Table of Contents
When and how did you start?
“I used to see my mother taking care of the family day in day out for years. While watching a show on our history, something struck me.
If a woman is capable of giving birth and bear the pain of crushing of 206 bones at once. Then why isn’t she good enough to fight in a war on par with her husband? Why isn’t my mother getting paid for the work that she is doing? Why isn’t my mother earning like my dad? Why isn’t my father a househusband? I began my journey to seek answers to above questions and more. I started paying more attention to the social news in a newspaper and tried to understand the circumstances under which it all happened. I read more and more. My research led to the conclusion that women empowerment is an umbrella under which there are myriad of issues that need to be addressed. One of them that caught my eye is that 1 out of every 3 girls experiences some kind of abuse before she turns 18.
I started Womenite with the objective to transform our male dominant society into an egalitarian one. Our mantra is to empower and nurture youth through education and love. I embarked on this journey in 2015 to bring a change that I want to see”, Says, The Founder of Womenite Mr. Harshit Gupta.
Brief about the organization and founding members
Womenite aims to create an equal society through education, love, and empowerment. We are conducting educational workshops and campaigns on issues like child sexual abuse, gender, and menstrual hygiene.
Image Credit/ Source: Harshit Gupta (Founder –Womenite)
The detailed journey, like what all you want to share with readers
We are conducting educational workshops and campaigns in schools and colleges. We recently worked with the District Magistrate of North Delhi on Beti Bachao, Beti Padho campaign(Indian government’s campaign to educate girl child). We also conducted Naari ki Chaupals with the Self Help groups of women in 17 of their villages. Addressing the dire need of our society for awareness regarding women’s health and education, modules on Menstrual Hygiene and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao were being delivered to women of all age groups.
Challenges and Opportunities/ Marketing Strategies
” When I started Womenite, people used to mock me by saying that I do some kind of business which involves supplying girls at night- Womenite. Not only this, I face a lot of ridicule for being a feminist. In our male-dominated, patriarchal society, I seem to be among a handful of men who are trying to make a change in the society and get women the respect that they deserve. I tend to not let such things get to me. I have very clear ideas and motives in life which do not get affected by such comments” , Says Harshit Gupta.
Image Credit/ Source: Womenite
Future plans and funding
In 3 years, we would expect Womenite to be a name which pops up in your mind when you think about the kind of change you want because that now, is the future generation. We would like to collaborate with the government on a large scale so that it becomes easy for us to conduct our workshops especially in government schools where the need of the hour is more. We aim to reach out to at least a ‘Million Youth’ through our campaigns.
Image Credit/ Source: Womenite
A quote from the founder on the journey, or dealing with the challenge, or any inspiring moment
Entrepreneurship is not a tag, it’s a journey.
EXCLUSIVE: Founder’s advice to budding entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship is not about making a million dollar, it’s about impacting the lives of a million people.
Image Credit/ Source: Womenite
Provide some statistics like revenues or clients acquisitions
So far, we have conducted workshops in around 100 schools, organizations, and NGOs. As a result, we worked/associated with Teach For India, Make a Difference, AIESEC, etc thus targeting more than 20,000 people(the majority of being the youth).
We have also worked for the HeForShe campaign, UN Women’s solidarity movement for gender equality and collected more than 10,000 commitments for the same. We have also organized celebrations on 8th March i.e. International Women’s day and other occasions in various colleges where we organized speaker sessions, panel talks, fun activities all based on the theme of gender. Some of the speakers included Ms. Kamla Bhasin, Ms. Santosh Yadav who is the first woman in the world to climb Mount Everest twice. Our work was recognized by UN Women and we were invited to their headquarters in New York to present our project.
