International Womens Day 2016: "Recognizing the Unrecognized"

Women work without a break for their families, society, and friends all through the year. So, on IWD 2016, LEAD conducted their 3rd annual "Recognizing the Unrecognized", where women in our society who are rarely recognized but are responsible for important work were recognized for their contributions, such as cleaning railway stations, bus stands, picking household trash, selling vegetables etc. LEAD and LEADers believe that, without these women, our communities would come to a standstill.

LEADers from each location of LEAD voluntarily took up the initiative to identify and appreciate these women on the occasion of International Women’s Day. After identifying these unrecognized women in their communities, the LEADers made personal visits to their homes and workplaces to thank them for their contributions and presented a certificate of gratitude they personally signed.

In total, 347 students recognized 30,245 women in honour of International Women’s Day, thanking them for their contributions to society that otherwise go unnoticed. AMAZING work by our LEADers!

Students noted that this project helped them improve their communication skills and confidence, as each LEADer approached and spoke to hundreds of women from all different professions, backgrounds, statuses, and levels of education. 

LEADers from Hubballi Sandbox recognizing local security women

LEADer from Ek Soch Sandbox (Varanasi) and LEAD Functional Head Ajay Suman Shukla
recognizing a working mother

LEADers from Kakatiya Sandbox (Nizamabad) recognizing a local shopkeeper

International Women's Day 2014

Young Leaders Recognizing Women for Their Work

This year on 8th March, 2014 students of LEAD (LEADers Accelerating Development) of Deshpande Foundation are proud to celebrate the International Women's Day in a very unique way under the theme "Recognizing the unrecognized." They are from various colleges where our LEAD is located namely Dharwad, Hubli, Sirsi, Mundgod, Belgaum, Chikkodi, Nidasoshi, Bijapur, Talikoti, Gulbarga, Chitradurga, Davangere from Karnataka region, Karimanagar and Nizamabad of Andhrapradesh/Telangana region, Coimbatore of Tamilnadu region and Pune, Islampur and Kolhapur from Maharashtra region.

"Recognizing the unrecognized" is an approach where women of our society who does the most important work such as cleaning the public places like railway stations, bus stands, government offices, roads and streets are identified. Most of the time these special women are neglected by the society and are not recognized for their phenomenal work.

 

 

Under this event around 2477+ women were personally visited and appreciated across LEAD locations in the four states. 200+ students have taken this initiative into their respective location.

As such, in each location these student LEADers have divided themselves into teams of 5 to 10 and have visited public places in the past 10 days. During the period, they collected data and met extraordinary women who are working in the line of housekeeping, public hygiene and sanitation from various departments. 

LEADers collected the details of each woman and about their commitment and dedication towards work. They also inquired about their personal appreciation and achievement they received for their work in the past. Many women were an inspiration as they had to balance both work and family life. During the interactions, these women were astonished to know how their work is remarkable. They were informed about the importance of their role in the hygiene sector and they were surprised to know.

The purpose of this event is to instill social consciousness among the youth so that they can respect such women for their hard work. It is to make these women feel dignified for their work and increase their dedication towards their work.