March 6, 2021

International Women’s Week: Help Women In India

As we wake up as a society to the fundamental need for human equality, it feels like the perfect time to put our attention on March’s celebration of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Week for particularly the South Asian and international women that have paved the path for women like the 6 of us.

We think of not only history’s names of those we owe our freedoms, but even to the women we know that are strong, inspiring and truly deserve our attention.

Our mommas.

With this past week as international women’s week, we think of the lives our mothers left behind in India.

Inequality, social biases and violence against women.

And all so that they could provide their future children with a better life. We think of how women all around the world make huge sacrifices for their families.

International Women’s Week aims to bring awareness to the celebration and education of women around the globe but also awareness to, as the United Nations puts it, the five pillars of awareness on women’s and gender issues.

These are building relationships, self-knowledge, sexual assault & interpersonal violence, healthy self-image, and leadership development, (The United Nations marks the week with annual conferences on equality).

We love supporting organizations who tackle these pillars.

When we support one another as women, we can make a difference together. It’s why we are always on board to talk to Desai Foundation on the ways they are lifting women in India.

Whenever we sit down to chat with President of Desai Foundation, Megha Desai, it’s as if we are having chai together and we know she gets it when we say we are looking back at our mother’s sacrifices and those before her to allow us to be where we are today as South Asian women in America.

Megha says, “The great thing about being Indian American and doing this work, is that I am able to feel at home in both the regions in which we work. I am able to look at both systems somewhat objectively and really immerse myself in what we are focused on. And we focus on women because when you uplift a woman, you uplift an entire community. UN data has proven over and over again that women invest more back into the community when they earn, they pay back micro-loans at a remarkably higher rate, and we know that mother’s live in service of their tribe. We also invest in women because in both the US and India, it’s women’s voices, needs, and rights that are afterthoughts – if they are considered at all. I am so honored to be able to do this work where I feel like I am able to root my feet in both my countries, and uplift women in both countries.”

In the past, we have worked together with the nonprofit Unity SME to support Desai Foundation provide 716 kids with dental hygiene kits and masks in Gujarat, India and in turn, help support their Masks of HOPE program that empowers women to earn a living. We have also worked with Desai Foundation on social media in their campaigns to break down the stigma of menstrual hygiene awareness in the South Asian community as well.

We now would love to help Desai Foundation’s latest campaign which focuses on empowering women in India at every stage of life. For more information and how to donate, go here.