rainwater Harvesting, which was shot on 35mm. The public service spot aimed to create an interest in rainwater harvesting.

It used a lyrical approach to communicate an environmental solution which is often inaccessible due to its technical nature. The response to the spot was simply overwhelming; from both the critics and the general audience.

This 90 seconds of lyricism with a strong message won the Grand Prix at the Environfilms International Festival of Environmental Films 2006, and was adjudged the Best Short Film at FICA, Brazil 2005, at Torrino Film Festival in Czech Republic, in 2005 and at Vatavaran Film Festival in New Delhi, in 2003.

For Leapfrog, Nandita directed three more short films, which are titled Education for All, Learning is Child’s Play (I), and Learning is Child’s Play (II). All of these short films are each 60 seconds in length. Nandita also co-directed a 30-minute, short film with Sanjay Maharishi, for Sanket Productions. The name of the short film is Imprint In Clay. The short film is a tribute to Late Sardar Gurcharan Singh, the pioneer of studio pottery in India.

Words for Change

Nandita is not only a manifestation of great brains and beauty. She can be best described as a combination of great talent and great looks with a great heart. Her compassionate heart finds fulfillment in social work, which exudes the humane facet of her tremendous intellectual prowess.

Over the years, her social concerns have taken the form of talks and as well as eloquent writing. She has given a plethora of talks in India and around the globe. She spoke at MIT on April 2007, after a screening of Fire.

Nandita’s versatility is also expressed through her compelling writings, through which she has had espoused several social causes and concerns, besides exploring other facets of life too. She has several published writings, and is running a monthly column for The Week, in their section Last Word.

Nandita Das

Nandita has been involved in active campaigning against the scourge of communal violence, the violence against women, and the societal stigma concerning HIV/ AIDS. At the same time, she has raised her potent voice on the issues of children’s rights, disability and human rights. “The choices in my film work have been heavily impacted by my experiences in social work,” states Nandita.

“I primarily do advocacy work for issues concerning women, children, victims of violence, people living with AIDS…. basically for those who are marginalised,” concludes Nandita, as the evening with its crimson colours began to flood its soft light on the patio. Soon the dusk would emerge…“I have also been part many South Asian peace initiatives, like SAHR (South Asians for Human Rights),” points out the lady.

I wanted our conversation to continue till eternity, but her professional commitments didn’t allow that. As she ended the interview, I realised that four hours have flown by in a jiffy. Dusk had set in, along with promise of a new tomorrow… as refreshing as the soul-refreshing laughter of Nandita Das.

© Naaree.com

10 Reasons To Quit Your Job And Start A Business

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There might be a million reasons you’ve heard about why you shouldn’t start a business and stick to your day job. There’s insecurity and there are more chances to fail. In fact, the moment you announce that you plan to start a business, there are more people sure of your failure than those who are sure you will succeed.

Business Woman

‘Business is a man’s field’ or ‘It’s not a safe world out there’ – you get to hear such heartwarming, caring statements. A day job is more secure, at least your salary at the end of the month will be guaranteed. There is no security in business and very few people succeed in business.

Well, booyah! And, wrong! For every failure in business, there are double the numbers of successes. One can fail in any field of life, even in an office job. And until one starts taking risks, how will one know what they are capable of?

While a few of the things people say to dissuade you from starting your own business are pretty valid, there are as many reasons why you should. And quite frankly, if you are hardworking and sincere, there is no reason why you cannot succeed in business too!

If you are at the stage where you want to work for yourself, here are 10 valid reasons why you should quit your job and start a business now.

  • Flexible timings

You can work when it is convenient for you. Of course, you will need to work, and most likely more than you do in that miserable day job you had, but hard work never scared you, did it?

The icing on the cake is that you can fit your work as well as your other commitments in a single day. PTA? Sure you can go! Piano recital? Of course, you’ll be there in the front row!

How many times have you had to follow instructions from a boss who really didn’t know what they are talking about? Millions of times. Forget that nightmare of a boss and call your own shots. Right or wrong, you’ll be responsible for the decisions you take.

  • Your passion gets wings

Always dreamt to be known for your work, rather than the company that hires you? Well, that won’t happen by sitting in a cubicle. With a business you can put yourself on a goal to becoming an achiever and soon be a brand name yourself!

  • Financial independence

Yes, that’s what you will have, once you start a business. Thing is that, you can spend all your life being everything else but who you want to be. But if you want to financially independent, an entrepreneur is what you should be.

Money might not buy happiness, but it does really make life more comfortable. You earn and it goes to your account, you withdraw and spend it as you wish. Don’t forget to save though.

By being independent and a business woman, you not only create a job for yourself but you would be creating jobs for many others. Personally, that is the biggest job satisfaction one can get. From being a non-earner to being able to help others earn their living – tell me this isn’t a very big deal.

  • Mentoring

While setting up your business, you get to meet people who are experienced in the same field. While you get to mentor under them, over the years, when you become an expert yourself, you get to mentor new aspirants, and pay it forward.

  • Learning new things

With a business to establish and then run, you meet new people almost every day. You go to new places and experience new things. And this exposure is real time, not a virtual one. Is that cool, or is that cool!

You learn to fight, to not give up, to create reasons to be happy and to stay chin up when not. You learn new things and teach yourself a thing or two. Owning a business is no piece of cake and you learn it the rough way, but you learn it well and through experience.

  • Build your own brand

You work towards a single goal and the goal is turning your passion into business. Doing so, you also create and build your own brand recognition for yourself and your business.

  • Inspire others

Just as today you are dreaming of having your own business, a decade later, another young girl would be wishing the same. She might not be as bold as you were, but she can surely take the leap using you as a role model. Sounds good, right?

  • Pride and Security

Owning your own business and running it successfully is no mean feat. In fact, it is a matter of pride and will only make your work harder. The long hours will not bug you (as much as having a job) because you know what you are out to achieve and how to obtain it.

While setting up a business means no fixed salaries, at least in the initial months, and no insurance, it also means you don’t need to worry about appraisals, office politics, favoritism, and lay-offs. Your business, your responsibilities. Your hard work just cannot go unnoticed.

  • Recognition

The thing about starting a business is that as and when you develop it and make it grow, you are also increasing your own recognition. Your name soon becomes synonymous with your product, and more people than you’d ever imagined start hearing about you.

  • Do it your way

You might have worked under someone for a decade or so but how many times did you get the liberty to call the shots? You’ve had to take orders from the boss who most likely, knows much less than you do about the product, but has the power to get his strategy, however impractical, incorporated. While your foolproof strategies, gather dust, year after year.

By starting your own business, you not only have the authority to decide how to do things yourself but can refer to ten options and select what seems the best for you. If it is the right way, you win. And if you not, you don’t have to worry about the criticism of others. So run the business as you wish to and bring all your ideas to the table.

© Naaree.com

Preventing And Responding to Sexual Harassment In The Workplace

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It is the responsibility of employers, educators and housing providers to maintain a sexual harassment free environment. From the human rights perspective, it is not an acceptable practice to remain unaware of sexual harassment, whether a human rights violation claim has been made or not.

sexual harassment

  • The Numbers

Although the number of sexual harassment cases has dropped by 14 percent over the previous year, Andhra Pradesh reports about 42 percent and Maharashtra 12 percent of the total incidences that occurred in 2011, according to the Law Octopus website.

In the case of Andhra Pradesh, it has the highest crime rate of about 4.3 compared to India’s national average of 0.7. Sometimes, the crimes are so heinous that they make national news on Divya Bhaskar.

Considering the astonishing numbers above, it is time that Indian Employers took important steps to prevent and respond to sexual harassment claims in the workplace.

One way of promoting this harassment-free environment is by having a comprehensive, clear anti-sexual harassment policy. When sexual harassment is alleged, the policy alerts all parties about their rights, roles and responsibilities. The policy should be set out to show how sexual harassment will be dealt with efficiently and promptly.

Everyone within the work place area should be made aware about the sexual harassment policy and steps put in place to resolve complaints. This can be achieved by:

  • Handing out policy copies to everyone
  • Ensure that all employees are aware of the policy by including it in orientation material
  • Training individuals on contents of the policy and provide ongoing education on human rights

Employers and other individuals responsible should also have policies on how to deal with sexual harassment by third parties. The procedures should show the expected behavior and the response to harassment, and ensure that any serious ongoing problems are brought to the attention of those in charge.

  • Contents of An Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy

An effective policy should limit harm while reducing liability. It should also promote the idea of diversity and equity within organizations and make a good business name. The policy should possibly follow the following format:

  1. Have a vision statement setting out the company’s intention to maintain an equitable and fair environment without gender-based and sexual harassment.

  2. Statement of rights and obligations as set out by the National Government.

  3. List of possible grounds of discrimination in the human rights code

  4. The definition of sexual harassment and gender-based harassment.

  5. Explanation of what a poisoned environment is under the code and clear examples of the environment.

  6. Description of unacceptable behavior

  7. Description of who the policy applies to.

  8. How internal complaints will be handled.

  9. Remedies, if the sexual harassment claim is proven, that are available.

  10. A final statement reinforcing the rights of individuals in concern to other types of complaints.

However, professional organizations, associations and unions should also be responsible for ensuring that they are not party to discriminating against or harassing their members. They should ensure that they are in no way the cause or contributing factor to discriminatory actions in the workplace.

Like an employer, a union is liable of been held responsible for actions or policies that are discriminatory. This includes taking part in negotiating a policy that discriminates or does not take the necessary steps to curb workplace sexual harassment.

Naaree Interviews Dr. Shashi Pandey Of Infinite Mobility Tech

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Infinite Mobility Tech is a startup based in the small town of Bhilwara, Rajasthan, founded by Dr. Shashi Pandey and her mother, in May 2015. It has achieved a business revenue of over Rupees 2 crore in under a year. Their startup is unique because the women founders happen to be a Mother-Daughter duo in real life.

Shashi Pandey 2

Both, mother and daughter, were in the teaching profession. Her mother retired from a Government primary school in the small town of Haldwani, Uttarakhand, India in the year 2000 and learned about computers and technology in her spare time after retirement.

Her daughter, Dr. Shashi Pandey, a full time college professor, was enthusiastic about technology and entrepreneurship, and eagerly supported her. They are living proof that small town dreams can become a reality, and that gender and age are not a bar to start a new venture, execute one’s ideas and achieve one’s dreams.

Within 10 months of starting their venture, they employed over 18 people and are already planning to expand to other locations. Their employee strength, client base, revenue and profit is increasing day by day.

Another unique fact about Infinite Mobility is that it prefers to employ retired individuals, women and individuals who need help in terms of finding a job.  Infinite Mobility trained them making it a win-win situation for both them and their employees.

