Breaking the gender glass ceiling across disciplines

Hope lives in the town where the daughter of an autorickshaw driver grows up playing in the paddy fields of Wayanad, Kerala.

- Namita Bhandare

At a school for tribal children, a sports teacher senses promise. And so begins S Sajana's cricket journey, her ₹150 daily allowance enough to keep her going. Earlier this year, when she was picked for ₹15 lakh by Mumbai Indians for the Women's Premier League, she was able to pay off her family's debts.

Hope shines through Gwalda village in Haryana's Mewat district where non-profit Cequin found it impossible to recruit girls to play football in 2012. This year, when the girls' team won a match, the proud panchayat held a public felicitation. It was, says Cequin managing director Lora Prabhu, a "huge paradigm shift".

Women and girls everywhere are defying stereotypes and fulfilling their potential from sport to the armed forces. "This century belongs to women," says Kanta Singh, UN Women's deputy country representative.