Across many parts of the world, especially in marginalized communities, menstruation is surrounded by silence, shame, and misinformation. Girls are often taught to stay quiet about their periods. Some miss school. Communities are beginning to lead the conversation around menstrual health, pushing back against deeply rooted taboos with education, empathy, and empowerment.
In India's classrooms, young women are leading the way. They lead merit lists, claim
competitive scholarships, and enter fields once dominated by men. Almost half of the nation's students in higher education are now women. A startling jump from a generation past.
The words of the police officer still echo: "Madam, why don't you just close the curtain to avoid such incidents?" This was his response after I, a lawyer, a woman dealing with the raw trauma of an incident, came to the police station for help. His words, dripping with patriarchal assumption, perfectly encapsulate the systemic and societal barriers women face.
Her struggle as a mother to pursue the certificate for her differently-abled son, for the reason of availing better education, gave me the urge to read more about the Disability laws and furthermore reason to understand the process of availing the birth certificate for this boy, as it was his birthright.
from Madhavi Latha, the engineer who braved mountains to work on the world’s highest Chenab Bridge, to Akanksha Kumari, Coal India’s first female mining engineer, to the Border Roads Organisation appoints its first Woman Executive Engineer to command a road
construction Company, to Komatsu training its first Batch of women excavator Operators, to a team of 17 Women Engineers from L&T
The National Overseas Scholarship Scheme was started by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, to help students from low-income families from marginalized communities to pursue Master’s and PHD programmes from universities abroad.
The Free Coaching for SCs, OBCs, and beneficiaries of the PM CARES Children Scheme is an initiative taken by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India. The scheme aims to provide high-quality coaching to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and beneficiaries of the PM CARES Children scheme, who were included from 2024-25. These groups often face systemic inequalities and exclusion that hinder their access to educational resources.