equality – Women leadership platform

‘ Impact Hour ‘ 14 With Konstantia Achilleos

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Written By Sahithi Divi as told by Konstantia Achilleos

Nestled in the beautiful Cyprus country, Konstantia Achilleos is a Scientist , Earthpreneur and also the activist host of Her Impact podcast and Founder – CEO at Oreen Cherie Blair Foundation Mentee Alumni from Cyprus. She is affected with an unmatched passion for protecting environment which drove her expertise to being an earthpreneur circling her efforts towards public health and environmental protection.

She is also working on reducing the gender gap in the field of science and break the universal stigma about women in science and technology. She has previously had the experience of working with private sector and also NGO space that sums up for her current direction of problem solving.

As a child she did not face the negative affects of gender gap but growing up to be a scientist started to give her the ends of how deeply gender is embedded in science. Konstantia quit her job at the peak moment where she realised that providing knowledge to people about environment on various levels will provide them a voice to save themselves and the environment at the same time.

She continues her wonderful work as a medical geologist while continuing to build impact through her podcast series called Her Impact measuring and creating content about various aspects of environmental and public safety alongside the gender equation.

Konstantia believes strongly that women must be empowered as they encore the inclusive compass of beheld power to substantiate the collective forces. If women do not have to face the critical inequality as the first step of making a career choice it is more ravishing to see the impact a woman can bring to the table. Normalising woman’s presence in the diverse structures is our primary goal. Through her work she is aligning with goal number 3 , 5 , 7, 13,14,15 of Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations. Her projects also include sustainable tourism including nature conserving trails.

She says that leaving a place is the hardest thing to let go but contemplates with what comes along. Her relationship with India is limited as of now but I am looking forward to her in India and introduce you to my community here. Konstantia defines India as a continuously emerging democracy and love as the centre of the universe.

Written By Sahithi Divi as told by Konstantia Achilleos ( source : http://www.impactscientist.com )

TIME

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Poem – written by Sahithi Divi

click here for the video link

Dreaming alone for welfare ,
Humanity left in empty hearts ,
Holding on the soaring pain,
Bundles of blind people,
Are you the victims of time ?

Consumed by the rights of each other ,
Identity symbolised by colour and sex ,
Drawn to revolt without reforms ,
Knuckles covered in pride ,
Are you the victim of time ?

Sky is melting down to mercy ,
We must hold hands today ,
Should you not agree this time ,
Oh humans in divided warfare ,
Are you the victim of time ?

Children still wear gender roles ,
Men today cannot cry ,
Women measured in sizes ,
Transgenders in identity crisis,
Are you you the victim of time ?

Just before healing the nation ,
Hammer your self love ,
Wisdom with untamed dimensions ,
Renewing your lust for betterment,
Are you the victim of time ?

Sinful soul sings a howl ,
You ignore the construct of equality,
Exploit everything your country had ,
Still someone fighting for your rights ,
Are you the victim of time ?

Destroy the idols that separate us ,
Demolish differences which diverge us,
People are looking around ,
Brotherhood is intruding lately ,
Are you you the victim of time ?

Time deceives and you transcend ,
A healthy nation falls,
Equality has no time for victims ,
BECAUSE YOU ARE ALL THIS COUNTRY HAS ….
SAHITHI DIVI

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Written by sahithi divi

‘IMPACT HOUR’ With Pooja Agarwal

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Written By Sahithi Divi as told by Pooja Agarwal

Non Profit Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact Leader, Volunteer Influencer, Ted x speaker

Pooja is a young social impact leader in her early twenties who is unlocking the creativity of hundreds of children from low income schools. She has founded an NGO called AIKAARTH with strong vision of providing art education of all forms ( painting, sports, culinary skills etc. ) to children from under resourced schools having a bottom line impact on their abilities. She has curated a platform to resource skilled volunteers in various art fields to train the children under a planned curriculum which is now expanding into a measurable offering with continued support networks.

As a child she indulged in patriotism that left her curiosity and passion looking for something beyond the boundaries of social walls. She recognised empathy as a child. She looks back to the time when people’s trouble challenged her peace of mind as a kid. She enjoyed that anxiety and allowed it to grow by providing her thoughts a direction. Direction does not occur phenomenally, it happens like a movement. Overall development of a girl child is untapped and overlooked. That is why as a woman it is hard to contemplate for choices while fighting social discrimination. Her dream was to be socially useful.

Exploring of one’s overall personality and providing diverse conditions is an important resource for a teenage girl especially whose emotional environment is partially allowed to expose to human rights on power with that of boys. Although the pressure narrative is widely different for men, a women’s is still prone to the risk of a man’s internal acceptance of spending on her growth. Moving to undergrad education was a tremendous compromise to her interest in journalism.

