WE MAKE IT HAPPEN
Stories of Women’s Leadership

A PRAJNYA ARCHIVES PROJECT TO MARK INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2015
WHEN: FROM MARCH 8 TO MAY 8, 2015

• Have you been a leader—in school, at play, in the community or in politics?
• Do you know women in leadership roles in the public or private sector, or in civic groups of any variety?

Tell us a story about this leadership experience,
with or without a photo or two.

Contribute to strengthening the evidence for women to be included in leadership roles by resolving to draw attention to how women and girls show leadership in a myriad visible and invisible ways.

This year, the Prajnya Archives are inviting your stories—with or without photographs.

We want to hear stories like this:
• Your experience as a school or college leader—in class, in extra-curricular activities and in informal activities you initiated.
• Your leadership at play as a child—did you organize your building’s Diwali fun?—or in sports.
• Your initiative in setting up a residents’ welfare association or a neighbourhood watch or cleanliness programme.
• Your role in an anti-corruption or anti-rape protest, and your leadership work as a political party organizer or in local government or a trade union or a social movement.

Write us your story, making sure to enter the following details:
• The correct name of the woman leader (you or someone else), places where they lived and worked, and at least approximate dates for their leadership role.
• A full account, including the title, of the first or most significant (by any measure) leadership role played by the person. What did it involve? Who did she work with? What were some things she did? Were there tangible results? What did she feel about her work?
• As full an account as possible of other leadership roles she played.
We’d also love to read her reflections on leadership and women as leaders.

If you are sending us a photograph:
• The photo must be of a woman or women you know in leadership roles.
• Photos are welcome from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal and Afghanistan.
• The photograph/s must show the subject in a setting that clearly marks her out as performing a leadership role. Photographs must be accompanied by as many details as possible – subject’s name, year/date the photo was taken, what the photo is supposed to demonstrate.
• The photo/s must be accompanied by a short or long write-up about the woman in the photograph – this may be a story of her experiences in making it as a leader.
• Only high quality photos (at least 300 dpi) will be accepted.

All stories and photos submitted that meet the basic criteria (i.e. are of reasonable image quality and come with the required information) will be published on a dedicated blog of the Prajnya Archives, as a permanent exhibit and resource for women's history.

What must the submission include to be accepted?
To be complete entries must include contributor's name, age, address/contact info.

SUBMISSIONS MUST BE SENT TO: [email protected]

(The illustrations on this page form part of the Prajnya Archives collection. L-R, they are:

1. A photo contributed by Prasant Mohanty to the Rainmakers project of the Prajnya Archives. It features anti-nuclear activist Vaishali Patil protesting against the Jaitapur nuclear plant.

2. A photo of Lambadi protestors against NREGA in Chikkalalbagh, Bengaluru, contributed by Mr. Eswarappa to the Rainmakers project.

3. A photo of Mythili Sivaraman at an All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) meeting in Tamil Nadu, contributed to the Rainmakers project by Kalpana Karunakaran.

4. A photo contributed by Prasant Mohanty of a Jaitapur protestor. This is also part of Rainmakers.