These women are rewriting herstory

Obstetrician and gynecologist Dr Kamala Selvaraj has helped hundreds of parents have babies through her assisted reproductive therapy. She made history for having commissioned the first test tube baby of south India way back in 1990. And, it does not stop there. This spirited doctor also helped the first test tube baby become a mother and deliver her child as well a few years ago. 

The daughter of iconic Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan, Kamala asserts that women possess higher mental stamina over men and that the wishes of parents to have only boy children have receded over time. “Women in science are growing in leaps and bounds. When I started studying medicine, I recall my father paying Rs 11,000, which was a huge amount back then. I studied with a handful of girls in a class of over 200 boys. We girls used to be hit with stones and we used to ensure we got to class earlier to avoid that. The scenario in the current day has changed a lot since then. We see almost equal representation of women in medicine. Women are capable of going to the moon, excelling in science, law and order, ruling a country and any other field they choose. Women are doing all this while managing their homes. I believe that women can do a job much better than a man, because we possess that strong mental stability,” she reiterates. 

“Most parents, including those from villages, are happy with girl children today. I often tell them that I’m the living example that daughters can do well in life as well,” Kamala adds. Of the babies she has helped step into the world, many have gone ahead to become doctors. “It makes me happy every day when people thank me for bringing a new life into the world. It makes my life seem complete,” she remarks. 

Try and recall the names of of 20 Indian women freedom fighters. If you run out of names even before hitting 10 and can only think of men, blame it on history because not many women were made a part of it compared to their male counterparts. The stories of hundreds of women who struggled to make a difference to the times they lived in were simply forgotten over time and many remain unsung and unrecognised. City-based gender equality activist and author Kirthi Jayakumar’s recently-released book Game Changers: Untold Stories of Indian Feminists from the Past and the Present is one such attempt to bring many unsung women to the fore. It tells the stories of women like Savitribai Phule, who challenged caste and gender-based oppression through education, Tarabai Shinde, whose book Stri Purush Tulana became India’s first feminist literary critique, Anna Chandy, the first female judge in the country, among others. She also presents the stories of contemporary feminists who are taking forward the work in different spheres.  

“Even though the writing process lasted only for a month, sourcing the history of many women wasn’t easy. I had to refer to many archives and libraries. It was a collaborative effort as other women I spoke to helped me access a lot of resource material that has remained less-known,” she shares. “In the current day’s literary world as well, I believe there are very few publishers who publish without considering the author’s gender. Many books published by mainstream publishers are done so because the male authors belong to the ‘boy’s club’. Only a few independent publishers are passing the mic to those who have a story to tell. It is very important to pass the mic to those with lived experiences and let them share their stories. I believe strongly in these lines that say, ‘When writing the story of your life, don’t let anyone else hold the pen’.” One of Kirthi’s earlier projects, Femcyclopaedia, pertained to making entries of women from history and their stories onto the digital space. 

Give a woman a fish and you feed her for a day; teach her to fish and you help her feed herself for lifetime. In a corporate world that has been male-dominated for decades, this TN woman is making sure women are getting equal opportunities at being employed. This idea led Dr Saundarya Rajesh start Avtar Group, one of India’s first career service exclusively for women. She started the company to provide second career opportunities for hundreds of women. To challenge stereotypes, it is important that women recognise their own unconscious biases, Saundarya points out. “While patriarchal notions propagate stereotypes, what I have often observed is that women themselves, albeit unintentionally, help such notions thrive. It begins with the mother of a boy justifying demonstrably aggressive behaviour of her son saying, that boys will be boys. The gender chore gap in India (the difference in time a woman spends on the 3 Cs — cooking, cleaning and caring — vs a man spends) is a whopping 333 minutes/day. Mind-sets have to change; patterns have to break!” she asserts. 

Every woman is the hero of her own story and Dr Saundarya believes that women should be intentional about their choices and the path they have chosen for themselves. “Becoming more self-aware is critical to this. What is your personal mission? Which is the goal that you want to pursue to raise to the fullest of your potential? In the answer to these questions lies the way forward,” she adds.

The entrepreneur notes, “We live in a society that offers an inherent, indigenous network of support namely family — parents, in-laws, extended relatives. Prior research we have done has shown that one of the most critical career enablers for women is a home-based family member caregiver. Today’s Indian woman professional also has access to an extended network of women — friends, colleagues, neighbours. If a woman can leverage the power of these networks and reach out to mentors who are senior women (who have tread difficult paths and emerged successful), the boost it can give to her intentionality is immense. The emotional support that women can gain from other women, is also huge — mental wellness being increasingly recognised as a key priority.” 

All of filmmaker-activist Leena Manimekalai’s films to date are her aspirations for gender justice. The cross sectionality of gender with caste, religion, state, nationalism, environment and state is what she is all the time pre-occupied with. “Oppressive systems like patriarchy always use divide and rule to get them going. Getting constantly validated by the same system that oppresses is the battle women should be done with. I always hold on to the hands and hearts of women in my life and world. Nothing charges me with hope as much as the warmth of the embrace of my fellow women,” Leena says with a smile.

When asked about how a woman can challenge stereotypes and fight prejudices, Leena shares her opinion with an example. “In 2015, Harvey Weinstein was recorded admitting to groping Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, but Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance declined to bring charges. There simply wasn’t much precedent for believing a woman’s complicated story, or even six women’s, beyond a reasonable doubt. But, there is today. The man is convicted. When a woman recognises her power it becomes contagious. It builds bridges for fellow women to come together and find each other. Only with that collective strength and voices, we can dismantle the walls of shame, domination, stigma, violence and suppression. If each of us could believe, support and love fellow women, we can make this world a much better place,” the filmmaker opines. 

When writer-theatre actor A Revathi wrote the book Unarvum Uruvamum (Feelings of the entire body) in 2004, people came to know more about the harsh realities faced by the hijra community in south India. Later, her autobiography, The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story, which was also the first-ever book published on trans people, was adapted into a Kannada play by a theatre group. More recently, the play was transformed into a mono-act play called Vellai Mozhi by Revathi and she has been staging it all over the country. “After seeing the play in both Kannada and Tamil, many in the audience including students approached me and said they regret the way they behaved with people from the LGBTQI+ community. Literature, art and theatre are powerful mediums that positively represented our community. Many of us found our identity through this. There are a lot of people from the LGBTQI+ community who are interested in art-related things. But there is no proper channel or collective effort in bringing out their talents,” Revathi points out. 

The author also recalls how independent organisations have helped people from the transgender community get a decent life. “Things have changed over the years. Unlike before, society and family have started accepting LGBTQI+ persons. That said, there should be more awareness on matters like gender discrimination, equality and so on. If you see, women are facing a lot of challenges, be it in their personal space or workplace. So, just imagine the plight of trans people. I feel strict laws can only bring in a huge difference,” she tells us.