Being a Karuwaki!
"Women hold up half the sky"
March 8th symbolises women's voices, their resilience and courage to stand for their rights. Throughout history, fearless women leaders have taken bold steps to blaze new paths. When we invest in women, we unlock growth, innovation and resilience that benefit everyone.
Women have always changed the world in ways that are quiet with small acts of courage, that ripple outwards. Speaking when it would feel easier to stay silent. Holding another woman steady when she doubts herself. Opening a door that once felt firmly shut.
Most of the freedom women have today exist because someone, somewhere, refused to accept the way things were. A woman who raised her voice. A woman who took a risk. A woman who believed the next generation deserved more. Someone said "Behind every successful woman is a tribe of other successful women who have her back."
Which is why the courage of women, and the way we lift one another, matters as much as ever. I think about the women who came before us, and the women who walk besides us and those little girls who run in front of us with dreams in their eyes and hope in their hearts.
I especially remember my mother! Her indomitable spirit and fierce intelligence! I could only marvel at the panache with which she handled, both, her personal as well as professional life. Most importantly, she taught her two daughters never to apologize for who they are and never to stop their eyes from shining.
What gives me hope is the extraordinary strength that lives in ordinary women everywhere. In friendships, In mothers, daughters, colleagues and strangers who show up for one another, speak up when it matters and remind us we are not alone.
My mother set up her own electronics industry in Bhubaneswar which became the face of both industrial progress and women's empowerment in the state. A true Karuwaki, she was the first woman engineer of Odisha and industrialist, insisted on employing a largely female workforce, reaching out to those girls/women who had been abandoned by their husbands and resultantly by their families for fear of stigma.
Since 1970, more than 600 million women have gained access to economic opportunities because of family law reform. However, this year International Women’s day comes at a time when justice systems are under strain. Conflict, repression, and political tensions are weakening the rule of law. Laws exist, but they do not deliver justice or protection on their own. Where power remains unequal, justice rarely operates neutrally. Significant barriers to gender equality persist, yet with dedicated resources and support, positive progress can be made.
As Maya Angelou said "Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women".
Note:(pics from internet for illustration only)
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