Across India, women like Bandana, Kalpana, and Nirmala are solving some of the most pressing and overlooked issues in their communities. But who is taking care of them?
What does it take to shatter barriers, question the status quo, and inspire a wave of change? For countless women across India running small grassroots organisations, it’s a mix of courage, resilience, and an unshakable urge to address deep-rooted inequities in society.
While progress has been made, gender equality remains elusive. Women, particularly in rural and marginalised communities, continue to face entrenched barriers such as gender-based violence, social exclusion, and limited access to resources. At the current pace, it will take over 131 years to achieve gender parity. But this can change when women begin to lead.
Marriage, separation, and widowhood in rural India
At the grassroots, early marriage, motherhood, widowhood, divorce or separation can be defining milestones for women; stepping away from the norm and reconstructing one’s own identity post widowhood or separation is often an act of bold agency, and is pivotal for women working and enduring at the grassroots, often having to relive personal trauma while supporting other women.
Rebuild is bringing to light how women’s leadership, often born from lived experience of violence, redefines power by focusing on collective contribution, building supportive communities, and dismantling existing structures that perpetuate violence and inequity. We are learning that women’s leadership not only empowers women and girls but also all marginalised groups.
For instance, over the past 10 years, Navchetana Sarvangin Vikas Kendra, led by Manisha Sitaram Ghule, has made a profound impact. Operating in the drought-prone Beed district, the organisation focuses on advocacy for land rights and menstrual health for vulnerable nomadic and de-notified tribes, and Dalit communities.
To date, they have enabled over Rs 100 crore in loans from banks, helping women members build sustainable livelihoods. Their community dairy initiative is enabling enhanced incomes, ending migration for work, and bettering nutritional outcomes for children.
By spotlighting more women problem-solvers and movement builders like Manisha Tai, Rebuild wants to spread awareness about the transformative potential of women’s leadership in remote and very complex regions across India.
These leaders are putting aside their personal grief and challenges while addressing historically overlooked issues in places like Muzzafarpur, Madhubani, Supaul and Vaishali in Bihar, and Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh.
Reclaiming the dignity of widows in Bihar
According to the Loomba Report (2022), there are over 245 million widowed women globally, with India alone accounting for 17%.
In Bihar — one of the world’s most flood-prone regions — widows, particularly from vulnerable communities like the Musahars, a marginalised group enduring historic discrimination in the eastern Gangetic plain, face compounded vulnerabilities. Here, floods not only devastate infrastructure but also deny women access to stable livelihoods, social support, and dignity, reinforcing cycles of poverty and exclusion.
In rural Muzaffarpur, Bandana, faced the challenge of navigating life without a partner, securing entitlements like widow pensions, while regaining financial independence. Her personal struggle revealed to her the harsher realities for widows from marginalised communities, who are often left voiceless and invisible. While she did not take the widow pension for herself or adopt the traditional identity and appearance-related norms around widowhood, she fights to ensure other widows receive the pension and support they deserve.
Bandana’s lived experience from her personal journey inspired her to establish Aakanksha Seva Sadan, an organisation empowering widows and single women in Muzzafarpur and Vaishali districts of Bihar. The organisation provides vocational training, advocates for access to social services, and challenges societal taboos around widowhood and remarriage.
“Our work begins at the grassroots level, focusing on local governance and community engagement. We bring to notice the discrimination faced by women from marginalised groups. By building community committees and passing resolutions, we ensure these critical issues are prioritised and addressed collectively,” says Bandana.
What makes Bandana’s leadership distinctive is her dedication to shared decision–making, where widows from diverse backgrounds shape the organisation’s priorities. Together, they break stereotypes, build livelihoods, and demand rights long denied to them.
Through her work, Bandana demonstrates how women, even in the most challenging circumstances, can be agents of change, turning marginalisation into empowerment and reclaiming dignity for themselves and their communities.
In Bundelkhand, liberation can take different shapes and forms
Growing up in a conservative joint family in Bundelkhand, Kalpana, the eldest of five daughters, often felt the weight of societal expectations. Though she had access to education, the pressure to conform to rigid gender norms was ever-present.
After an early marriage to a doctor, Kalpana found herself in what initially seemed like another extension of patriarchal control. However, it turned out to be the first time she experienced true freedom.
Kalpana’s husband founded Gramonnati Sansthan, an organisation in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh Mahoba district, focusing on women’s health and awareness, particularly addressing the pressing issue of malnutrition among women.
As Kalpana worked alongside him, she witnessed the stark inequities women in Bundelkhand faced — limited access to information, entrenched patriarchy, and systemic neglect of women’s health.
“I was not free before marriage,” she reflects. “For the first time, I felt I could explore the world. My husband encouraged me to do what I wanted — read, work, and question the world around me.”
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, nothing could stop her. She continued to visit rural areas, distributing essential items, sanitisers and masks. She also spread awareness about the measures we could take to fight the pandemic.
After COVID-19, when her husband suddenly passed away, Kalpana faced yet another challenge. She was thrust into leadership. Grieving while navigating a world that often sidelines women leaders, she chose to carry forward his vision.
Under her leadership, the organisation expanded its focus, addressing not only women’s health but also the societal structures that perpetuate inequities.
She collaborated with various organisations dedicated to women’s empowerment, both nationally and internationally, establishing her identity through her impactful work.
For Kalpana, her marriage was liberating. She continues to lead with empathy, shaped by her partnership and her personal journey. Her story is a poignant reminder that liberation can take many forms — and that even in the shadow of grief, women can redefine what it means to lead, resist and transform.
Climate vulnerabilities intertwined with gender-based violence
According to the Climate Vulnerability Assessment for Adaptation Planning in India Using a Common Framework, fourteen of India’s most climate-vulnerable districts are in Bihar, including Madhubani. Communities in Madhubani and Supaul districts face extreme vulnerability due to climate, geographical, and socio-economic factors.
Floods during monsoons, driven by the proximity to the Kosi River, devastate agriculture — the primary livelihood — pushing families into poverty. This economic instability often exacerbates social issues, including school dropouts, early marriages for girls, and increased exposure to trafficking. For many women and girls, the intersection of poverty, gender inequity, and climate vulnerability traps them in cycles of exploitation and violence.
For Nirmala, these challenges were her reality. Born into a community where poverty and climate disasters intertwined, she was married off at a young age, a common practice in families struggling to survive the adverse impacts of climate change and limited opportunities for livelihoods.
Within her marriage, she endured years of domestic and sexual violence, a harsh reminder of how deeply entrenched patriarchy and climate-induced poverty intersect to impact women’s agency. But when it was a question of her child’s survival, she made the bold decision to step away, leaving behind her family and a system that failed to protect her.
Her journey took a pivotal turn when she met Anjali, whose vision was to start an organisation, Sarvo Prayas Sansthan, to work with single women, survivors of violence, adolescent girls, and farmers.
For Nirmala, Sarvo Prayas Sansthan became more than just a workplace — it became her family. “I’ve turned everything around. This is my home now. Here, no one leaves. We celebrate everything,” she says with quiet resolve. Her leadership, shaped by her lived experiences, has created a safe space where survivors can heal, and thrive at their own pace.
Rebuild is committed to supporting over 500 grassroots organisations. We are a movement that is breaking the cycle of vulnerability for millions of Indians. Join us to support more grassroots women leaders.
Know more about Rebuild India Fund and its phenomenal women leaders here.
This article is voiced by Bandana, Kalpana and Nirmala and written by Mahasweta Chakraborty, Dasra.
This article is sponsored by Dasra.
Edited By Arunava Banerjee