The Directors’ vast teaching experience and passion for entrepreneurship works in their favour. Until now, they have bootstrapped their venture and plan to raise funds in the future.

Naaree.com interviewed Dr. Shashi Pandey, Director, Infinite Mobility Tech, to learn more about her motivations and aspirations.

  • What inspired to become an entrepreneur? Did you always love it or was it something you got into?

During one of Ijja’s (my mother’s) visit to my brother in the United States, while surfing on internet and checking her emails, she noticed some random messages, videos, pop-ups and some software flashes on her computer screen and smart phone.

That drew her attention and this motivated her to research more into this phenomenon. In this way, she managed to learn more about the business of digital marketing and advertising.

Being enthusiastic about technology, and being excellent in Mathematics and Economics, she now wanted to understand the monetization behind this.

She had a word with me and I, in turn, asked my son, Eeshan, about it. Luckily, he is a media professional and told us all the nitty gritties of the digital media industry finally we both landed up in partnership in business of digital advertising and software development.

I always wanted to start something of my own and so was the dream of my mother. Being educationists, we soon came up with a great product in the field of education and another in the healthcare domain.

  • When do you know that it is no longer just an idea in your mind, and that you can really turn it into a lucrative business?

Initially, everything looked like a piece of cake to us, but when we started  digging deeper, we came to know that things are not that easy to execute, as digital media is a comparatively new field and there is a shortage of trained professionals who can help us start when we ourselves are new to it.

At that time, we got support from my son and my brother, Neeraj, who is a software professional and is settled in the United States. They helped us to draw an outline of our business idea and hire a team which would realize our dream.

  • What inspired you to start out on your own or with your partners? What learning lessons can you share from your startup experience?

Entrepreneurship means a lot for both of us. It’s a real test of our execution skill. We’re sure, every one want to do something valuable all the time. But when it’s comes to execution,  80% quit, and out of 20% who tries, around 18% fails and only 1-2% get success.

We both wanted to convert our experience and skills to success, so our goals were always clear, and it is just the journey which we are travelling along and enjoying.

  • What are some challenges that you faced initially when you started out? Do you have some examples to share and advice to women entrepreneurs on overcoming them?

When you’re a woman, the first question which comes up is, “Are you serious?” Actually it depends on ones’ family values and background. Here we are both lucky to come from the same family values. Our family is educated and liberal.

Still I can say, in our case, people listened to us, participated in the ideas, talks, and took part in discussions. But at the time of execution, they’ll say, “Are you serious about it?” At that time I realized that others were not very confident about us.

Convincing people around was a real challenge. And then the age at which we started was bit challenging. At my mother’s age people expect you to rest, sit home and relax.

The challenges added much more spice when you’re a retired woman and show willingness to work after 15 years of your retirement. I had full confidence in myself and the team to be able to execute the idea and convince everyone. And at the end we were successful.

  • What are all the things that a woman entrepreneur needs to keep in mind? Apart from your great idea, what do you need to be armed with?

Just one thing, “TRUST YOURSELF”. If you are convinced with your own idea and have trust in yourself then you have won half the battle.

Another thing to be taken care of is hiring the initial team. The people who join you in the beginning are the ones whom you have to rely the most and that’s why, they should be trustworthy.

  • Do women entrepreneurs find it tougher to get funding for businesses? If yes, why do you think that is?

Since we didn’t have any angel investor/s, making the cash flow work was a tough job. The reason was obvious – no one wanted to invest in new company like us, whose founders are not so well trained or founders are just learners. Add in the age factor, and above all, being WOMEN.

Fortunately our financial management worked well. We implemented reverse engineering in the traditional business. We hired a finance person first, and trained him for digital marketing. Then we start hiring Project Managers and then executives.

Our toughest moment came when we hired a software developer on a much higher salary package than his caliber and that didn’t work out, and he left the company in frustration of underperforming.

  • Is it beneficial to have a mentor when you’re starting out on your own? What does a mentor bring to the table?

I believe, Yes. Every individual need to have mentors, because at every instance you need to have someone who is there to give an honest opinion about things. In my case, my husband, my son and my brother played the role very well. My husband has played a tremendous role in acting as the company’s financial advisor.

On the other hand, my brother and son took a keen interest in helping me set up the operational processes. A mentor brings with him the experience and the advice which is always worth following.

  • How did you recruit your first team? How difficult was it to get people on board during the initial stages?

We implemented reverse engineering to hire the team. We cherry picked the team which was new to the digital world but had a keen interest in learning.

Shashi Pandey 3

Initially, it was difficult to bring people to the same pace of thinking as we have but once it was done, everything else became automatic.

  • What are 3 key things that you have learned as an entrepreneur?

Ahh, I can mention 300 here.

1. KEEP TALKING!

The more people you share your vision with, the more people will know what you’re doing, and the easier it will be for you to connect to those who share your ideas and believe in you.

Another benefit of talking about your plans is getting feedback and helping you refine your ideas and business plan to make them even better.

2. ASK FOR FAVORS

Most of us have a lot of pride and feel uncomfortable about asking for favors. We don’t want to come off as needy. We don’t want to burden people. I get it.

Opportunities aren’t just going to land in your lap. You won’t get any thing unless you ask for it. What’s the worst that can happen, someone says no? Ok, so they say no. But, at least you will have the confidence that you tried your level best.

Sometimes the best connections are forged in the strangest ways – don’t miss your chance to find yours.

3. KEEP GOING WITH THE FLOW

Keep going. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and trying your best every day. The beginning is always the hardest. However, I know that if you go after your dreams full force, you will be rewarded with something extraordinary along the way.

Without great risk, there would be no great reward. I hope our story inspires others to follow their passions and create that career they’ve always felt was right for them. Your dreams can become reality.

  • What would you describe as your biggest moments of success in your business?

Both of us believe there’s always room for learning in every work one initiates.
Since we are the pioneer entrepreneurs in the family, the path was never a bed of roses for both of us.

Thinking of ideas is easy but the implementation part is not that smooth. We talk and discuss ways to move forward and involve other persons in the family who could help us to find right resources to proceed further.

We’re hiring and training mainly women and retired people. Trying to train them and utilize them as per our company’s culture. We’re open to hiring from any field of occupation and take the responsibility to train them.

We both believe there’s an engineer hidden in every person.

Like us, we’re family engineers. But we are excelling in the technology business as well. So our theory is, everyone is an engineer. We polish them and make them skilled person for us.

Any individual who know how to use computer (even a little bit), we consider him\her as great useful asset for us. It is always a pleasure to see a sincere team working to make the organization big.

The Sum And The Substance By Naina Lal Kidwai

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This extract from 30 Women in Power by Naina Lal Kidwai has been published with permission from Rupa Publications.

30 Women in Power by Naina Lal Kidwai

In December 2012, a young physiotherapy student was brutally raped; she died two weeks later. The brave heart, appropriately called Nirbhaya (without fear) by the media, roused the consciousness of a nation and its youth. On my part, I was deeply distressed at feeling so helpless and had a strong desire to do something for young women, for us, for my twenty-two-year-old daughter.

Three weeks later, I was elected president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). During meetings with foreign dignitaries and chief executive officers (CEOs) from around the world – prompted by the press coverage of Nirbhaya’s rape and subsequent articles on the plight of girls in India – I’d often be asked about the state of women in my country. This at a time when India had the highest number of women CEOs of banks (amongst other female CEOs) compared to anywhere in the world!

I believe we need to tell the India narrative better, so that good stories about women in this country also get recognition. Moreover, we need to emphasize the fact that such accomplishment is not limited to banking, but is evident across many fields.

This is exactly what 30 Women in Power attempts to do—highlight the success stories in the business economy of India, picking from a mix of industries, presenting a range of professional CEOs, entrepreneurs and heads of family businesses. I have chosen to focus on women who have led large organizations, and there are many more I would have liked to include.

Despite my best endeavours, this was not to be. Needless to say, I have consciously left out the entire area of politics, sports and entertainment, where women excel. If we were to document all the successes of women in sectors across India, many volumes could be written, and indeed, should be written!

The essays in 30 Women in Power are unique, for they convey the dreams, inspirations, challenges and accomplishments of a range of powerful women in their inimitable voices. Each composition is unlike the next, presenting a personal struggle, a well-defined moment of realization or a distinctive style of working. Yet, there are common themes that bind the essays and unite them. There are values emphasized, integral to all success stories.

SIX KEYS TO SUCCESS

 

  • Passion Is Essential

When you read 30 Women in Power, what is likely to first strike you is the passion displayed by each of the women featured, their willingness to push themselves.

While Aruna Jayanthi says that the daily challenges at her workplace keep her adrenaline pumping, Anjali Bansal feels that work, even today, is an integral part of her existence and a life without it would seem entirely incomplete. Kirthiga Reddy, on her part, encourages every one of us to remain committed to and enthusiastic about our varied roles:

I believe it is imperative to take your whole self with you—whether you are at work or at home. I am a full-time professional, a full-time mother, a full-time wife, a full-time daughter, a full-time friend and   more.

  • Ambition Is Not Necessarily Bad

Passion is undoubtedly steered by the ambition to succeed. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Debjani Ghosh are, perhaps, two of the most ardent advocates of such aspiration. While Kiran admits that she was fuelled by drive and vision rather than by expertise when she started Biocon, Debjani asserts that women should not be ashamed to initiate career choices:

It’s time we, as women, accepted that ambition isn’t a bad word. To me, being ambitious is what keeps me on my toes and continues to drive me to be the best version of myself. It’s what got me my first job and it’s what gets every young aspirant a career break—after all, how is one to secure that prized position without displaying drive and interest?

Such ambition certainly helps when you believe you deserve a promotion or an assignment and need to drum up the courage to ask for it. Indeed, in today’s competitive world, I’d say that it’s vital for women to draw attention to their achievements and ask for a break if they believe it is their due. Chitra Ramkrishna raised her hand each time she wished to work on a project at the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and, later, with the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Sangeeta Pendurkar, while working at Hindustan Ciba-Geigy Ltd (HCG), asked to be part of a strategic project with McKinsey to draft the blueprint for HCG’s next ten years. And Roopa Kudva voluntarily made a PowerPoint presentation detailing why she’d be ideal for a post:

As I completed my presentation, the CEO smiled and said, ‘Sounds great, leave the presentation with me.’ I did. For a few months, I didn’t hear a thing. Then suddenly, one day, the CEO came to me and said, ‘Do you remember, a few months ago you had sought the position of CRO? We are happy to offer it to you.’

