A land having the distinction of
boasting the world's largest number of professionally
qualified women is yet to ensure a life with dignity
for the majority of its womenfolk!
India’s male to female ratio
is an alarming 1000:933. Women form half of the country’s
population, yet only about half of them are literate.
Close to 1.5 lakh women become victims of various
crimes annually, as per reported cases. Further, an
estimated 5 crore women face mental and physical cruelty.
Although, the legal marriageable age for a girl in
India is 18 years, our girl child doesn’t have
a say when she is going to be a woman!
Ironically enough, India has the
distinction of having the world's largest number of
professionally qualified women! India prides in having
more women as doctors, surgeons, scientists and professors
than the United States has. India is also proud of
the Kalpana Chawalas, Indra Nooyis, P T Ushas, Sania
Mirzas, Aishwarya Rais, Kiran Majumdar Shaws, Kiran
Bedis, to name a few.
Then again, woman faces discrimination
at her home, starting from womb to tomb. She ventures
out to the street and she’s not sure what harassment
would greet her at the corner. If she bears a daughter,
she doesn’t know why rest of her life won’t
be the same again! The saga continues; generation
after generation; leaving little chance for Indian
society to take a giant leap.
As a matter of fact gender-based
discrimination and societal behavior leading to physical
and psychological harassments, emotional violence
bordering on cruelty is never scant in woman’s
basket of woes. Social evils begin at the womb with
female feticides, infanticides, sexual harassments,
rape and dowry related tortures putting an end to
her misery only at the tomb!
In order to make the women realize
their inner strength and importance in the society,
Swabhiman has taken a pledge to illuminate their lives
with Pride and Dignity!
Swabhiman, an initiative of Smile
Foundation, aims to bring pride and dignity for our
girl. Swabhiman, meaning self-respect, is a programme
designed to enable women to realize their full potential
in every sphere, be it home, office or community.
This programme helps in enhancing the skills and information
relevant to make them realize their self-esteem. Again,
Swabhiman is not anti-men, but it encourages women
to defend themselves and escape from violence and
advocates men to be a part of bringing due dignity
for our girl child.
1st Milestone [Achievements]
Swabhiman started getting an overwhelming
response from the participants, communities, institutions
and organizations alike within a short time of its
launch in Delhi & NCR. During first year of its
launch Swabhiman has reached out to around 4000 beneficiaries
through 50 communities and organizations
Supporters Speak
Swabhiman, in course of its eventful
journey, has received real value addition as well
as accolades from persons of substance! These public
figures have set their own roads in life, and thus
set examples for others to excel. All of them have
been associated with Swabhiman during various activities
and programmes.
Comments, suggestions and
observations from a few of them are as mentioned below:
"There is a night-and-day
difference women having training and exposure
as in Swabhiman and those not having this. In
crisis, they are the best people to come out
as winners. Low skilled, family pressure and
not having financial authority at home often
results in low self-esteem for women."
Dr. Kiran Bedi, Magsaysay Award Winner
Super Cop
"I feel surprised when
I look back and realize that I successfully
scaled Mount Everest twice and hold a place
in the Guinness Book of World Records for being
the only women in the world to have conquered
Mt. Everest twice. I saw snow for the first
time only in 1986 but conquered the highest
and toughest peak twice in 1993 and 1994. If
you feel you can do it, the way to the top is
not impossible."
Ms. Santosh Yadav, Mountaineer
"For a woman to be successful,
she has to grow everyday and take life positively,"
Ms. Anjolie Ela Menon, Painter
"It feels great to be associated with
such an initiative. Women have always been
placed highly in our society. We just need
to revive it again, involving all members
of society."
Ms. Manisha Koirala, Bollywood Actor
"Never accept being 'allowed' by others
to do something. One must be aware of one's
right and freedom."
Ms. Feroz Gujral, Model
"Woman has been gifted
with all vital knowledge in capsules by Nature.
So she should feel privileged to lead her own
way in life, be it personal or professional,"
said veteran actor Sushma Seth. For a woman,
responsibilities and challenged could come three
ways. It can be by choice, can be trust upon
you or it can also be Karmic. One needs to take
care of it in a positive and cheerful way to
come out winner."
Ms. Sushma Seth, Bollywood Actor
"Do not be a weak woman, a liability.
You need to be healthy first of all."
Dr. Shikha Sharma, Nutritionist &
Health Expert
"Women have to first respect
themselves and then only the world will respect
them. Whatever she faces she need make a revolt
but should confidently face the challenges and
come out a winner in life. Never surrender in
front of the problems and always fight back."
Ms. Nadira Babbar, Theatre Personality
"I feel that women are the great creation
of the God. All human beings need love and
affection to grow in life and these qualities
are abundant in a woman. I am very happy with
the work of Swabhiman because the programme
has evoked self confidence in all girls and
now they are becoming independent."
Ms. Nita Malhotra, ACP – Crime
Against Women Cell, Delhi
"As a woman one needs
to work harder to prove herself. She needs to
make balance between work and home. Keeping
a good health, time management and self management
are three important things particularly a working
woman needs to take care of. Furthermore, there
is a Mantra in life for a woman: AMA - Ability,
Motivation and Attitude."
