1. Manthan Topic: Ensuring Safety and Empowerment of Women
Taking on the roadblocks in the path of an Indian
woman’s growth
Team Details
Alina Charaniya
Deboshree Bhattacharjee
Pooja Choudhary
Primrose Pius
Sukanya Ganguly
Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune

2. 20 minutes: The frequency of a
rape in India
68,000 : Number of rape cases
registered in 2011
16,000: Number of rapists
sentenced to prison
The number of deaths through female
foeticide in the last decade has exceeded
the total deaths in the first and the second
world war
Two-third of married Indian women are
victims of domestic violence attacks
India is the "fourth most dangerous country"
in the world for women and the worst country
for women among the G20 countries
Notwithstanding constant public scrutiny, the Indian
woman continues to be unsafe and low on empowerment
Figures of Shame
Why Does This Problem Exist?
- Marriage and inheritance customs
-Not drawing women into dialogue about
current structures which do not support
change
-Patriarchal Society and Gender
discrimination

3. • Setting up a dedicated body to initiate efforts to change society’s
perception of society by integrating media and different communication
mediums
• Guiding women participants toward their own definition of an
empowered woman by helping them build entrepreneurial skills.
• As a mandate, every initiative of this body is to be covered by media
Innovative
Solution Concept
• This body will work on the principle of SMART – Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Result – Oriented and a Time –Bound Initiative
• Entrepreneurial solutions will work both at an individual and social level
Merits of the
Solution
• Officials of this body, Media, Medical Professionals, Appointed Counselors,
Drama Colleges, Voluntary Organizations, Civil Service Officials
Stakeholders
Involved
• Government Treasury funds money to this body and takes finance from
World bank
Funding

4. • Facilitate quick judicial decisions: a) Trials and Action within 7 days. A
system which will impose an appropriate punishment for the crime b)
Ensure 100% confidentiality in the cases reported
• Promote gender-equitable attitudes – a) Reach out to homes, schools,
communities, and workplaces b) Make public spaces more populated c)
Street vendors to serve as eyes and ears for the police d) Camera
Monitoring with back-end being monitored e) Abused women to have
access to critical health and social support services f) Mystery Eagles - a
team of officials observing various localities 24*7
• Create Awareness through Education – a) Education about women’s rights
in rural & urban communities b) Offering counseling services in schools c) A
counselor to be appointed in private schools compulsorily d) Raise
community awareness about women’s rights
Implementing the Solution

5. • Create Awareness through Entertainment – a) Street plays b) Satires
• Enhance the confidence of women – a)Advertise the helpline number
widely b) Tie up with media to advertise the helpline number in
newspapers on a weekly basis c) Displays in bus stations and trains
d)Women police patrolling in public places e) Media to highlight
women’s success stories f)Radio ads conveying the message of women’s
equality g)Highlight the punishments received by the court to the rapists
caught in cases
• Initiate sting operation to investigate female foeticide and to make it a
punishable offense

6. Building Entrepreneurial Skills
• Build channelized partnerships with Corporate and National NGOs
• Ask corporates for government corporate funding, a skills training program
for empowering women entrepreneurs in rural and semi urban areas
• The channelizing partners (1-2 National NGOs who have wide access to
local NGOs) to execute the field work properly
• Volunteers (Youth ambassadors) from renowned post graduation colleges
and retired professionals to facilitate the process
• Stakeholders: Women with lesser business opportunities and
understanding, Local village bodies, Not for Profit Organizations, Youth
Ambassadors, Corporates

7. Impact of the solution
• Increased number of initiatives to ensure safety of women
• Every effort covered in online and offline media
• Increased number of people made aware of the governmental
initiatives
• Women feel more secure on hearing and seeing the efforts taken by the
body
• A seed of fear instilled in men, changing the perception of society
towards the changes
• The efficiency of this initiative would be measured quarterly on the basis
of the number of cases filed

8. SMART Results...
The impact of the solution to be measures through:
– Notions of self-worth and dignity (individual)
– Improved entrepreneurial skills of already empowered women
– Bodily integrity; freedom from coercive forces over a woman’s very body
– Control and influence over household and public resources
– Experience with or appreciation of the value of collective effort and solidarity among
women (relations)
Is the solution scalable?
– This program will target to empower 10,000 women every year through a network of
employees Pan India
Is the solution scalable?
– Partner with internationally recognized Multi National Corporates (For Example, Godrej
and TATA ) as well as Globally recognized NGOs (WorldVision, CAF, UNDP)
– Appropriately monitor: Management by Objectives!

9. Challenges and Mitigation Factors
Social, Economic & Political Challenges
• Issues of domestic violence, rape by husband or any other family member,
parental pressure, subjugation in economic issues and poverty are a hurdle to our
solution
• If not legally bounded appropriately, corporate may back out from providing funds
which could be major setback
• Initial Resistance towards the rapid urge to break traditional perception against
women and corruption
• World Wide recession, fiscal deficit, non-passing of loan by World Bank and fall of
rupee
Means to mitigate the following challenges
• Come up with gender equality classes through Nukkad natak since the very start
so that none of the opposite gender looks down upon the other one
• Severe and quick punishment to the rape culprits and their supporters and
educate the adult through media so that the usual notion of “there is no life for a
girl who has been raped.” can be changed
• Proper legal bindings with the Corporates and NGOs so that crisis can be curbed

10. Appendix
• National Crime Records Bureau
• BBC report
• Thomson Reuters
• Mint Articles
• NGO Whitepapers (Care and Women for Women Organization)
• Zee News