Experiences of this sort make Kaku Nakhate say that we, as women, must overcome the ‘inhibitions that prevent us from asking for a job we covet’. Verbalize your desire for a designation, she says, even if it happens to be that of a CEO.

  • Humility Is a Hallmark of Success

In 30 Women in Power, we see that humility is the hallmark of most of these successful women. Meher Pudumjee’s entire narrative underlines her unassuming disposition—a virtue she came to fully appreciate during a trainee workshop:

I realized there was a direct correlation between the size of a house and the trust factor: the larger the house, the less its occupants trusted strangers!… [The workshop made me realize] the power and value of humility; it helped us shed our arrogance, intellectual or otherwise, and understand that respect is not linked to one’s economic or social strata. This was a strong lesson, for work as well as for life.

Every woman in this book has admitted to being humbled by accomplishment—from Lynn de Souza, who makes it a point to detach her designation from who she intrinsically is, to Avani Davda, who asserts that her upbringing keeps her grounded and reminds her every day that she is just another normal person…my mother made it clear that irrespective of my role outside, once I returned [home], I was just my parents’ daughter. Even now, I may be a CEO at work but I slip into a different role once I get home.

Nirupama Rao goes on to say:

Very often in our society, people who have achieved success tend to place a premium on being vainglorious and bumptious. It pays, in my view, to be generous and large of heart and mind; bumptiousness never pays.

Simultaneous with such humility is the fact that our women achievers don’t shy away from learning from co-workers, juniors and associates – Mirai Chatterjee says there’s never a moment when she isn’t overwhelmed by the homegrown wisdom of simple, often illiterate women, while Sudha Pillai maintains that some of the best ideas come from her young staff.

Kaku Nakhate agrees when she says that business solutions emerge from all levels in the office hierarchy. Anjali Bansal sums it up by asserting that leadership amounts to having the humility to learn from colleagues. These women never stop learning, acknowledging and giving credit to others.

  • Integrity Is Paramount

Most of the women in this book highlight integrity in the list of values they cherish; for them, there are no shortcuts or quick fixes, no stopgap arrangements on the road to success.

Chanda Kochhar begins her essay by recounting her father’s refusal to make concessions for her brother, despite being the principal of the college her brother wished to apply to. She says that while at first dismayed, she came to appreciate the strength of her father’s stand; how ‘no matter the temptation, he never compromised on his integrity and sense of justice’. Honesty and fair play, consequently, have become her cornerstones.

Preetha Reddy refers to integrity as her moral compass; Nirupama Rao says it’s the one quality that helps you remain ‘an honest judge of yourself’; and Chitra Ramkrishna views moral rectitude as the foundation stone of the NSE. Chitra says:

…my biggest source of sustenance has been the experience of building an institution which is trusted by market participants because of its high integrity. When we began the NSE, we tried to create a set of guiding principles, so that work ethics were built into the team’s fabric right from the outset. Today, all decisions that are made are based on this system of belief.

  • There Are No Shortcuts to Hard Work

In 30 Women in Power, our essayists refuse to bank on past plaudits or rely on a surname. Shobhana Bhartia says that her desire to prove herself began when her parents enrolled her in a non-Birla school, where her surname was no advantage and she had to build an identity for herself.

Zia Mody, despite being the daughter of Soli Sorabjee, asserts that she has always worked very hard to secure deals. And Mallika Srinivasan says that far from getting a red-carpet welcome when she joined her father’s company, she was given a slim corridor for a workspace and a stern directive to make a mark:

My father…said, ‘Sit down young lady, you might be a Wharton graduate, but I do not need one to run my business.’ With that cutting remark, he put me in my place. I could have airs and graces as a B-school graduate, but I was talking to a man who had nurtured the company and the group; had held his family, group and all the professionals together post the early demise of his father; and had earned the respect of the business community.

  • ‘Only Those Who Dare to Fail Greatly Can Ever Achieve Greatly’

So said Robert Kennedy, and our women in power agree. Each woman (and man) in power has faced immense challenges. Jyotsna Suri saw her hospitality venture being written off by the media and members of her fraternity when her husband passed away.

Sangeeta Pendurkar, on starting work as the brand manager for a feminine care range, found herself under immense pressure when, for no fault of hers, a new product was recalled just two weeks after its launch. And Pallavi Shroff describes a ‘baptism by fire’ in 1980 when her husband and she—still young, still ‘novices’— had to start from scratch and set up the Delhi branch of Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co.

While each of them managed to turn a massive challenge into a stepping stone, the fact is that every woman (and man) in power has also tripped a few times or made a few errors in judgement. Roopa Kudva did not get to join her dream school, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, the first time around due to political tensions in Assam. And Shobhana Bhartia mentions a television venture that nosedived:

We were to launch Home TV… In hindsight, I can spot all the errors—there were far too many partners in the venture; decision- making wasn’t streamlined; and the channel had been positioned as a niche undertaking with highbrow entertainment but little content for the masses. One must learn from such errors in judgement. Home TV may be an opportunity lost, but I’ve come out of it so much the wiser.

Arundhati Bhattacharya, quoting John Keats’s unforgettable statement—‘I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest’—reminds us that ‘there is no shame in defeat’.

Indeed, what sets the women in this book apart—and all successful women apart—is their willingness to dust off the failures, move on to bigger, newer dreams, take fresh risks and keep learning. To believe in oneself is key. As Shanti Ekambaram says:

I keep telling colleagues—you can do extraordinary things if you believe you can—and that is what drives me. It is not possible to always succeed, so it is important to learn from your mistakes.

This extract from 30 Women in Power by Naina Lal Kidwai has been published with permission from Rupa Publications.

Book Extract: This Unquiet Land by Barkha Dutt

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This extract from This Unquiet Land by Barkha Dutt has been published with permission from Aleph Book Company.

My tryst with the news began early. At the age of five, my parents would make me identify little-known world leaders on the covers of Time magazine. Around the dining table, politics was a staple diet, right up there with the obligatory portions of yucky daily greens.

Growing up as a journalist’s daughter—at a time when women in the media were expected to write about flower shows and fashion—I watched my mother, Prabha Dutt, wrestle every single day of her working life with gender-driven preconceptions.

Even getting hired had been difficult. She rose to become the first woman chief reporter of the Hindustan Times, but the badge came with an initial rejection— she was told that the paper did not hire women in mainstream reporting roles.

She went on to become a tough-as-nails investigative journalist scooping such stories as the use of beef tallow in shudh vanaspati and a major scam at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, undeterred by threats and warnings from those she was going after.

My sister and I worried as children when she received ominous phone calls in the dead of night or shadowy men showed up at the door. But she was relentless in her pursuit of a good story and taught us never to take no for an answer.

When she sought to interview the notorious murderers Billa and Ranga, who had made national headlines after kidnapping and killing two schoolchildren, Geeta and Sanjay Chopra, in 1978, the jail authorities declined her request. She went to court against the decision and secured her interview just before the two men were executed, finding a place with her petition in the annals of case law.

Despite the demands of the profession she would find the time to call us at periodic intervals to check on homework and meals. Sometimes, when there was no help available at home or when we had to be dropped off for dance or swimming lessons, we would accompany her to work and play on the noisy newsroom floor as she furiously typed away to meet the day’s deadline.

In an unconventional personal decision, when my father, an Air India official, was transferred to New York for several years, my mother opted to stay back in India for at least half of that posting so as to not lose the momentum of her professional life; she only shied to the US when she got a job with the United Nations.

It was never assumed that one career took precedence over the other; both my parents had to make adjustments to accommodate their individual and collective dreams. As I grew older and started working, I often wondered whether I would have my mother’s gumption.

In 1965, when war broke out between India and Pakistan, my mother, still single and in her twenties, asked to be sent to the front line. Her proposal was rejected outright; there was no question of sending a woman to a war zone. It was still tough for women to get the so-called hard-news assignments of reporting on politics or crime, conflict reporting was beyond the pale.

So Prabha Dutt requested a few days of leave to visit her parents in Punjab. No sooner was her leave granted than she made her way to the front line in Khem Karan—all alone and without any infrastructural support or backup.

From there she began sending war dispatches to the paper, which were too good not to be published prominently. And so was born India’s first woman war correspondent.

Thirty-three years later, when I attempted to convince the army that I be allowed to report from the combat zone of the Kargil War, that my being a woman would not cause them any inconvenience, I remembered the battle that my mother and women of her generation had fought, opening the way for us to follow.

My defining memory of my mother would remain a photograph of her balanced precariously on the edge of an army tank, surrounded by soldiers, her head, protected by an olive green helmet, thrown back in a full-toothed smile, happy and utterly free.

Though she died from a sudden brain haemorrhage when I was just thirteen, my mother’s appetite for adventure, her dogged pursuit of a story, her rejection of anything that sought to constrict her, and her determination to be her own person even when it made her unpopular, would remain the deepest influences on my own life.

Much before her journalism would nudge me towards the world of news, her interventions as a parent had introduced me to the lifelong battle that being a woman entailed. When I was still in middle school, I remember her storming into school to know why I had been denied my choice of woodcraft as an extracurricular activity and been pushed into home science instead.

The woodcraft class involved the use of saws and sandpaper and heavy machinery that the school thought was unsuitable for girls. It took some vociferous arguing by my mother before the school authorities wilted and allowed me entry into the woodworking class.

Prabha Dutt was a staunch defender of the right of women to be treated on a par with men long before this notion became an idea that society was forced to take seriously. I learnt early enough that a successful woman, especially one with a public profile, would be scrutinized in the most unsparing and, quite often, unfair way.

As an unabashed feminist who has spent her life shrugging off ‘woman’ as a prefix to her identity as a journalist, I have always been loath to play the gender card when things go wrong. I am level-headed enough to recognize that neither praise nor criticism need to be taken too seriously.

But the extraordinary malice that I have had to contend with from time to time has made me pause and wonder—was I having to deal with such nonsense because I was a woman or was it because I didn’t conform to conventional notions of what a woman ought to be, or was it something else altogether?

I can’t say I have been able to find any clinching evidence for any of the foregoing, but whatever the reason, there has certainly been some strange fiction that was peddled about me. When I was younger it would hurt me just a little bit (despite my mother’s steely voice in my head encouraging me to not give a toss).

In 1999, when I came back to Delhi after a long, difficult stint on the front lines of the Kargil War, I was astounded by the avalanche of praise and positive feedback I received. But there were a few venomous whispers as well. It was said that my use of an iridium phone had given away a troop location.

Soon after I returned to Delhi, I was invited by General V. P. Malik, the then army chief, for a cup of tea where he complimented me for television coverage that he believed had been a force multiplier in the conflict. I thanked him, but also asked him if there was any truth to what was being said about my use of an iridium phone.

