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

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