Rural Revolution: Five Inspiring Power Women Who Changed The Destiny Of Rural India!

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Do you know that women account for as much as 89.5% of the labour force in rural India in the agriculture and allied industrial sectors? Or that 47% of India’s women aged 20–24 were married before the legal age of 18 as per UNICEF’s ‘State of the World’s Children-2009’ report?

In a country where female infanticide is still prevalent in some rural parts, this story is nothing less than a knight in shining armour. Writing this was joy and inspiration, and I wish it leaves the same emotions to you.

Meet the five iconic women of rural India who changed the entire roop rekha of their village with their sheer determination and hard work and inspired and empowered thousands of others!

Sushila Koli

This gritty woman brought a revolution in the field of education when she decided to open her own anganwadi after finding no schools and centres educating kids in her village in the Kolhapur district of Maharashtra.

She started teaching them from her own home and later shifted to a temple when the number of kids increased. But this journey was not so easy as she had to struggle hard and convince villagers to send their kids to study.

But she did it. And she did it for eleven long years until the government noticed her good deed and decided to open an anganwadi, Balwadi Vidya Mandir, there.

“The kids belonged to low-income families, and there was no question of charging them any fees. Sometimes the parents would give me food grains, but I never expected any money,” Sushila has taught more than 250 kids without charging a single penny in all these years.

Godavari Satpute

The ‘Woman Entrepreneur of the Year’ awardee of 2013 is the founder of ‘Godavari Akashkandil’ which is a paper lamp manufacturing business founded in 2009.

What she started with a meagre amount of loan taken from her relatives is now employing and empowering several other women in rural areas and helping them in becoming financially independent. Her company crossed the annual turnover of over INR 30 lakh in the year 2013.

Sobita Tamuli

This resident of Telana village from Assam is the brain behind Seuji, which is an all-women self-help group that makes traditional Assamese japis, manufactures organic manure, and sells them.

They sell Kesuhaar, organic manure, which contains natural elements like cow dung, banana plant remains, earthworms, and fallen leaves for Rs 50 per packet (weighing 5 kg each). Japis are traditional conical, wide-rimmed Assamese hats which Seuji makes as per an individual’s or an organisation’s request. They also sell them in neighbouring markets.

Anita Gupta

The founder of Bhojpur Mahila Kala Kendra, Anita Gupta hails from the Arrah of Bihar and is a recipient of an award from the Government of Bihar. Her NGO, which was established in 1993, has trained more than 25,000 women in nearly 400 skills and has formed around 300 women self-help groups in Bihar.

Her NGO received support from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and DC Handicrafts, Government of India in 2000. Anita is also a member of USHA Silai School in Jharkhand and Bihar, where she trains women in sewing.

Chetna Sinha

Ever wondered of a bank that provides loans of amounts as low as INR 15 to rural women? Mumbai based Chetna Gala Sinha started this unique revolutionary bank back in 1997 when she realised that financial aid was indeed the best possible way to empower women in rural India.

The Mann Deshi Bank originated from the town of Mhaswad in Satara district of Maharashtra, expanded to eight branches and empowered more than 3,00,000 women through 140 field facilitators. The bank offers loans for one day to five years, for the smallest amount you can think of, and EMI repayments for amounts like INR 15.

“Looking at the success, we plan to take this model all across the country and want to impact 1 million women entrepreneurs by 2022. All we need is patience and courage for that,” Chetna adds.

October 15 is marked as the International Day of Rural Women across the world. As per the United Nations, rural women — a quarter of the world’s population — work as farmers, wage earners, and entrepreneurs. And if women in rural areas had the same access to agricultural assets, education, and markets as men, agricultural production could be increased, and the number of hungry people reduced by 100-150 million. #InfanoWomen

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When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. This is what Suomita Basu did. When psoriatic arthritis got the better of her affecting over 80% of her mobility, and she had to give up her work and career because of this chronic illness, she decided to start a brand of her own. And thus was born Zyenika, a range of adaptive and inclusive clothing for those with disabilities and physical challenges who found dressing up difficult or needed assistance.

“Zyenika is a house of trendy, fashionable, and functional clothing which is easy to wear, and comfortable. My aim was to increase the independence and dignity in dressing”, says Soumita who is based in Kolkata.

The clothing industry does not cater to this section of people in society. Chronic pain sufferers, people with physical disabilities, senior citizens, autistic people can find it difficult to dress up or maybe semi or totally dependent on a caregiver. Being wheelchair-bound or bed-bound can also mean that wearing regular clothes is a challenge. But this should not mean having to wear boring ill-fitting clothes. When her own illness progressed, Soumita found it more and more difficult to manage on her own.

“My wardrobe discouraged me from meeting people or even getting on a video call. Missing my cousin’s wedding became the turning point: I refused to be locked in anymore. And I refused to dress in pain every single day”, she reminisces.

“A person with physical challenges knows how difficult or cumbersome and even painful something as basic and necessary as clothing can be. These challenges may be mild, moderate, or severe”, says Soumita who is a wheelchair user herself. But she feels that this should not compromise on the sense of dressing or fashion. “Your style and dressing speak volumes about you. It defines you. It’s a form of expression of who you are. When you are deprived of that it can lead you feeling low, sad, depressed and that doesn’t help any more than what you are going through already”. Soumita wants to empower them with the freedom to choose and wear what they want to by providing them with a label of bespoke wear because why not?!

Uniquely designed traditional men’s kurta, with no buttons or fasteners

After enough research, identifying a vacuum in the market for inclusive wear, and her own body for trials, Zyenika was born. It sure hasn’t been easy but Soumita is happy with the support and response she has received. A wrap-up saree which can be worn lying down, a kurta without buttons, pre draped sarees which can be worn effortlessly, and adaptive innerwear for men and women are the kind of clothes she is working on.

Sourcing the fabric, conceptualizing the designs, explaining it to the tailoring team, and overlooking the execution are all done by her. With no formal training in this industry, Soumita is self-taught and spent a lot of time learning the art and the trade. Not having formal training also came as a blessing because that gives her a space to think outside of the norms and comfort zone of the art form and that’s where most of her designs come from.

Easy to slip on top made with handloom cotton, No need to raise arms easy for poor grip/low fine motor skills

“It’s important to have that space where one is not told to ‘adjust’. When people ask me, “is it possible to design that way?” Yes, it is. It’s always possible to be thoughtful. That’s all it takes for good design, I say”. Adapting to the challenges of Cerebral Palsy for a customer, the clothing Soumita designed has many hidden features like a knee pad to support her when she crawls with the zips on both sides of the palazzo to transform it to shorts for easier wear and washroom use.

Also, Soumita wants to make sure that her team at Zyenika involves the deserving section of the society, and hence it is a women-led organization. “We strive to have a more inclusive team and ensure more dignified livelihood opportunities for marginalized sections of the society as our suppliers and workers. We are supported by GIAN (Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network), Ahmedabad at the ideation stage.”

Zyenika is also conscious about not adding to the landfill and believes in reusing and recycling. “Give us your old clothes and we will create your new restyled clothes”, says Soumita.

For Soumita, Zyenika is more than a brand or a vocation. It’s her desire to move forward in life despite her disability. It is her hope and wish that she is greater than that and no matter however small her effort may be today, she is consciously making an effort to better someone’s life and that feeling is not a small one.

Zyenika clothing is available at zyenika.com