He laughed and said the army used the same phones and added that the Pakistani military did not have the ability to monitor such devices. He said that all journalists at the front had used the same phones since there was no other way to communicate.

The general would go on to record this conversation in his Kargil memoirs. But the internet, with its army of anonymous hatemongers, still tried to keep the absurd story alive. As I grew older, and more experienced in my profession, I recognized that every achievement would provoke a round of antipathy; it just came with the turf.

What I have never quite been able to comprehend is why I have often been singled out and made a symbol of everything that has been wrong about the media coverage of a major incident or event, even if hundreds of other journalists have also been present—as they were in Mumbai when the terror strikes took place on 26/11—or even for stories I had not reported on personally, such as the night police officer Hemant Karkare was killed.

In particular, I was taken aback by the vitriol of an Amsterdam-based blogger, whose vituperative rant was filled with all sorts of defamatory inaccuracies, including the old Kargil slander. His post was being emailed and shared on social media sites like Facebook.

I decided to stand up to the lies that were masquerading as a media critique and sent him a legal notice. He hastily took his post down; a development that would generate fresh controversy.

The blogger would justify his article later by saying that he had drawn his information from user-edited Wikipedia. Wiki’s many gems about me included gifting me two Kashmiri husbands I never had. Apparently, it still has a spouse entry for me, though I have never been married.

A few years later, I was—to my astonishment—charged with helping a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) politician, A. Raja—a man I have never met—secure a Cabinet berth in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. This was despite the fact that I had reported extensively on how the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was firmly opposed to his presence in the Cabinet.

The controversy, fuelled by some fellow journalists, broke after 100-odd phone conversations between Nira Radia and hundreds of people, including me, was leaked. Apart from the ludicrousness of the assumption that I had the clout to influence Cabinet formation— or any interest in it—what struck me as odd was that only a fraction of the 5,800 recorded conversations was leaked and nobody quite knows who picked what to keep secret and what to make public.

I knew Radia (though not particularly well), like hundreds of other senior journalists, because she was the public relations strategist for two of the biggest names in business—Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata.

At one point in 2009, when the DMK and the Congress were at loggerheads because of Manmohan Singh’s reluctance to take Raja and T. R. Baalu into the Cabinet, I was keen to hear the DMK side of the story. I knew absolutely no one in the DMK, perhaps because of my north-Indian focus.

Somebody told me that Radia was close to the DMK’s Kanimozhi, so I spoke to her as one among multiple sources to get a fix on what was going on behind the scenes. A journalist’s relationship with a source—any source—is always part- acting; you flatter to deceive and act friendlier than you feel in order to elicit the maximum information.

My conversation with her was no different—a gossipy exchange of notes on who was in and who was out, what the DMK might settle for and how much the Congress might be willing to compromise.

On air, I kept underlining how opposed Manmohan Singh was to the entry of Raja, something he failed to prevent because of—what his former media adviser Sanjaya Baru would later confirm in his memoirs—pressure from the party.

“Why don’t you just say sorry and be done with it?,” was the advice given to me by some well-meaning colleagues as a way to end the controversy. I remember one of them even saying people derived psychological satisfaction from an apology: that was the way to deal with the situation, rather than to aggressively defend oneself, which was my way.

I refused point blank—there was absolutely no way I was going to apologize for something I hadn’t done. But to make the point that just like I asked questions of other people, they must also have the same right to put questions to me, I opened myself to being grilled by a panel of four editors on an unedited programme that was aired on prime time.

If I have one regret about those hurtful few weeks, it’s only that I spent too much energy explaining myself; I should have let my work speak for me instead. But stuff like this remained, at best, an episodic blip on what has been an extraordinary opportunity for me to understand India.

This Unquiet Land by Barkha Dutt is available on Amazon.inYou can connect with Barkha Dutt on Twitter.


Living As A Single Woman In India: Problems and Solutions

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By Pallavi Bhattacharya

Whereas in India of the yesteryears, most adult Indian women may have been seen as wearing a mangal sutra and sindoor or a wedding or engagement ring on their finger; nowadays you see fewer adult women bearing external signs that they’re in a committed relationship.

Why is this so? This is because a considerable portion of women in romantic relationships, no longer feel it’s necessary to proclaim it through their attire that they aren’t single. The second reason is that the population of singles in India is also increasing.

The number of single women in India is increasing

In 2015, there were over 71 million single women in India. Over the last ten years, there has been a 39% increase in single women in India. Women above the age of 20, who are yet-to-be-married, widowed, divorced, separated and deserted by their husbands were regarded as eligible for this census.

The most prominent increase in single women was seen in the 25 to 29 age group. This indicates that the marriage age for women has gone up. The average age of marriage was 19.3 years in 1990 and became 21.2 years in 2011.

The 2011 census revealed that single women in India, in the 20 to 24 age group, have increased over the years, which is also indicative of the fact that more marriages are breaking down. The greatest percentage of single women is among widowed women.

Problems single women face in India

Whereas marriage comes with its share of benefits and problems, being single also has its pros and cons. However, in a country like India, which is by and large unkind to single women, our women face more trials and tribulations than women of first world nations, where there’s more of gender equality face. The challenges Indian single women face, are multifarious.

  • Financial security

Whereas upwardly mobile women from progressive families may have been imparted a good education and have been encouraged by their families to pursue lucrative careers; there are also millions of single women in India at grass root level, who have sadly been denied requisite education, which is why they have had no option whatsoever but to go on to take on low income jobs.

Worse still, there are some very conservative homes where women aren’t allowed to work. Indian women have always been disfavoured as far as inheritance of property is concerned, more so among traditional families. Because of all these reasons, the majority of Indian women are in a weak position.

Single women don’t enjoy the benefit of living in a double income family or being solely financially supported by their husbands. So, financial problems hit them hard if they aren’t earning well and/or haven’t inherited property.

  • Safety

As many Indians live in a joint family, the safety and security issues of single women are less predominant here. However, as nuclear families are gaining in popularity, many women do face problems with respect to safety, especially single women who travel to other cities for work.

  • Harassment by society

Very unfortunately, single women are stigmatised in India. Never married women are regarded as having some ‘defect’ for not having found a husband. Although this is true the world over, it is especially significant in the Indian scenario where marriage is regarded as a woman’s ultimate goal.

Divorced and separated women are often considered as characterless for being selfish enough not to have stayed in a marriage, no matter how hopeless that marriage might have been.

Widowed women, especially in rural areas are succumb to social atrocities like being forced to live on a meagre diet, being forbidden from enjoying life, having to wear white and not often being socially allowed to get into a relationship or remarry. Single women of all kinds, are vexed with many personal questions regarding their single status.

  • Sexual harassment

Men often prey on single women, as far as sexual harassment cases are concerned. Though women of all relationship status are the brunt of sexual harassment, men erroneously think that single women may more easily yield to their advances as they assume that they’re starved of a relationship and will therefore even be ready to be with an unattractive and obnoxious married man who is old enough to be her father or grandfather.

  • Absence of a romantic partner

Though many single women may not readily admit it, quite a few of them do miss the presence of a romantic partner in their lives. Some women settle for no-strings relationships, but the more traditional kind avoid doing so.

Marriage pressures are paramount from parents and relatives. The idea, however, is not to rush into marriage and to get into undesirable relationships.

  • Loneliness

Many single women face issues of loneliness, though there are many married women who may face the same. If single women feel confident of themselves and are psychologically strong, they are far less likely to feel lonely. Having an active social life, on both, the personal and professional front, helps to ward off loneliness.

  • Motherhood

Single women who don’t have children may crave motherhood. Nowadays single women are allowed to avail of artificial insemination in India.

However society will be quick to assume that it’s a child out of wedlock and make life quite difficult for both mother and child. Adoption is another way of becoming a mother.

Naaree.com spoke to single women of different social and economic backgrounds. This is what they had to say on the difficulties of being single in India:

Mamani’s story

Wherever you go in India, you’ll meet Indians with unquenchable thirst to know why you aren’t married. Mamani Das, Researcher and Assistant Professor in Computer Science, Kolkata says, “I am pestered as to why I am not married, especially when I attend ceremonies, family gatherings and weddings. I must admit that I do feel lonesome when I see couples happily together. I do miss motherhood and get hurt when women with kids intentionally bring up the fact that I don’t have children with the aim of making me feel miserable. There is possibility that later in life, I may adopt a child if I am still unmarried.”

As she has earned a Doctorate degree and thereby is quite professionally qualified, she earns quite well and is satisfied on the professional front. Regarding managing her finances, she says, “I did have to financially struggle when I was young as my father was unwell. To an extent, I funded my own my own higher education. So, I understand the value of money. I am a cautious spender and save prudently.”

Fiona’s story

Fiona Caroline, a single mother and Retail and Education Manager from Mumbai points out that Indians jump to the conclusion that a single mother must be perpetually unhappy. She says, “Most often when people ask me if I am married and I reply, ‘I’m single with three boys,’ they are stunned, because in their mind, a single woman with three boys must be someone who is sad, down and depressed, which I am not.”

Of course she went through troubled times right after her marriage fell apart. She says, “I must say that initially, when I found myself without a roof over my head and three boys to take care, my self esteem was extremely low. Even though I was a computer programmer, I just didn’t see myself able to earn even Rs. 1000/- at that time (2003) because I had lost touch with the IT industry. However, the moment I cleared my interview, I never looked back.”

On the personal front there were issues as well. She narrates, “I asked for my mum to give me shelter and that I would pay her a sum of money for living in her home. I did incur a lot of trouble during that period with my own mum. I think what society says is more important to people. The whole idea of a woman coming back to her parents’ home is not really acceptable to one’s own. I have been questioned by my neighbours who wanted to know if I would stay in my parents’ home forever, to which I replied in the affirmative. I thereafter decided to never look down on my own self because the moment you do that, you give others an opportunity to look down on you.”

The courageous lady credits her educational background and faith in God for having sailed through troubles. She says, “I have held my head high and have given my 100% to my three boys. I don’t think I would have preferred my family to help me monetarily. I believe the education I got helped me reach where I am, not to mention my belief in the one above.”

When asked if she faced problems as her family is traditional, she replies, “I do not come from an orthodox family, but I do remember that when I used to go out with my friends at work on a weekend, my mum would have a problem with that. I had to tell her that I was not a teenager and that I have a life of my own. I told her that I can be single with three boys and yet enjoy being social.”

She acknowledges the fact that loneliness is a problem but also feels that there are ways to overcome the same. She says, “There are times one feels lonely, especially when one sees other friends who have a complete family. However, there is no time to feel lonely all the time as there is so much to do. I also serve in the church and work towards helping others, which leaves me less time to think. I have learnt to spend my time reading, taking music classes and painting.”