Unaffected of the setbacks she paramount feedback from life as learnings and bounced back with a project of 121 children receiving distinct workshops followed by her experience as a teach India fellow. This widened her vision into sectors and moved her towards a more focus centric approach. Evolution of demand with experience of empathy interviews or volunteering projects are solely the moments of impact which help us in deciding the next step while partnerships help in shaping up the timelines.

Taking the first step and continuing to fight back is the best thing I have done for myself , she says.

Her vision grew larger, when she started to think about how many people has she really inspired. When her project kicked off , she began to see the ripple effects of doing social good in a structured way. Her dream now is to create leaders who can lead the vast forefront. She also speaks about the importance of receiving support from family is vital for the best output. Although there might be a resistance from family due to social stigma yet always begin the change from inside. Her parents who once protected her from cultural atrocities are now advocating for girl education actively.

She defines Democracy as not yet the best, Women as yet to be empowered and Equality as does not exist. Through her work she is promoting Sustainable Development Goal 4 – Quality Education, Goal 8 – Decent work and economic growth and Goal 17- Partnerships for the goals.

Pooja resides her story with charisma of rough rides that did more good than evil to her. Through her strong love towards her cause , she remains a glorious example for millennials to set a course of direction into social impact leadership.

Written By Sahithi Divi as told by Pooja Agarwal ( source : http://www.impactscientist.com )

‘ IMPACT HOUR’ with Vyjayanthi Vasantha Mogli

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Written By Sahithi Divi as told by Vyjayanthi Vasantha Mogli

Transgender RTI Activitist, Co-founder, Queer Swabhimana Yatra and Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samiti

This story is of a fifteen year old who was thrown out of the house due to her sexuality. As an LGBTQ child she wanted to be like every girl leading a normal and bright life. Growing up was hard and she lacked stability because of not being born into a female body. Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, a transwoman LGBT activist, shared her story of abuse as a child in school. How lesbian women and transmen in tier two and smaller places remain supressed and vulnerable. She said that ‘ formal education about gender and bonded labour is unapologetically important for people sailing through similar times as Vyjayanthi’.

Progress today can be measured in form of enactments and awareness by the government but which cannot benefit anybody, without the rules to support them. She faced abuse , violence and trauma even from the organisations that were suppose to rehabilitate her. But in the first place why should someone be forced into rehabilitation ? Sadly, for coming out as a trans woman !

Absence of an inclusive society and the harsh conditions imposed by the society on her was devastating. Most of the people in the society lack awareness about Gender and separate humankind into divided beings, leading to major suppression of human rights. This is widely overlooked and surrounded with toxic ignorance. Children who are born in these systems are exposed to frugal conditions, trained to live by earning a bread for a day. She has led unanimous movements fighting for transgender rights and also associated with organisations like Bhumika, Anveshi, Centre For Law And Policy Research, Bangalore.

Vyjayanthi has more than 17 years of corporate experience. She closely unfolds the challenges faced by a trans person in the hiring process. She carries the weight of soo many stories of her friends who were failed by their working environments. Shutting down a person’s right to live and replacing it with painful emotional violence will not broaden the intersectional differences. Even the reserved segments of the society are subjected to reduced inequalities within them due to dominance. Seperation from her family as a child affected her belief on men. Patriarchy could neither stand for gender nor for the innocent child who badly wanted assurance and love at that time.

Even as an activist who suffered injuries of misogyny, she does not objectivise feminism as a fight for women. Every person who has been through the abuse can only look from the lens of equality. The fight is all about right to live with dignity. Adding that true feminism can resolve problems with humanism. Vyjayanthi says that world needs a new perspective to rebuild the pre-scripted idols of an ideal woman, that does not really exist. What remains is education, empowerment and entrepreneurship ( creation ) ; they will facilitate you for the war on Gender Inequality.

Written By Sahithi Divi as told by Vyjayanthi Vasantha Mogli (source : http://www.impactscientist.com)

The Difficulty Of Being Oneself

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Written By Sahithi Divi

In the dire need of circumstances, when comes the time to act for yourself , what stops you ? What are the thoughts that hold you back from fighting back with the inner voice which knows how the spark will admit to fire ?

We often think about what is not there. It is time to revise the strengths and use them for good. This process obviously comes inclusive of the withered flashes of flying time.

Read the below lines to find out reasons behind the difficulty of being oneself ….

