Women
The need for digital empowerment of rural women
India's digital landscape is booming, especially in rural areas, with significant growth in internet usage and digital payments. However, a gender-based digital divide persists, hindering women's empowerment.
4 Badass rural women who made history
From changing sexual harrassment laws to growing trees at the age of 112 – these rural women have contributed to significant impact in India.
Inspiring rural women who defied expectations
They had only a dream to start with. And they have made their mark in various fields with a never-quit spirit. This International Day of Rural Women, we revisit some inspiring stories covered on Village Square.
The sweet story of Kolkata’s Rabrigram
Rabrigram’s women have raised the bar of economic prosperity by supplying over 1,000kg of Indian dessert rabri to Kolkata, every day – fetching the village an annual revenue of Rs 60 lakh.
Women’s organic farms mitigate Jharkhand’s migrant issue
Women farmers in Koteng Sera village of Jharkhand have embraced organic farming practices, breaking the cycle of labour migration, and securing nutritious f and income for their families.
How rural Rajasthani women break social shackles to earn freedom, respect from Africa tours
Rajasthani women - who barely went outside their state - earn respect after travelling to Mali in west Africa to teach women there how to form self-help groups, never mind make rotis and wear saris.
Good or bad to call women leaders ‘mahila sarpanch?’
Identifying women leaders by gender – like ‘mahila sarpanch’ – seems a step back, but one development worker sees it as acknowledging the challenges women overcame to become leaders.
Regressive cultural practices lead to skewed sex ratio
Preference for boys disturbs expectant mothers during the very fertility rituals that are meant to bless them, affecting their psyche, besides resulting in low sex ratio and inferior status of women
Women bear brunt of poor healthcare in rural Kashmir
Healthcare infrastructure is poor in rural areas of Kashmir, and it particularly affects the women, who have to rush to Srinagar to get proper medical attention, as there is a dire shortage of gynecologists in the districts
Dharmapuri has forgotten the many names for rain
Rising temperatures and erratic rainfall in the drought-prone dry land farms of Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu is making rain-fed agriculture non-viable but some women farmers are adapting by growing millets
Widowed by silicosis, women of Odisha village await justice
Young men, who joined a pyrophillite grinding factory dreaming of a better future, succumbed to silicosis, leaving families struggling for survival and justice
Women in Gir stand up for dignity of widows
Women of self-help groups in the Gir region of Gujarat are going beyond microfinance and income-generation activities to fight against social taboos attached to widows and help them lead a better life
Women take initiative to build toilets in rural Bihar
Women self-help groups in the villages of Jehanabad have become the harbingers of social change by convincing people about the usefulness of building toilets at homes and ending open defecation
Tie and dye add color to women’s lives in Nosariya
Learning the traditional art of coloring fabrics is enabling many women in rural Bikaner to add an additional source of household income in an area where patriarchy makes it difficult for them to step out of their villages
Vadu women emerge as agents of change as health recorders
The regular recording to health-related data through computer tablets is helping in designing and implementing food, nutrition and healthcare interventions on the ground in several areas of Pune district
Women forced to bathe in the open in Odisha villages
A village-level analysis of availability of bathrooms in Odisha shows that not enough attention is paid to the clear and urgent need for secluded bathing spaces for women in rural areas