She consistently saves money as well. She remarks, “I have saved money for myself in the last 13 years and have been blessed with a good job. I am only in my second job in the last 13 years and am thoroughly enjoying it. I ensure to save through SIPs as money doesn’t remain in my hand. Sometimes it’s difficult to cater to the needs of all the three boys. However, my eldest is working now and so is my second son. They have their lives and I believe they should look after themselves and not me. They should start saving for their own future. I do not ask them to give me any money.”

Rupali’s story

Rupali Sutar from Mumbai, who has separated from her husband, is inundated with myriad questions on why the separation happened. People are quick to jump to the conclusion that the marriage may have fallen apart as Rupali is of questionable character.

Often people unfairly pin the blame on her for the separation. They say that in India, even if the marriage has serious problems and the husband is at fault, the wife must submissively put up with the miseries, continue to suffer in silence and repeatedly forgive her husband.

Her puritanical friends and acquaintances are scandalized as she walked out of a marriage. Many of them instil fear in her in terms of her financial future, instead of being encouraging and supportive.

Initially, her husband wasn’t providing for her post separation. After the court issued a formal order that he must financially support their son, he is giving the child an allowance, which isn’t however sufficient, according to Rupali.

He does take the child on outings but doesn’t adequately share more serious responsibilities like taking the child to the doctor when ill. Rupali with the help of her parental family teaches her child, her husband doesn’t share this duty. A worried Rupali says, “My son is now five. I feel concerned as expenditures will increase as my son gets older.”

Rupali was a bright student, who however unfortunately dropped out of her school after Class 10. Her parents insisted that she complete her education. She was carried away after having falling in love, studies was the last thing on her mind. Her family dissuaded her from marrying the man she had fallen in love with, as he was without a job and not too keen on having a career.

Her marriage to the same man she had once disregarded her education for, has now soured. Rupali, who now heads the housekeeping department of a call centre, feels that had her parents had the money to put her in an English medium school instead of a vernacular one and had she gone on to complete her graduation, she may have been able to do a better job.

Rupali has already received marriage proposals from two grooms whom she considers worthy of winning her hand in marriage. Once bitten twice shy, she will not make the mistake of marrying a man who is not focused on his career.

She has to put up with sexual harassment. Much to her annoyance, she often receives raunchy messages from these men. She politely and firmly tells them to back off. Rupali may remarry once her divorce comes through.

Sabitri’s story

Sabitri Dey who lost her husband to liver failure this year is hounded with nosey questions from people who demand in knowing intricate details on how her husband expired. They remind her that had her financial condition been better, her husband’s life could have been saved. They conveniently don’t mention that they did nothing to help her monetarily when she needed help.

Her late husband’s friends have however been very supportive. They regard her as their rakhi sister. They have vowed that they’ll put any man who sexually harasses her in his place.

Post widowhood, she has started working in the paddy fields of West Bengal. She has four sons, the two older sons are working. After her younger sons reach adulthood, she wishes to relocate to Mumbai, where she’ll work as a domestic helper. In West Bengal, the rate for the same work is less. She feels that this will help her save money for herself in old age and also upgrade her family’s financial condition. As of now, apart from her current income, her parents and elder sons help her financially. Had she not dropped out of school after Class 3, she could have had a brighter career.

The greatest problem she currently faces is loneliness. She says, “I deeply miss my late husband. I cry every day, while remembering him. My parents provide a shoulder to cry on. They’re very consoling. I don’t wish to remarry and my family respects my wish.”

My story

I lost my father when I was eight years old. My mother raised three children along with the help of my maternal grandparents. She never compromised on the quality of education. We were enrolled in one of the best schools and colleges of the city. She hired the best private tutors for us. We were all bought expensive reference books which immensely helped in our studies.

My mum sacrificed a lot but not buying any costly clothes and commodities for herself. We had to curtail on buying toys, expensive attire and eating out. We went on budget trips to nearby places. Our lifestyle of course underwent a radical change from the times when my father was alive, and we were touring the world with him. My mum taught Sanskrit in college, during a time when college teachers didn’t have a high pay in West Bengal.

I regret not going on to do my Masters in English. I had cleared B.A. in English Honours with good marks and had I completed M.A, I could have opted for teaching in college. That would have ensured a much better salary than the payment I am now receiving as a journalist.

As a single 38-year-old woman from a middle class family, I do have my share of problems. In Mumbai, which is one of the friendlier Indian cities towards single women, I am hardly annoyed with personal questions regarding my personal status. However whenever I visit my hometown Kolkata, I’m annoyed with stupid queries on why I am unmarried.

My mum is on pension now and at times takes up translation work. With her pay, my salary and the rent we receive from a flat of ours which I have rented out, we pay all our bills and can afford to spend on a few leisure and entertainment activities. We however cannot afford going on holidays, on shopping sprees and indulging ourselves in salons.

I do miss out on the travel part. At times, I feel irritated when some rich people taunt me for not having a more extravagant lifestyle. I feel greatly concerned about my financial future and am trying for writing assignments which pay higher and to cut down on expenses so that I can save more.

There was a time, when I didn’t know how to deal with loneliness. Now, I don’t feel too lonely. My rabbit and a spiritual group which I have joined have greatly worked towards alleviating my loneliness. My friends have got busy with their lives, especially after marriage and parenthood, so I don’t bank on them for constant company.

Taking into consideration that safety and security reasons may be a problem for a single woman in India, I have bought a flat in a very well guarded society, in the heart of a busy bustling neighbourhood. I live with a full time maid, who is very reliable and has been appointed only after a thorough background check. The main door has a safety window.

I hardly miss the presence of a man in my life. I feel that I am now much happier than the times I’ve been in bad relationships. I am not vigorously searching for a soul mate. If marriage happens, I’ll be happy though. However, if my desirable partner doesn’t come along, I’d rather be single.

What I miss most in my life though is a child. I don’t think that I am ready for adoption as my earning isn’t sufficient to raise a child. Nor do I have the time or human support to help me raise a child.

I have faced sexual harassment from men, who love to target single women. The worst case was when a married co-worker of mine in his mid sixties, gave me great grief for having spurned his advances. He went on defaming me at workplaces. He had told me, “You hardly have any choice but to accept whichever man comes to you, as you are a single Indian woman above 30.”

Also, conservative India at large, is prejudiced when they see a single woman living all by herself. In cosmopolitan Mumbai, where people are used to seeing single independent women, this discrimination is less.

However in the town of Vasai, where I live, this bias is quite strong. For instance if I go to watch a film in a multiplex in Mumbai, those selling tickets have given me a seat besides other women or a family, even if I don’t request them to do so as they know that I will not want to sit beside stags. Never have I been harassed in a Mumbai multiplex.

However, when I have requested for the same in a Vasai multiplex, I have received the answer, “Good women are married. They never come alone to watch a film in Vasai. Bad women like you come to watch a movie all alone for obvious reasons. We cannot help women with nefarious motives like you.”

I tried to explain to them that I live all alone and nor am I in college that I can come with a group of friends. So, I have no option but to see a film alone. The reply I got was, “Then you shouldn’t watch films at all but stay at home and cook instead, as that’s what a chaste Indian woman does.”

I told them that I am a journalist who covered film beat and interviewed stars. So, I couldn’t afford to stay home at cook and clean all day ‘to prove my chastity’. I had to watch films to keep up-to-date with Bollywood, if I missed the premiere I had to buy a ticket to watch the show.

I also pointed out to them that a man can come alone to watch a film, without being labelled as characterless. So, why are they being biased towards a woman who was doing the same? They were surprised to hear that I was a journalist. They didn’t have a logical answer to the gender discrimination point I had made. So they rudely said, “Buy a ticket or get lost.”

Manju’s story/Sociologist’s views

Manju Nichani, Principal of K.C College is also a Sociologist who leads a happy and fulfilled life as a single woman. A dynamic administrator, a great orator and a practical visionary- she has led K.C College to become one of the best educational institutions in the country.

Her enthusiasm for life and her desire to make K.C better than the best are her defining qualities. She herself says that she has never felt the loss of a husband or children since her students are her children and she would never give up the freedom that she has had to lead her life as she wished.

When asked why single women in India were so often discriminated against, she answered, “Indians generally have a social mindset that women must all get married by a certain age. If a woman is not married then people automatically assume that there must be a flaw in the woman or that she has suffered from a broken relationship. It is just unimaginable for people to think that a woman might have consciously chosen not to get married. My parents too had reservations when I told them that I did not wish to marry as I desired to concentrate on my career and did not want to compromise on my freedom to take my own decisions. Later, however, when I got a good job and secured a good position in my career, they changed their mind and agreed with my decision. But the startling fact is that despite me now being above 60 years of age, I still get asked why I have not married. People automatically assume that I have missed out on something important in my life by not entering the wedded state.”

When asked about the pressure to get married that every Indian girl faces, Nichani said, “Indians are so preconditioned to marriage that there is a huge psychological pressure upon girls, both in rural and urban areas, to get married. I recently met a young girl who has a flourishing career but is unmarried and this is a source of great worry to her mother. The mother was anxious about who would look after her daughter once the parents passed away, even though the daughter was well off financially. So even in today’s age the pressure to get married remains the same. However, I feel that things will change as more and more women will themselves wish to remain single and devote more time to their careers”

To the question whether single women face more of sexual harassment, Manju Nichani replied, “Women, both married and unmarried face sexual harassment. However a single woman can be targeted more easily as a sexual predator assumes that such a woman has outgrown the conventional age of marriage so has no choice in the matter and will accept his advances.”

As far as issues of loneliness were concerned, she pointed out, “Loneliness is more of an emotional mindset. I live all alone in a big house but have never felt lonely as my friends and relatives are always around. With my friends I socialize, go on trips together, and on girls’ night out. ”

Regarding financial woes that a single woman faces, Nichani explained, “It’s not as if married women do not face financial issues. There are situations where a woman’s alcoholic husband squanders away all her hard-earned money and she has to provide for her entire family. Today more and more single women are working, even those from underprivileged sections. The problem that still exists is that women don’t stand up for their rights. Women have a legal right to their parental property but do not wish to fight their brothers in court for it, hence give up their right. So women accept subjugation without realizing that they are merely furthering patriarchy.”

On old age and its problems, she said, “Old age issues exist for everyone. Nowadays, there are some very well managed old age homes which have all facilities. I know of many people who have already registered in such societies and homes and many who are happy living there. Such societies cater exclusively to the senior citizens and have excellent health care and recreational facilities. Besides, there are no guarantees in life. A married woman may become a widow and have to live her old age alone or children may be living far away and may not be available or willing to take care of mothers who have grown old.”