"I am very happy with the act of awareness
and empowerment showed by the community girls
and appreciated their acts and Swabhiman's
efforts in making them confident and aware
of their rights. I am disheartened that at
one hand girls are carving a niche for themselves
and on the other hand they are fighting against
molestation, humiliation and deprivation in
their lives everyday in the society. We all
have to come forward to make a well-cultured
and civilized society."
Mr. Farooque Sheikh, Actor
"Men do have a responsible role in empowering
our girls in the society. Let's make efforts
like Swabhiman a movement and more people
from various backgrounds should join it."
Mr. Raghavendra Rathore,
Fashion Designer
"I come from a modest background and
studied English only from standard 6th in
a government school. I started taking tuition
after Class 12th and made my way through graduation.
Focus and determination are the ingredients
for success. I am very proud of being a mother
and a wife. You can be down, but never in
any point of life feel that you are out."
Ms. Alka Saxena, Journalist
"The essence of a woman is all about her
strength. We all know how to look good but we
do not do it because we do not feel important
about ourselves."
Ms. Samantha Kochar, Hair Stylist &
Expert
"A woman anywhere in the world needs to
know her rights and ask for it."
Ms. Alkashree Shivshankar, Advocate
& Legal Consultant [First woman to set up
a law first in Europe]
Swabhiman Partners
Swabhiman, in course of its crusade,
has joined hands with various organizations and communities
for reaching out to the beneficiaries effectively.
It led to the formation of a Referral Network among
the partners which proved to be instrumental in achieving
the objectives behind the programme collectively.
A few of Swabhiman’s partners
include Delhi Police, Delhi Commission for Women,
Delhi Legal Services Authorities, Crime Against Women
Cell and British Council etc. Many more partners who
have joined hands with Swabhiman in multiple levels
are as follow:
Anurag, Pratham, NTPC Ltd., IPP Project
- W.H.O., National Students’ Union of India,
Salam Balak Trust, Child & Women Development Programme,
Paryas, Kirandeep, CASP, Sankalp, Alamb, Father Agnel,
Samarthya, Chakradhar Seva Sansthan, Butler School,
Nav Shrishti, CASP-Plan, Sahayogita, Aradhya, Swami
Shivanand, Abhas, Health & Care Society, Vidhya,
C.S.R., Child Survival India, Prayatan, Literacy India,
Sakshi, Child Welfare Society, I.C.D.P., Swashrit,
Adhar, Mercy Welfare, Sadhna Shakti, E.E.T.S., Association
of Studies & Research, Urida, New Opportunities
for Women [NOW], Society for All Round Development
[SARD], Chetanalya, Sulabh International, AICURD,
APSR, Janhit Society, India Aids, NavJyoti Delhi Police
Foundation, Viklang Sewa Samiti, Jeet, Sur Nirman
Kendra and Astha Jan Kalyan Samiti, among others.
Smile Foundation
has been tying up alliance with Corporate Organisations
and Companies forming partnership, functioning as National
Funding agencies for NGOs. It strives to form collaboration
and tie up with International Development organizations,
corporate social responsibility [CSR] companies as partners
in south Asia for child education programmes, healthcare
projects and welfare programs for underprivileged children
in India. At the grassroots level Smile has non government
charitable institutions and trusts, schools, NPOs as partners
across India as part of institutional and organizational
joint venture in social sector.
Smile
Foundation has head office in New Delhi and regional offices
in Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Goa, Kolkata and Nagpur.
Smile projects are located across 21 states of India.
A few major locations and states are Mumbai, Thane, Pune
in Maharashtra; Vaishali, Patna in Bihar; Trivandrum,
Kochi in Kerala; Jaipur, Bhilwara in Rajasthan; Hyderabad,
Secunderabad in Andhra Pradesh. Contact points for Smile
projects and partner NGOs also include places like Sambalpur,
Cuttack, Kendrapara, Bhubaneswar, Bolangir, Sonepur, Puri,
Behrampur, Angul in Orissa; Chennai in Tamil Nadu, Bhilai,
Raipur, Raigarh in Chhattisgarh. Various child welfare
programmes located also in Bangalore or Bengaluru, Mangalore,
Bijapur in Karnataka; Ahmedabad, Gandhi Nagar, Paldi,
Himmat Nagar, Mehsana in Gujarat; Ratlam, Bhopal in Madhya
Pradesh; Jhansi, Lucknow, NOIDA, Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh;
Roorkee, Haridwar, Dehradun in Uttarakhand. In the North
East, Smile Foundation education projects with local non
government organizations are located at Imphal at Manipur,
Guahati or Guwahati, Kamrup district in Assam. Other major
NGO project locations and cities with local offices for
Smile children cover Ranchi in Jharkhand; Jalpaiguri,
Kolkata, Howrah in West Bengal; Faridabad, Gurgaon in
Haryana; Delhi NCR.
