She remembered who she was and the game changed. Yes, we have seen the twist in the fairy tales of late, the charming prince no longer rescues the damsel in distress. Elsa and anna from frozen fight their battles in their kingdom. Fiona from Shrek rescues her prince charming as a turn of events.
Courageous women have changed the society norms and the trickling effect is seen in the attitude of the girl child too. This Rapunzel just jumps off the tower, gets up and walks up straight.
It was meant to happen Afterall – She was never meant to be an ordinary creature, and extraordinary takes time.
We know and believe that women are extraordinary but we need to remind ourselves of the same every day.
Women nurture life. There is no arguing this fact that women carry the child, their body goes thought irreversible changes, emotional and physical. These same mothers are corporate leaders, social activist and politicians too. A salute to that proud women and mother of today.
Women help bring in social change. Women like Sonia Gandhi, Smriti Irani, Sushma Swaraj, Jayalalitha Jayaraman are pioneers in the political field and have held their heads high with pride. Our finance minister, Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman is a lady leading the money matters of the country which was earlier considered a man’s domain.
Women have stood the test of time to be where they are today, making each day count and making each day matter.
This international women’s day we would like to celebrate these women of India. The one who fought for a better India despite all the hostility and opposition. The Women of 2020
Extraordinary women list-International Women’s Day 2020.
1. Smriti Irani
Contribution-Minister of Women and Child Development , Government of India.
Smriti Irani, currently the youngest minister in the Modi Sarkar cabinet, is a well-known actress known for her prominent role as ‘Tulsi’ in the iconic serial “Kyuki saas bhi kabh bahu thi”. Her journey began from here as an actress to a partner in production. Her leadership and dedication to work was evident from these earlier days.
A prominent leader of the Bhartiya Janta party, her work as the cabinet minister of Women and child development helped her rise to fame. A breakthrough came when she defeated Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, a congress dominant territory for decades.
Her social work and dedication have brought about this significant victory. The Udaan Yojana and Pragati Scheme adopted by her helped the girl’s students enroll for engineering seats specially in IIT’s all across India.
The SWAYAM was a breakthrough idea of an online courses made available to bridge the gap and for the undigitized students for India all free of cost.
Another one being the Veergatha series, inspirational stories of our brave soldiers were made available to the younger generation students.
Her role as the textile minister too got her many accolades for her initiative in creating jobs and enhancing the infrastructure of north east Indian states.
2. Shaheen Bhatt
Contribution-Writer
Privileged girl from Bollywood families, well they have it all the money, the looks, the glamour and the parties. What can they possibly want more from life?
Shaheen Bhatt shattered this myth when she came out with her book – “I’ve never been happier” which is about her battle with depression. She was diagnosed with depression at a young age of 18. This brought to light a lot of factors about the high-flying societies of India. It describes her battle on living with depression and surviving it. The books impetus was to abolish depression as a taboo subject and raise awareness about it specially through social media.
3. Ritu Karidhal
Contribution-ISRO scientist- Chandrayan mission
An ISRO scientist, the deputy operations director of the much celebrated Magalyaan project and a mother of two children, Ritu Karidhal is one woman who has made every Indian woman proud.
‘Rocket Woman’ is the title given to her for her work and achievements in the field of science and space.
Magalyaan, India’s Mars Orbiter mission is one of the greatest achievements of ISRO. It made India the fourth country to reach Mars. Ritu played a key role in the planning and execution of the entire project which took our country to the next level in space science.
She also worked with Chandrayaan 2 mission which was a plan to send the rover to the moon’s surface to study the soil but unfortunately, they lost communication with the lander, but Ritu’s work and leadership was highly appreciated in this mission too.
4. Nirmala Sitharaman
Contribution- Minister of Finance / Defence Minister of India
The second female finance minister of India Nirmala Sithraman was also the first full time Defense minister of India. Finance being a male dominated area of work was entrusted into her hands with lots of confidence owing to her experience in the field of finance. She is indeed a role model to all the young women of today.
5. Hina Jaiswal
Contribution-Indian’s 1st woman flight engineer.
Every woman dreams of flying high above the others, well our lady her does that literally. The first woman flight engineer of the Indian Air force, Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal is every woman’s dream come true.
She has acquired and administers various specialized skills to monitor and operate the aircraft systems to protect our nation.
6. Dutee Chand
Contribution-Indian professional sprinter silver medals at the 2018 Asian Games.
The woman athlete who procured two silver medals for our country in the 2018 Asian games and defeated the other nations to procure the gold medal for India in the World University Games at Naples. She is the first Indian to win a gold at a global meet in the 100 m event.
Dutee Chand is a courageous girl who spoke openly about belonging the LGTB community despite facing slack from her family.
She questioned the gender inequality issue in athletics owing to the unreasonable tests conducted on her due to her high testosterone levels.
She also appealed to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for sport) and the case was suspended. She was allowed to race again due to lack of evidence to prove that higher testosterone increased athletic performance. It was later perceived that the levels were naturally occurring in her body and this was an invasion of her privacy.
Her fight for womanhood on the whole and her stand for the gay community has made her stand apart in the crowd. A woman with a voice, a strong woman indeed.
7. Vithika Yadav
Contribution-Human rights activist
Growing up in India with sex as a taboo topic, Vithika met a lot of teenagers and youngsters who wanted information on sexual health but at the same time wanted it to be confidential.
She founded an online platform “Love matters” to talk about topics around sex and relationships. The discussion on this topic is not only a requirement but also healthy platform for discussion for young adults of today. It helps curb sexual frustration and anxiety caused by sexual violence and harassment.
The website is simple non-judgmental and non-offensive.
In 2013 the platform received an award for the most innovative sexual health portals.
8. Kirti Bharti
Contribution-Child marriage activist in India
Child marriage has been the oldest vice of Indian culture that still exists in remote areas. Kirti Bharti founded Saarthi in 2011 to abolish child marriage.
They work not only with the legal system to put a stop to the marriage but also to rehabilitate the children providing them with a brighter future. The trust spreads awareness through information camps and educates the society on the whole as a preventive measure to stop future cases.
They have an online helpline to report any new cases of child marriages too.
9. Sarada Menon
Contribution-psychiatrist, social worker and the founder of Schizophrenia Research Foundation.
Sarada Menon, a Padma Bhushan winner in the year 1992 for her contributions to society in the area of Mental health. Sarada is a psychiatrist who founded the Schizophrenia research foundation (SCARF India).
SCARF helps in rehabilitation of schizophrenic and other mental disorder patients, all free of cost. The organization has aided in creating awareness of mental health which was earlier considered a taboo in India.
They have their centers in rural and urban areas to run several community-based treatments. The WHO has designated the SCARF’s collaborating center as the only NGO in south Asia.
10. Licypriya Kangujam
Contribution-Student, environmental activist.
Our youngest and cutest social activist is only seven years of age and is from Manipur. She strives to raise awareness about natural disasters urging people to collaboratively join hands and help each other in difficult disaster struck times.
She dreams for a better world for her generation. She got the honor of being invited by United Nations to attend the sixth session of the Global platform for Disaster risk reduction in Geneva, Switzerland in early 2019. She was part of nearly 3000 delegates and participants from 140 countries.
Tough women get going no matter what. When women get together, they can make the world turn in the other direction.
Whether is preparing a dinner at home, managing children or whether it is running a country they have it all in place and well chalked out. So, back out and make way for the women of today.
Women are the calmer half and like they say – If women ruled the world there would be fewer wars. Well maybe a lot of cold wars but then again let’s leave something for the next blog.
Be strong woman, you never know who you are inspiring. Happy Women’s day to all the strong women out there.
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