Ms Manju Nichani’s clear opinions and positive frame of mind tell us of a strong, passionate woman who is full of the zest for life. She is an example of what every modern woman longs to be – someone who lives life on her own terms and is her own woman.

The Social Worker’s Opinion

Rekha Mody, activist and social worker, a pioneer in women empowerment and founder of the NGO Stree Shakti says, “A single woman’s life is full of challenges. Life becomes more complicated in the autumn of life. We have information that women of age seventy and above carry on working in fields, as vegetable vendors and as workers in un-organised sectors. With age their earning capacity goes down, their saving is not enough to sustain them. Health issues, isolation and lack of social security makes life tough. The social structure does not offer solutions, it is an area much neglected by civil societies and the Government, both central and state. The new ageing policy of India should look into this sector seriously.”

The Psychologist’s Opinion

Dr. Cicilia Chettiar. Head of Department of Psychology, MNW College, Mumbai, agrees that single women are socially discriminated in India. She says, “India definitely is more closed than progressive nations when it comes to accepting a divorced or single woman. In India, a major problem of single women is facing the world outside. If you’re in a metro it’s still manageable, but in the smaller cities, single women are looked down upon, especially if they are divorced. The lack of social support and the gossip behind their backs makes it very difficult for them to survive on a day to day basis. The typical caricature of the eccentric single spinster who can’t get along with others is however slowly receding.”

Regarding mental health problems linked to singlehood in women, she says, “Companionship remains a big challenge. What it boils down to is how complete the woman feels by herself. If she is unhappy with being single then she can face a range of psychological problems with low esteem and depression topping the list.”

She agrees that finance may be an area of concern for a single woman. She explains, “Financial security is primary. Not having to worry about who will provide medical and financial support till her last breath takes away a big part of the woman’s worries. So it is important for women to have a solid financial plan, a home of her own, basic independence in terms of transportation, investments and a set of trustworthy people whom she can fall back on during emergencies. If there are children involved, the accompanying financial pressures make life challenging for the mother and the child.”

Solutions for the problems single women face in India:

  • Parents must be motivated to educate their daughters as well as they educate their sons. Education is now a fundamental right in our country, children are now entitled to free education in a neighbourhood school till elementary school, making it easier for economic unprivileged families to send their kids to school. If more women complete higher education, we’ll see more of them with high salaried jobs.
  • Many women are disallowed to work despite the fact that they are highly educated. Whereas we have national campaigns on the need to educate the girl child, awareness should also be spread that a woman who is willing to work should not be forced not to do so. Many Indian men prefer a homemaker as a wife. Often in-laws also insist for the same. At times, women themselves leave their jobs after marriage if their husband earns well. If the marriage falls apart or the woman is widowed, she may have a hard time getting a job matching their qualifications because of a career gap.
  • Women go on drawing the short end as far as inheriting property is concerned. There needs to be national campaigns encouraging that women are not disfavoured as far as inheritance rights are concerned.
  • Single women need to wisely plan their finances, try hard to save regularly and be cautious about expenditures.
  • For single who miss the presence of a child in their lives, may consider the option of motherhood either through a sperm bank or adoption. This may only be done if one has ample finances to raise a child and can devote time towards him/ her. Else, one may spend quality time with nephews and nieces. One may also engage in a profession or hobby which allows constant interaction with kids, like teaching or volunteering at an orphanage.
  • The solution to security problems is to live with roommates, and/or a protective dog (provided you can afford one) in a safe and secure neighbourhood and not to divulge personal details to strangers.
  • Feeling loneliness is more of a state of mind. A psychologically strong woman is not likely to face the same. Living with people or pets, keeping busy and engaging in social activities reduces chances of loneliness.
  • India still has a long way to go before the nation becomes kinder to single women. Parents need to teach their kids right from childhood that they should respect women of all relationship statuses. The point however is that the parents themselves need to be educated in this regard.
  • Remarriage or getting into a relationship should be a viable social option for widowed and divorced women. Irrespective of that the fact whether the woman decides to head to the altar again, opt for a live-in relationship or have a strings no attached relationship; it would be nice if she’s not pestered with questions or judged or misjudged based on her personal choices.

 

Are Indian Working Women ‘Leaning In’ To Their Careers?

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The answer is not as obvious as the question and answering it in a definite “Yes” or “No” would be unfair by most yardsticks. The best way to get any closer to the answer is getting answers from real life working women.

Women are definitely investing more in their education and as any ambitious career person they would like to see themselves in a very good position in a few years. But it is not a straight highway they want to ride on to. It is more of a roller-coaster ride especially when they enter three major phases of their lives.

The first one being their marriage, second being their maternity time, and third one being big moves by their spouse. In India we have seen women function as the epitome of sacrifice, and if they wade through these three phases of life while handling their career too, they are seen as selfish, highly ambitious women.

Thankfully, times are changing even if the change is apparent in just a few pockets of the society or in a few states.

“There are women who manage their careers with certain help. We’ve got plenty of services oriented towards working women, domestic help always comes to rescue and then there are in-laws who support their daughters-in-law to save their careers.”, clarifies Mrs Soni who is herself working in a leading HR firm.

In families where the woman is the sole earner, or families where they have higher salaries than their male counterpart, they tend to lean in more. No compromise is their motto and things are getting easier for them too.

Products like cleaning robots and ready-to-eat curries are also pointing towards the trend that women want automation of most of the household chores, so that they can pay more attention towards their career goals.

A very different trend starting now-a-days is if you’ve taken a break, you can start afresh. This fresh idea of starting all over again was also accepted very well by highly qualified women pointing towards their interest in their career.

“Tata group had started something for a woman which was welcomed by many women who had the gap of at most 8 years in their careers and who were either professionals or post-graduates. I hope they also come up with these kinds of schemes for other women too”, suggests Mrs Mehta.

The graph is certainly changing where Indian working women are “leaning in” to their careers.

“Society wants them to take full responsibility of the festivals, children’s education and family. Is it a burden or something they have to do while sacrificing their career? No, is the answer, because happy woman will always contribute better. Frustrated career woman can never be at peace as a homemaker. So I believe being in the rat race sometimes helps achieve better”, argues Mrs Walia, who is working in an IT firm.

Financially, too, it is a wise decision if a woman leans in to her career, until and unless it is really required to bid farewell to her career for some reason. Soaring prices of real estate and education is the reason why some women continue and in the process they achieve their professional goals, too.

If we want to see India flourish then we should be ready to accept this change with open arms.

© Naaree.com

Workplace Sexual Harassment in India: How to Deal with It

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Naaree.com interviewed Advocate Garima Srivastava to learn about workplace sexual harassment in India. Here she explains how sexual harassment looks and how women can deal with it and fight it in the workplace and the courts.

  1. What are the most common forms of workplace sexual harassment in India?

When we think of sexual harassment at the workplace, we tend to think of a male superior/boss threatening a female employee with serious repercussions if she rejects his sexual advances or refuses to give in to demands for sexual favors.

However, the most common forms of workplace sexual harassment are insidious as opposed to direct. But, what is appalling is that these forms of sexual harassment are perceived as “harmless” by most people!

In most cases, sexual harassment proceeds in a seemingly inconspicuous manner but has detrimental effects on both the psychological well being as well as the career prospects of the victim.

The most common forms of sexual harassment at the workplace include but are not limited to:

  • unwanted invitations for dinner, dates, drinks or parties
  • obscene gestures, lewd jokes about sex or gender
  • sexual innuendos and comments, sexist remarks
  • showing pornography, sexually explicit images or offensive pictures/images
  • sending sexually explicit emails or messages or other forms of sexually explicit communication and
  • attempts at seeking physical proximity or contact with a woman.

Sexual harassment can take a variety of forms but broadly there are two forms:

a. quid pro quo sexual harassment which takes place when employment conditions and decisions are based on whether an employee is willing to grant sexual favors. Promotions, increments, work assignments, training opportunities and performance appraisals are some of the benefits that can be granted in exchange for sexual favors;

b. a hostile work environment in which unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature creates an uncomfortable environment for some employees. Sexually provocative pictures, sexually explicit conversations, inappropriate touching are all examples of this form of harassment.

The affront to personal dignity that occurs as a consequence of sexual harassment detrimentally affects the work environment. What matters is the impact of the behavior on the work environment not the intent behind the behavior. Women of all age groups and backgrounds experience sexual harassment.

  1. How can you be sure that what you’re facing classifies as sexual harassment?

The keyword here is “unwelcome”. Sexual harassment is unwelcome conduct. Sexual harassment is a legally recognized form of sex discrimination.

Sex based conduct in the workplace is unwelcome when an employee does not initiate or solicit the conduct or when the employee regards the conduct as offensive. Whether the behavior was unwelcome is a subjective test, that is, it is a subjective question from the perspective of the person alleging sexual harassment.

How the alleged victim of harassment perceived and experienced the conduct of the alleged offender is pertinent not the intention behind such conduct. It is irrelevant that such behavior/conduct may not have been unwelcome to the others.

The legal test for sexual harassment has the following components:

  1. the behavior must be unwelcome;
  2. it must be of a sexual nature;
  3. it must be such that a reasonable person would anticipate in the circumstances that the harassed person would be offended, humiliated and/or intimidated.

Whether the behavior was offensive, humiliating or intimidating is an objective test which means whether a reasonable person would have anticipated that the behavior would have had this effect.

Unwelcome behavior need not be repeated or continuous. A single instance of unwelcome conduct can amount to sexual harassment.

Furthermore, the Act has widened the definition of “workplace” to include departments, branch offices, hospitals, stadiums, educational institutions or any place visited by the employee during the course of employment including transportation.

  1. What should women keep in mind when dealing with a harasser?

Dealing with a harasser is obviously not easy but what women need to bear foremost in their minds is that a complaint of sexual harassment cannot be dismissed simply because the woman subjected to harassment did not confront or inform the harasser that his conduct was unwelcome.

There is no compulsion on the woman to confront or tell the harasser directly that his behavior is unwelcome. Consent or participation which is obtained by fear, intimidation and threats will not rule out a complaint of sexual harassment.

It is the employer’s duty and responsibility under the law to provide women a safe working environment. If the employee is in a vulnerable position, she may appear to acquiesce in the unwelcome conduct of the harasser. However, this does not mean that the conduct was consensual or that sexual harassment has not occurred.

Ignoring sexual harassment will only worsen your situation so familiarize yourself with your rights and ACT. You can choose a course of action depending on the gravity of the situation but inaction will only embolden the harasser to violate rights of other women too.

