On International Women’s Day, Ketto Celebrates The Indomitable Spirit of Its Women Achievers

Ketto is one of the best crowdfunding sites in India. The platform has bought a breakthrough in online fundraising by its contribution to start-up fundraising, medical fundraising and other wide variety of causes. With raving reviews all over the internet, Ketto campaigns have been key to many life-changing journeys.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it continues to be a focal point in women’s movement for equal rights in all fields of personal and professional life the world over. The world has already witnessed how women have unleashed their power in extraordinary ways — we have women achievers from various strata and across diverse fields whose achievements have often transcended their male counterparts.

This year the United Nations emphasises on three aspects in its official theme for International Women’s Day: ‘Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change’. Ketto celebrates the indomitable spirit of inspiring women who have used the platform to drive innovative, impactful and sustainable change.

Over the past two years, the platform has raised Rs 10.61 cr for campaigns exclusive to women’s empowerment. Here are a few narratives of Ketto’s women achievers who have inspired us in several ways.

Meghna Apparao

Bengaluru-based Meghna Apparao, who is a director at Amazon, shaved her head to donate her hair to make wigs for underprivileged cancer patients. Her campaign #BaldForACause aims to shatter the stigmas and stereotypes around women who lose their hair due to cancer treatments.

She is currently raising funds for the Chennai-based Cancare Foundation to help underprivileged cancer patients get the best medical care. Through her message #cashnothair, she urges you to lend a helping hand to people who may need it the most.

Taira Bhargava

After seeing excess food that could have fed close to 250 people go into a bin at the end of a lavish wedding, 16-year-old Taira could not sleep for nights. With the aim to eliminate the problem of hunger in her hometown, she started “The Project Double Roti” initiative that aims to manage food wastage in Delhi.

Her initiative feeds close to 300 hungry and poor people every day and ensures the meals meet the highest hygiene standards.

Chandro Tomar

Octagenarian Chandro Tomar, aka Shooter Dadi, is a sharpshooter from the village of Johri in the Bagpat district of Uttar Pradesh. Her story is a stuff of legends, as she shot down age prejudices and stereotypes from point-blank range to become the oldest woman shooter in the world.

Not only did she stoke a sporting revolution, but she has also won several laurels to her name. Today, she has created a sporting academy to mould younger talent and inspire tribal women to take up shooting as a professional sport.

Manasi Joshi

Manasi Joshi is striving to be the world’s no.1 para-badminton player. She lost her leg in an accident in 2011. However, her untamable spirit kept her going. After getting a prosthetic leg at the age of 22, she continued to pursue her childhood passion for badminton. After winning several medals for her country, she left her job and focused on playing the sport full-time.

Today, she stands third on the world female para-badminton player rankings. With no government support, she struggles to fund her aspiration to be the best in the world. She is crowdfunding on Ketto to take part in the next international tournament in Spain this month.

Sahar Mansoor

Bengaluru-based Sahar Mansoor is conducting her crusade to eliminate trash from choking our surroundings. With an endeavour to make zero-waste living a reality, she is bolstering eco-friendly body care products. Her brand, Bare Necessities, has been created as a people-centred and earth-centered approach to solving the global waste problem.

Bare Necessities manufactures body care products which use non-toxic, organic, cruelty-free, fair trade and recyclable ingredients. These products are aimed at encouraging sustainable living and transforming the waste narrative in India. She also employs an all-women workforce, empowering and encouraging women to support their own livelihoods.

Sheetal

Sheetal is a young mountaineering professional, NCC cadet and “Beti Bachao Beti Padao” ambassador of Munakot block of Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand. At 23, she became the youngest woman in the world to scale the summit of Mt Kanchenjunga. She advocates the importance of gender equality.

Now, she has set her eyes on another mission: “Climbing Beyond The Summits: Everest Expedition 2019” with a vision to make women capable of doing everything and being self-dependent through adventure sports & mountaineering, in line with the UN SGD agenda of “Turning promises into action: Gender equality in the 2030”.

Women are now standing shoulder to shoulder with men in almost all aspects of life. From business to politics, administration, sports, science and defence, among others — India, alongside the world, is spectating a narrative of change where women are marching to the forefront in every domain. As of November 2018, 24 per cent of all national parliamentarians were women — an increase from 11.3 per cent in 1995.

Although most of the countries still have never had a female leader, there are currently 11 female heads of government in the world — if you include heads of state that figure rises to 21.

In its 16th Lok Sabha in May 2014, India had 65 women out of 545 members of Parliament (MPs), for a 12% representation. It is a change from the erstwhile stagnant representation of under 9% recorded by Indian women MPs since Independence. Female literacy rates had gone up from 18 per cent at the time of independence in 1947 to 62 per cent in 2011. India also has a healthy percentage of female participation in sports. In the 2018 Commonwealth Games, one of the major sporting events last year, the Female/Male ratio for Indian participants stood at 0.91.

The government has also initiated several programmes aiming towards women empowerment like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Mahila E-haat, One Stop Centre scheme, working women hostels and many others.

As we mark another International Women’s Day, we should pledge to create awareness to devise a promotive environment, where women are supported to thrive and shine.