Growing up in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, Richa was taught the do’s and don’ts of being a “good Indian girl.” “I actually had training on how to be a perfect wife and daughter-in-law according to Hindu society,” she said with an incredulous laugh. “My grandmother and mother always told me to behave a certain way. ‘Don’t …
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Activism is in Flor Ángel’s DNA. The 28-year-old Dominican activist works with AJWS grantee Mujeres Sociopolíticas Mamá Tingó, a collective of social justice and community organizations fighting for equal rights for all women and girls. She comes from a long line of community organizers. Growing up in the southern locality of Batey La Altagracia, she …
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Jyoti Gadari got married when she was just 17. Like many young women, she wanted to explore: go to college, try out different jobs, see what kind of opportunities might unfold. And according to local custom, she didn’t have to live with her husband yet. She thought she had time. But her husband’s family had …
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Sexual violence survivors and their friends and family have been making headlines across India since December, when about 5,000 of them began a 6,000-mile journey across 24 states. The “Dignity March,” which concludes this Friday in Delhi, aims to raise public awareness of the sexual violence that affects an untold number of women and children …
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Kausar Ansari has come a long way since her first job. Today, she is a leader at Awaaz-e-Niswaan, an AJWS grantee that supports Muslim women and girls in Mumbai to stay in school and pursue careers. But at age 14, she worked in a garment factory, where she earned only 700 rupees a month—about $10 …
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