Speaking up will not only help women find support but may in fact protect others from becoming victims of harassment.

  1. What legal options are available to women in India who deal with workplace sexual harassment?

Our Constitution recognizes the fundamental rights of working women under Articles 14, 15, 19 & 21.

The Supreme Court of India, in its landmark judgment in Vishaka & Others vs State of Rajasthan (1997), for the first time, recognized sexual harassment at the workplace as a human rights violation and not just a personal injury.

The judgment laid down guidelines making it mandatory for every employer to provide a mechanism to redress grievances pertaining to workplace sexual harassment. These guidelines have been codified in the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act & Rules, 2013.

The ambit of this Act is very wide and its provisions are applicable to both the organized and the unorganized sectors, public and private sectors. The definition of ‘employee’ under the Act is fairly wide and covers regular, ad hoc and temporary employees, individuals engaged on a daily wage basis, contract labour, probationers, trainees, apprentices and even voluntary and domestic workers.

The Act requires an employer to set up an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) at each office or branch of an organization employing at least 10 people. The government is required to set up a Local Complaints Committee (LCC) at the district level to investigate complaints of sexual harassment from organizations where the ICC has not been constituted owing to the organization having less than 10 employees or where the complaint is against the employer.

The Act sets out constitution of the Committees, the procedure to be followed for making a complaint and the investigation that has to be completed within a stipulated timeframe: a written complaint has to be filed by the harassed female employee (“aggrieved woman” under the law) within 3 months of the date of the incident.

The Complaints Committees have the powers of civil courts to gather evidence. The Committee is required to complete the inquiry within a period 90 days. Upon completion of the inquiry, the Report will be sent to the employer or the District Officer, as the case may be, and they have to take action on the Report within 60 days.

The complainant also has the option to ask the Complaints Committee to facilitate conciliation before initiating an enquiry. If a settlement is arrived at between the parties, no further inquiry shall be conducted by the ICC or the LCC.

However, if the aggrieved woman informs the ICC or the LCC that any term of the settlement has not been complied with by the respondent (alleged offender), the ICC or the LCC shall proceed to make an inquiry into the complaint or forward the complaint to the police.

The inquiry process has to be confidential and a penalty is imposed where confidentiality is breached. During the pendency of the inquiry of the ICC/LCC, on a written request by the aggrieved woman, the ICC/LCC can recommend the employer to transfer the aggrieved woman or the respondent to any other workplace or grant leave to the aggrieved woman up to a period of 3 months or grant such other relief as may be prescribed.

Under the Companies Act, 2013, sexual harassment can also be reported by a third party or a whistleblower. Furthermore, the law has made provisions for friends, co-workers, psychologists, psychiatrists and legal heirs to file a complaint if the aggrieved woman is unable to make her complaint owing to physical or mental incapacity or death.

Under the Act, it is the employer’s duty to provide assistance to the aggrieved woman if she chooses to file a complaint under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or any other law, cause to initiate under the IPC or any other law against the perpetrator or if the aggrieved woman so desires, where the perpetrator is not an employee, in the workplace at which the incident of sexual harassment took place and treat sexual harassment as misconduct under the service rules and initiate action for such misconduct. There is penalty for non-compliance with the provisions of the Act.

The Indian Penal Code was amended in April 2013 to include a new section pertaining to sexual harassment of women. The Criminal Law Amendment Act has introduced Section 354A which enlists the acts which constitute the offence of sexual harassment and prescribes penalty for the same.

Section 354A includes within the scope of sexual harassment the following acts:

  1. Physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures;
  2. A demand or request for sexual favors;
  3. Showing pornography against the will of the woman; and
  4. Making sexually colored remarks
  1. What is the best way to go about reporting sexual harassment?

Before I answer this question, I must point out that most women do not report sexual harassment at the workplace because they apprehend retaliation by the employer or the harasser.

In most cases where sexual harassment is proved, employers may terminate the employment of a harasser but eventually they may terminate the employment of the complainant as well as she is perceived as a “troublemaker”, not the recipient of trouble.

Very often the harasser is a superior who wields control over the reporting employee’s prospects for promotion, status of her progress at work and the most convenient weapon in the arsenal of such harassers is raising “performance issues” against the complainant or giving her a negative feedback during appraisals.

Similarly, a retaliating employer can threaten the complainant’s job prospects in another company by giving the prospective employer an adverse report on her competence, credentials and even moral conduct.

Often the only witness is a co-worker who may be reluctant to depose against another colleague or a superior. Consequently, the ICC could find the complaint “not proved” for lack of evidence and label it a “false” or “malicious” complaint not recognizing the crucial difference between a complaint “not proved” and a “false” or “malicious” complaint.

These are genuine fears that overwhelm a harassed woman but unfortunately, it is the reality, especially of corporate India. Most corporate entities have been found to be largely non-compliant with the law on sexual harassment. Now in this scenario, how does a woman go about reporting workplace harassment?

Women must always bear in mind that there is no one way of responding to harassment. Every situation is different and if the victim is unable to evaluate the situation for herself to take suitable action against the harasser, she must consult a lawyer who can give her clarity on the best course of action because facts pertaining to unwelcome conduct would have to be brought within the purview of the law to satisfy the tests for establishing sexual harassment.

If you are feeling harassed, document the situation immediately: include dates, time, places, incidents, names of person(s) involved and witnesses.

Maintain a record of phone calls, web chats, SMS/MMS, emails or any other communication that will help to establish the factum of harassment. Put down your grievance(s) in writing or in an electronic form and report it to Human Resources Department.

As stated above, “unwelcome” conduct is an essential requirement of sexual harassment. Firmly refuse any offers of dinners, parties, drinks or other forms of socialization which are not work related. Most importantly, speak to your colleagues about your experiences with the harasser because chances are that you are not the sole victim of harassment.

If your employer retaliates against you, you may seek the assistance of an NGO or write in to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs or the Ministry of Women and Child Development or even directly approach the police where the offence is of a criminal nature such as stalking, molestation, assault or demand for sexual favors.

  1. What are the steps that a woman should take to ensure that her complaint is taken seriously?

Despite the stringent provisions of law, there is no certainty that a female employee’s complaint of sexual harassment will be taken seriously by her employer. As I have pointed out above, most employers have been found to be non-compliant with the law on sexual harassment.

The best course of action is to let your employer know that you will escalate your complaint with the higher authorities if you have reasonable grounds to believe that it will not act on your complaint seriously or is likely to retaliate against you or victimize you.

  1. Is there anything else to keep in mind?

Sexual harassment is linked with power and is designed to coerce women; in fact it’s a combination of unacceptable sexual behavior and abuse of power in a society which often treats women as sex objects.

The Sexual Harassment Act has been enacted with the objective of providing women protection against sexual harassment at the workplace, prevention and redressal of complaints of sexual harassment.

Presence or occurrence of circumstances of implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in employment, threat of detrimental treatment in employment and threat about present or future employment affect the aggrieved woman’s health and safety and amount to sexual harassment.

Victimization, vilification and retaliation are common consequences faced by women who report sexual harassment but in my opinion, despite all these odds stacked against women, rising number of complaints of sexual harassment against men occupying high profile offices indicates that finally harassers who abuse power are increasingly finding themselves in the dock and facing social embarrassment if not imprisonment or termination of employment. This is a positive development.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has released a Handbook on the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013. It is a ready reckoner for aggrieved women, employers and members of ICC and an initiative to spread awareness about workplace sexual harassment.

All employers and working women should consult this handbook as it prescribes best practices to enable a harassment free workplace.

Garima Srivastava is an Advocate practicing in New Delhi. She conducts workshops across India to create awareness among women pertaining to their rights under various laws, especially laws applicable in the workplace. Her areas of practice and interest include constitutional law, environmental law, corporate and commercial laws, consumer disputes and child rights. You can write in to her at advocategarima@gmail.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

The Status Of Women In The Modern Workplace

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The modern workplace is the first sign that the world has changed for the better. Now everybody has the chance to become who they want to be, from astronaut to businessperson.

People get hired by companies located on the other side of the planet, which seems amazing, but it is all thanks to the power of the Internet. However, no matter how far we step into the future, the modern workplace still holds tight to gender inequality.

In this article, we take a look at the status of professional women in the workplace today.

1. The Wage Gap

During the past decades, there has been a clear rise of women in the workplace. It has only been 200 years since women started to earn an income on their own and that happened because of First World War.

When the cruel times came to an end, things were already changed completely, so the female force work remained active. However, they only received petty jobs like nurses or secretaries and their wages were much lower than men’s.

So, today, when we see women in higher positions such as CEOs or even Presidents and inspirational leaders, we are actually witnessing the results of the 19th movement that tried to balance the men’s and women’s rights within the workplace. However, the question remains to what extent things have changed.

Let’s take a look at how much women earn today in comparison to men. Studies show that in any professional field, there is a ubiquitous gap between the paycheck a woman receives at the end of the month and the much higher revenue a man that occupies the same job makes.

Women represent around 51% of the present workforce. However, in 2014, they were active within full-time jobs yet they earned on average only 79% of men’s annual income.

In the last 10 years – between 2005 and 2014 – India has witnessed a massive decline in the number of women workers, the highest in the world. One reason for this could be the massive gap in salaries of men and women, with female techies earning 29% less than men in IT companies.

On the 24th of October, 2016, around 2:38 PM, thousands of women left work early and headed to Austurvollur square in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik. They were trimming a typical 9-to-5 workday by precisely two hours and 22 minutes, or around 30 percent, which also happens to be the gap in average annual income for men and women in Iceland.

While symbolic, this action demonstrated to the world that, even in a relatively progressive nation like Iceland, where women make up almost half of Parliament, there is still progress to be made in terms of the wage gap.

Economists have been trying to explain this phenomenon as the influence of personal choices when it comes to lifestyle. Many women choose careers that have a higher percentage of women and men do the same. This is how some fields remain dominated by women and others by men. However, it is much simpler for men to enter female career choices than the other way around.

Coming back to the influence of lifestyle, economists stated that women choose careers with flexible schedules while men are more willing to sacrifice their spare time for professional success. However, the choice of conducting one’s life seems a too big a generalization while the worldwide news displays a different story.

Lilly Ledbetter is a woman that sued her company because she noticed that her male colleague, who performs the same chores as she has, actually earns better than she. Her case became so strong, that the President of United States, Barack Obama, signed a pact that has her name, which gives anyone the right to sue for pay discrimination.

While this is a major step forward for the women rights at the modern workplace, this kind of inequality persists all over the world.

