I was honoured to receive an invitation to attend the 10th award ceremony of the Martha Farrell Foundation, held on 26 September 2026 at Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, New Delhi, India. The foundation, as the name suggests, honours the impeccable contributions and the life of the late Dr. Martha Farrell, who pioneered the gender justice discourse in India. The award carries forward her legacy by honouring individuals and organisations in India who work relentlessly towards the upliftment of the underprivileged, specifically women in every sphere of life.
As the ceremony fell on a working day for me, I had not intended to stay for its entirety, having planned to return to prior work commitments. However, the event had a quiet pull of its own. As the evening unfolded, I found myself increasingly absorbed by the stories, the people and the spirit of the awards. Work could wait; I chose to remain and attend the occasion in its entirety.
What struck me the most were the discussions and the words that floated in the room. Dignity, honour, gender justice and feminism all found space in that room, and they were given a different meaning through actions. All the individuals and organisations (four in total) who were awarded emphasised the need for education for young girls in Indian society and how the lack or absence of it is one of the root causes of all social evils that continue to exist.
Special Jury-Individual Award recipient, Akash Chouhan, works towards saving girls from caste-based generational sex work. He highlighted that lack of education pushes young girls into prostitution, where even the older women of the community do not find anything wrong with it. He drew a clear distinction between education and literacy. He explained how providing women with adequate support, knowledge and empathy had empowered girls to speak out against their parents or others who forced them into sex work. The recipient of the Most Promising-Individual Award, Seema Gautam, who works for the upliftment of the Dalit women in Uttar Pradesh, too emphasised on the need for educating women who can then be aware of their legal rights.
Another recurring theme throughout the event was that women get pushed into menial jobs and sex work in the name of parampara (tradition) from a very young age. Organisations like the Sarvo Prayas Sansthan and the Sisterhood Network, who won the Best Organisation for Gender Equality and Special Jury Awards respectively, have been working towards creating pathways for women to become economically independent. Protecting children from being pushed into child labour and sex work and sending them to school have been efforts of all the people working on various social factors.
The second half of the event, the panel discussion, was what stayed with me long after the ceremony had ended. Centred on feminist leadership and more importantly on what it means to realise feminism at the grassroots level in India, the discussion moved beyond abstract ideas around feminism to questions of lived experiences, leadership and social impact. The composition of the panel itself was a reflection of the Foundation’s intent, which was to bring
forward the voices of women who are doing remarkable work across diverse fields and in their own ways, reshaping the spaces that they inhabit. The panel was moderated by Nandita Pradhan Bhatt and featured an all-women panel comprising Ankita Bhatkhande, Communications Manager at Rebuild India Trust, Deepa Pawar, founder of Anubhuti Trust, Gangapriya Chakraverti, India Site Head and Managing Director of Ford Motor Company; and Meenakshi Gupta, Co-founder of Goonj.
The panellists reflected on how our overarching knowledge of feminism as a term is very western and superficial. India had feminists even 2,000 years ago, contrary to the popular feminist theories that emerged a couple of decades back. We refuse to acknowledge the contributions of women who work in primitive areas, women who work at home or smaller set-ups because these contributions challenge the mainstream western notion of what a feminist woman should look like. The western academic definition of feminism is a misfit for Indian society, as it is exclusive of the realities of a third-world country and its ways of functioning.
Some of the other compelling topics discussed by the panel included what does feminist philanthropy look like in India, why is it important to have social scientists to work at corporate set-ups and how we are still refraining from calling out influences of patriarchy in our environment.
As the evening came to a close, it felt in many ways like a moment of social awakening. The persistence and silent efforts made by all the social organisations (even the ones who did not win the award) offered a powerful reminder to us that feminism is far more expansive than the frameworks within which it is discussed. It was a reminder of the social responsibility that we, as citizens of this country, share to create a more equitable society. Feminism as a movement cannot be sustained by individual achievement or the advancement of privileged women alone. The beauty of this movement lies in the deeper intent of growing together with an unwillingness to leave anyone behind. In the current times, where concerns regarding the safety of women continue to occupy public discourse, this event offered me an opportunity to pause and reflect on where we stand and where we are headed. More than anything, it was a reassuring moment to witness a room full of people who are committed to leading through actions and are not afraid to break the shackles of patriarchy that continue to chain women and their potential.
