The Power Of 100

Achievers Across The Domains Of Politics, Business, Science, The Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Education, Law And Defence Who Are Showing Us What Women's Empowerment Looks Like

- MANISHA SAROOP , Suhani Singh , Sonal Khetarpal

Ever heard the sound of the glass ceiling breaking? Perhaps not. Because women accomplish that feat like they do everything else-with a quiet fortitude. Patience is a virtue they come naturally endowed with, so that when the time comes, they can wear any mantle with ease.

That time has come. Women in India are becoming a rising force. Politically, their franchise is beginning to matter. Female voting percentages have been going up steadily in the country's elections, be it to the Lok Sabha or to the lower houses of the state. Their turnout in the 2019 general election was 67.2 per cent, for the first time a few percentage points higher than for men. Political parties have, in fact, been quick to recognise the power of the woman voter and begun wooing them assiduously, the Gruha Lakshmis and the Ladli Behnas. Giving them free cylinders, and bus rides, even dedicating Swachh Bharat and Har Ghar Nal Se Jal to them.

Why, this September, they even gave them a Women's Reservation Bill, keeping aside a third of the seats in the central and state legislatures for them.

Give a woman something, and she makes it only greater. Give her a say, and see where it takes her. India's grassroots governance is already witness to the possibilities, with 50 per cent of the seats in panchayats and urban local bodies reserved for women. In Jambur village in Gujarat's Junagadh district, the now 70-yearold Hirbai Ibrahim Lobi has liberated the women of her Siddi tribe by teaching them simple financial literacy. As Meena Kandasamy, an anti-caste activist, poet, novelist and translator, puts it:

Sometimes,
the outward signals
of inward struggles take colossal forms
And the revolution happens because our dreams explode