2. Descriptive Gender Stereotypes

The modern workplace shows an evolution of gender discrimination through two methods, namely descriptive and prescriptive gender stereotypes. The descriptive bias regards the set of preconceptions that are attached to a certain group of people.

Professionals seem to see working women in a certain way such as calm, careful, kind, and other attributes that together form a motherly picture. This description seems more to fit the responsibilities of a dental hygienist than the ones of authoritative positions.

However, by replacing objective criticism with this unconfirmed image, women are suffering in male-dominated professions. These careers usually require determination, logical thinking, decision making, and problem-solving skills which the character of a loving mother lacks. This is why in India, only 7.7% of board seats are occupied by women.

However, there are just a few traces of descriptive gender stereotypes in the system of a company, which makes them invisible in the face of justice.

For example, job descriptions are offering a hiring opportunity both for men and for women in an equal way. When the employers read in a resume that a woman made a monumental breakthrough in her field, she becomes competent in their eyes.

On the other hand, when the recruiters study an extremely impressive resume belonging to a certain man, they find him both competent and likable. It is easy to assume that the company will prefer the presence of a both competent and likable new employee.

3. Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes

When a woman shows a violation of her stereotype of a mother figure, she will not break free from wrong judgments. On the contrary, she will fall in a deeper layer of discrimination, also called as prescriptive bias.

For example, when a woman becomes angry at the workplace, she violates a general woman’s attribute as warm. Her anger is seen as a result of her feelings. This means that her reasons are internal and have nothing to do with the situation in question.

On the other hand, when a man gets angry, his intentions are described as a natural reaction to a stressful issue. Thus, his motives are legit and professional.

Prescriptive gender stereotypes start right from the resumes. When women create a self-image in their professional achievements that goes against the gender perceptions they are more likely to obtain an interview than men.

This is because the recruiters see them less likable, but more competent and with better social skills. However, when the resumes describe a woman that resembles the prescriptive stereotypes, they are evaluated the same as the men’s CVs.

state-of-women-in-modern-workplace

4. Covert and Overt Harassment

It seems strange that workplace sexual harassment is still a real issue in our modern world. However, many companies had to pay a high price in many lawsuits where female employees won the case against obnoxious managers or colleagues.

Due to laws that protect women at their workplace and the programs hosted by companies, that teach about how to avoid harassment while at job, overt harassment has seen a substantial decrease.

However, while a direct sexual addressing is now a serious problem and can be sanctioned with losing one’s job, a new form of sexual harassment has appeared.

This toxic trend takes a covert form, which makes it less noticeable thus harder to call it to justice. These can be sexist jokes or remarks, and asking for favors from female colleagues that can exempt men from extra workload.

All these types of covert harassment can contribute to a hostile work environment where women have to deal with bigger challenges than men. This can lead to serious damages that affect self-esteem.

Women can come to consider that they are not worthy of higher positions or job promotions. This makes women a weaker competition for men, which can be one of the explanations why there is such a small number of female CEOs.

While the covert harassment takes less obvious forms than overt forms, the repercussions can be equally damaging. Open gender sexism can harm women’s health and character, but the low-intensity maltreatment can lead to stressful working conditions and work overload.

Unfortunately, even though this overt harassment has been present in the modern workplace for quite a while, there has not been yet a movement against it as effective as the one for the open harassment.

Specialists state that if things continue to change this slowly, it will take another 53 years to obtain full gender equality in the workplace.

5. Then and Now

In order to fully comprehend the state of women in the modern workforce, it requires a journey to the past to observe that women are nonetheless in a better place right now.

For the last 60 years, women have conquered the job market little by little, and they continue to fight to obtain gender equality. Records show that 63.3% of women age 16 to 24 worked in 1998 while there was only a 43.9% presence in 1950.

Moreover, in 1979 women earned only 58% as much as men did, while they decreased the gap by 73% in 1993. Also, there is a current trend that sees women are enrolling in greater number for higher education than men, which makes them more prepared for the job market.

However, even though things look better for women in the modern workplace, there is still a lot of work left to be done in the sector of equal rights. Employers continue to respect more the market revenue trends which clearly set a gap between the how much men and women earn.

Instead, HR recruiting efforts should be persuaded to conform to Equal Employment Opportunity. Authorities should also encourage women to pursue educational programs that offer them opportunities for higher paying careers that are usually dominated by men, such as technicians, architects, movie directors or programmers.

In conclusion, the state of women in the modern workplace has much improved in the last two decades. However, gender inequality is a social phenomenon that still dictates the differences in wages and perception between men and women.

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10 Unconscious Mistakes Every Woman Makes at Work

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Have you ever wondered why some women cannot be regarded as equal partners in business even though they have vast knowledge and impeccable training?

There is always a woman who climbed the success ladder quickly and one that did not manage to move an inch even though they both started in the same time, at the same position. So what may be the reason for failure in one and success in the other case? We sure cannot blame socialization and sexism for such thing.

Starting a career is difficult for everyone. The very first steps a person makes in the beginning of a new career can be rough, but experience and learning from mistakes are crucial in one’s professional development.

As a woman, one must be able to show oneself in the best possible light. If you wish to learn how to succeed at work, make sure you pay attention to the 10 most common unconscious mistakes every woman makes at work.

1. Desire to Be Nice and On Good Terms with Everyone

Girls are often taught to pay attention to other’s needs, to be obedient and nice to people. The parents raise their girls teaching them that helping others can bring you benefits and make you feel good about yourself. Implementing this knowledge in the office makes women obedient of others, only to stay in good terms in everyone.

Sometimes a colleague will ask you for a favor that requires your time and dedication, such as staying late to help them with some presentation. Despite the fact that it is always good to help each other, people often take advantage of those that cannot say no when asked for help. So, you may agree to help your colleague once, but this can easily turn into numerous favors for that person and everyone else in the office.

What you get as result is spending time on things that cannot benefit you and are distracting you from your actual work. At the end, your colleague will take credit for your work and you will get nothing in return. A colleague is someone you work with, but also your competition for a promotion and success in the company.

Learning to say no is crucial in business. Sure, you should help out a colleague once in a while because you may need help someday too, but you should definitely set some limits. Do not allow people to take advantage of your desire to be nice only to stay in good terms with them.

2. Taking On Too Many Tasks

Being competent, friendly and diligent in doing your work is important in a career. However, women often try to show that they are more capable and qualified than others right from the beginning, even if they are not. Demonstrating diligence, hard work and loyalty should be done by taking jobs that will be done completely because of the woman’s qualities, not because she wants to prove competence.

You may be better educated than everyone who works with you, but some cases require experience also. This is why you must always aim towards taking up jobs suitable for your qualities, and not any work you are offered.

Everyone has their own talents, so make sure to pick a job that helps you reveal them. Such job will help you stress the most important qualities you have and demonstrate how competent you are. Men often reject tasks because they feel like they are more or less capable to be assigned those tasks. Follow their example and you will get to the top much faster.

3. Being Afraid of Loneliness

Many women fear of becoming lonely because they’ve heard that power leads to being less desirable and alone. We fear that after we reach a higher level, people will stop respecting and liking us and we will become similar to men – defensive and fierce.

The truth is, women are not always supposed to be delicate and they are not at all defenseless. Despite the fact that we are learned to see females as the passive and gentle gender, this should not apply to the workplace. People that show such qualities will never be taken seriously or even considered to be reliable partners.

Women being obedient to men is a thing that is long gone. Right now, women do not depend on men as they used to and are able to live social lives. The ability to demonstrate power is one key management skill that you must use to show that you are self-confident.

4. Sending Out The Wrong Signals

When you talk to people, you do not only communicate with spoken words. Your body language reveal much more than what you are saying verbally and sending out the wrong signals can influence the way people see you greatly.

When we study at the schools and universities, we learn of professionalism and strategies for doing the job of our choice. Schools rarely teach students of body language and how to avoid showing indecision and weakness. This is why women often show how intimidated and insecure they are to others, especially to bosses who are actually men.

Speaking to people higher on the professional scale makes women giggle, hesitate when asked something and smile archly and guiltily. Perhaps you have noticed how your voice trembles in important occasions, such as an interview or a presentation.

This is why it is highly important for a woman to learn how not to send signals of passiveness, defenselessness and fear. After all, business requires confident, stronger people and you will not be considered for dealing with serious matters if your body language speaks otherwise.

5. Being Indecisive

Women are more comfortable doing customary things so they may seem passive at work. More often, we do not speak of our opinion or discontent because we are unsure at how others will react. We rarely disagree and try to be obedient instead.

If you wish to succeed in business, you cannot be indecisive. You needn’t go by the principle of waiting until you are called or keeping silent why others are speaking. If you want to become one of those people who are higher on the professional scale, you have to be heard.

6. Being Too Emotional

Sometimes you will have an opportunity to rise in your chosen career that may hurt others’ feelings. In some cases, you will be asked to work for better companies and leave your workplace. Sometimes, you will have to make a change.

Women are often too attached or emotional to their workplace or simply do not have the courage to make a change. Also, we often value the feelings too much and take everything to heart. This can only harm our way to success.

7. Not Seeing the Workplace as a Playing Field

We have previously mentioned that you should not take up too much tasks in order to prove you are more competent than others are. This however, did not mean that you should see the workplace as anything else than a playing field. You should not start things you cannot finish, but you sure should not remain passive and think that a promotion will come on its own.

8. Not Realizing The Importance Of Networking

Advances in technology have made modern living dependent on networking, which means that your success does not only depend on what you do at work.

Developing professional relationships outside work and participating in professional associations can come in handy for when you want to become something more, even if it seems irrelevant in the moment.

9. Not Telling The Truth

As women, we often have the habit of creating stories if we feel that something went wrong. In many cases, women get less respect or even fired because they lied in order to explain why something did not go as planned, even though it was not their fault.

Truth is often your best option when it comes to work. Every person at your workplace has made a mistake at a certain point, so even if this was your fault they will more likely accept the truth than forgive you if they catch you in a lie. And if it is not your fault and you are simply unsure, clearing up the facts is always your best option.

10. Not Being Able to Define Their Brand

Personal branding depends on the value definition you bring to the table. This is the only way to stand out from the competition. Defining what you are good at and relating your strengths to what you can do for the company is key in becoming successful.

The nowadays world is filled with competition and more often than not, a single mistake can cost you your success. Of course, studying hard is your best way to make sure that you will find a good job, but what happens after you get it?

Everything is different when you start at your job and you need to rise above the competition. This is why it is highly important that you avoid the most common mistakes women make at the workplace.

Guest author bio:

Julie Petersen is a blogger and a writer at NinjaEssays.com. She shares her experience to help women avoid mistakes that can damage their career and success.

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