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From underprivileged to empowered: Meet the sheroes

As International Women's Day nears, we introduce you to three wonder women who fought their circumstances and transformed themselves from being "underprivileged" to "empowered". They are now helping other women follow the same path.

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As International Women's Day nears, we introduce you to three wonder women who fought their circumstances and transformed themselves from being "underprivileged" to "empowered". They are now helping other women follow the same path.
For their remarkable work, these women, titled Sheroes, will be honoured at an event — Jalsa — being held to celebrate womanhood on Wednesday.
"Our idea behind honouring these women is to convert this into a movement, where each one of us takes up the cause of one underprivileged woman and make a valuable difference to society," said Monica Lakhmana, one of the sponsors of the event.
Lakhmana runs the Monica Lakhmana Foundation that provides business acumen skills and expertise as well as artistic advice to help social organisations enhance their capabilities.

PROFILES
Savita Baban, a Vasai resident, was five when she became polio-ridden. Annoyed with her disability, her parents decided not to mention her name in the family ration card. The only good thing that happened to her was marriage, but even that did not last for long. She became a widow within 10 years of getting married. She had four sons then, eldest one 10 years old.
Baban then took up stitching and farming to sustain her family. However, her miseries did not end there. Three years back, she lost her eldest son in an accident. "Tragedies have made me stronger," says Baban, who, in the last three years, has helped over 2,000 disabled get the disability certificate.
"As I did not have a ration card, a tout charged me Rs10,000 to get a disability certificate for myself. However, later I learnt that all this can be done for free. Hence, I decided to help other disabled women to get it, so that they can avail the facilities granted to the physically challenged by the government," says a proud Baban, who claims to now know everyone — right from the peon to the secretary in the local social welfare department, where she goes every Wednesday with a fresh set of applications.

Anwari Khan
Gowandi resident Anwari Khan, a mother of five daughters, was a typical submissive wife, who accepted frequent bashing at the hands of her husband and in-laws. However, in 2003, when her eldest daughter got married and was subjected to the same, she had her moment of awakening. She decided to teach a lesson to her daughter's in-laws and filed a case of domestic violence. However, her husband Mohd Khan was so ashamed of her act that he abandoned her as well as the girls.
"My husband said since I have become too independent and am taking decisions without his consent he finds it disturbing to stay with me," she said.
Anwari now lives happily with her daughters and runs a counselling and legal aid centre for victims of domestic violence. She also conducts massive awareness campaigns in slum areas on laws that help protect women's rights. "I am a fearless woman today and I want my daughters and every woman to be like this," she said.

Kiran Badhe
It was marriage that brought a timid girl of 15, Kiran Badhe, from a small village in Madhya Pradesh to Mumbai. In her husband's meagre income, Badhe, however, could not give all that she wanted to her three children. It was then that she decided to learn vocational courses that could help her make some money in the confines of her home.
Today, Badhe knows tailoring, embroidery, bag-making, painting, cooking, baking, jewellery-making and dress designing. With her eagerness to learn, she is now a trained fashion designer, a dream she had as a child but one that was lost to an early marriage. She has also started a self-help group called Samruddhi Bachat Gadh that gives training to women and makes them self-reliant.
"Today, with the help of local NGOs, I work with 30 self-help groups in Vasai and have trained more than 3,000 women. I feel very satisfied when women, after learning these skills, feel confident of themselves. Financial independence makes women find their own identity and that is my dream for every woman," beams Kiran.

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