Drawing the line means being able to say ‘No,’ because as women we have a choice.

A life of courage, compassion and change, Dr. Martha Farrell was a pioneer of gender justice, women's rights, and adult education in India. Known for her revolutionary thinking and compassion towards everyone she met, Dr. Martha led from the front, challenging norms, smashing the patriarchy, and inspiring change among many.

Born to Iona and Noel Farrell in Delhi, Dr. Martha came from an Anglo-Indian family grounded in values of equality and justice. She studied English Literature at the University of Delhi and earned her postgraduate degree in social work from the Delhi School of Social Work. She began her career in 1981 at Ankur, an NGO working on women’s literacy and empowerment. Her early exposure to grassroots realities shaped her lifelong practice of participatory learning, a method that brings communities onto the map of education and learning.

In 1991, she co-founded Creative Learning for Change, an NGO that created learning materials for non-formal education and remained involved with it throughout her life. In 1996, Martha joined PRIA (Society for Participatory Research in Asia) and became the Director of Gender Mainstreaming programme in institutions. Working alongside Dr. Rajesh Tandon, her husband, at PRIA, she trained thousands of grassroots leaders and professionals across sectors in gender, governance, and workplace rights.

After the Supreme Court’s Vishakha Guidelines in 1998, Dr. Martha led the push to mainstream gender equality within institutions, not just in fieldwork but in their very structures. She completed her PhD on sexual harassment at the workplace from Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi, and authored Engendering the Workplace in 2014, the first Indian book on the subject. Dr. Martha also founded PRIA International Academy, led distance learning, and taught part-time in Canada. Her international presence included keynotes at global conferences like CIVICUS and the Delhi Conference on Citizen Leadership.

More than a professional, Dr. Martha was known for her warmth, generosity, and hospitality. A thoughtful friend and a great support to everyone around her, the Tandon-Farrell household was always filled with guests, laughter, and more food than one could finish.

On 13 May 2015, Dr. Martha Farrell passed away, one among the 14 people killed in a terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, while leading a gender training workshop with the Aga Khan Foundation. 

Dr. Martha Farrell lives on in the people she empowered, the policies she changed, and the world she made fairer. She was many things to many people and is dearly missed.