Answerability is certain , avoid it.
Individuality is a human right that can be enjoyed through a learning process.
Recognition cannot be voluntary.
Chances if not given can be taken.
Protection is a habit born out of being protected.
Expectation can create doubts.
Surprises are the way of life independent of their nature.

The difficulty of being oneself is not a condition, infact it is just the beginning of an other chapter.

Written By Sahithi Divi

Gender Can Bend India’s GDP

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Written By Sahithi Divi

Gender Equality includes major elements like health, education, economical and also policy making or politics. Instead of harmonising these factors between such high population, we are inducing hierarchy in the social structures. Division of unequal talent on the basis of gender gives only unfulfillment to the country.

The economy which is growing at the fastest rate is struggling to cross the gender barriers dominated by hierarchial regulations which causes underutilization of women in workforce.
The desire for a male child may lead to the couple having more and more children which in turn leads to minimal resources allocated to the girl child in that family. Gender roles begin taking shape even before birth. According to the economic survey 2017-18 the long term affect of male child preference has created 21 million unwanted girls in India.
The physical safety of women is paired with social and cultural norms. In such situations, many of the women step back from doing what they desire. Opportunities and resources are useful only if they can be utilized by women equally.
Domestic voilence and gender discrimination in the outside world can bring down early conclusion to a women’s direction. By cutting her abilities down to cultural norms, there is very little from her to offer.
Defining gender roles begins with classifying colors , toys , cartoons role models and sport choices based on gender since the infant stage of the baby. These small things grow into who we become as adults, hence, reflecting on the economic development of the country ultimately.
The economics of this country lies in the fist of every child- children of all kinds and genders. Every milestone we set for this generation remains till the end of decades. If transformation is not pushed by reminding the existing fundamental rights to all, we are going nowhere.

Did You Know ? The country could add up to $770 billion—more than 18%—to its GDP by 2025, simply by giving equal opportunities to women, according to an April 23 report by the McKinsey Global Institute.

Written By Sahithi Divi ( Source : http://www.impactscientist.com )

Why Is India Held Back ?

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Gender Equality is an insulated topic admist the false moral regulations. Indian constitution provides equal rights to men and women whereas the differences are unmeasurable. The economic health of our country is divided between men, women and neutral genders. Even in today’s context, the conditional differences are wiping out the fundamental rights of the person by blocking it with gender stereotyping breaking out their original potential to generate financial independence through employement or self employed sources.

” BUT “

Whether it be a family, school, government or any institution; the efficiency of functionality will be deeply effected due to the discriminative pullbacks consisting of gender bias. Business solutions cannot free the mental stigma that has been induced by generations worth of embedded preachings which classify roles and deliverables based on gender. Limitations created by the common belief backed by majority is a comfirmed as a backlog for a healthy ecosystem. Talking about India’s diversity of resources where are we in providing those resources to our women equally ?

Here isthe thing, poviding resources does not mean a special status. It means not occupying someone else’s freedom of availing their fundamental right to health, education, employement, marital implications, sexual descisions, childbirth and many pre formed templates into which objective genders are categorised into.

The change has to begin from within us, to be able to believe the statistics which say that India can add upto $770 billion—more than 18%—to its GDP by 2025, simply by giving equal opportunities to women, according to an April 23 report by the McKinsey Global Institute.

Written By Sahithi Divi (source : http://www.impactscientist.com ) ( stat source : weforum.org)

What Is Your Responsibilty Towards Gender Equality ?

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Written by Sahithi Divi

Gender is independent of an individual’s sex, it is an evolving choice and personal conception of how one wants to live their life. Gender based education is very important at a young age for self discovery. Here we do not discuss the type of genders, instead we first learn to embrace the diversity of gender for a gentle ride for all.

Many of us around us are quietly taking on the burden of making personal choices about appearance, lifestyle, professional path and intimate universe. Gender is how a person chooses to live their life. There is a lot of imbalance in developing societies, the imbalance that shuts down risk taking abilities of a person based on the objectively formed gender biases.

Not only Education and awareness but also a community that embraces the differences between people independent of gender is essential.

What can you do ?

Promoting an inclusive society for co existence (Not feminism and gender diversity alone)
Talk to your friends and allow them to share ( Hear to indifferent unharmful personal perspectives with respect)
Create awareness about gender diversity to normalise your surrounding about it ( Fearlessly speak up to the abnormal reactions)
Destigmatize the decision making process at least for the immediate person you are dealing with. ( Give your hand to those who need it to cross societal barriers)
Question the stereotypes about gender stigma around you ( If you feel something is not right, then question)

In the journey of life everyone goes through their own battles, but gender is one fight that we can resolve better together.

Written By Sahithi Divi ( http://www.impactscientist.com )