India’s no. 1 matchmaking platform, Shaadi.com’s social initiative arm, Shaadi.org, has long been a steward of social change focused on empowering women. This year, it is furthering the cause of women’s financial independence, starting this Independence Day by joining hands with Udayan Care, a women-focused NGO. Through this association, Shaadi.org envisions upskilling up to 10,000 women over a period of five years by pledging monetary support to the NGO’s Udayan Shalini Fellowship Programme and fostering the women’s journey of financial autonomy and integration into the workforce. Shaadi.com’s commitment resonates further in an inspiring campaign titled ‘RevolutioNaaris’ launched to raise awareness about India’s low female work-force participation rates.
In every initiative it has undertaken previously, Shaadi.org has sought to start a meaningful dialogue around gender disparities and create a nation where men and women have equitable opportunities by empowering women. Women’s financial independence makes up for an integral aspect of the broader discourse around women empowerment. And it is much more pronounced in India – one of the key inflection points being marriages. Various reports over the years suggest societal norms and expectations of running domestic affairs alone push around 50%* of the women in India out of the workforce after marriage. According to reports, 76%** of women in India are still dependent on others for a livelihood, while 68%*** of women graduates in India are not a part of the workforce today. However, being dependent compromises their dignity, independence and alleviates oppression.
To shed light on the constraints faced by women when it comes to being financially independent and to achieve gender equality through education and employment, Shaadi.org has partnered with Udayan Care and is committing to provide financial backing, and leadership skills to empower 10,000 women through the latter’s Udayan Shalini Fellowship Programme for over five years. With this, the company is facilitating women from all walks of life to develop skills that will enable them to pursue various disciplines and vocations. This will, in turn, help lower barriers and carve out an accessible gateway for themselves to enter diverse economic sectors, become financially independent and actively contribute to India’s progress.
Commenting on the initiative, Adhish Zaveri, VP – Marketing, Shaadi.com, said, “Shaadi.com has always strived to make a meaningful difference in the realms of gender equality, specifically with the issue of women dropping out of the work-force after marriage. We are proud to partner with Udayan Care’s Shalini programme, an association that will only help us further realise our vision of promoting initiatives that provide livelihoods and opportunities to women as well as positively influencing the mindsets of Indians for building a more equal nation and a world at large.”
Anjali Hegde, Executive Director, Udayan Care spoke at length on the topic when she said, “Shaadi.com has conceptualised and brought forth a captivating film which highlights how even after 76 years of independence, 76% of Indian women continue to live “in-dependence.” The message of the film really speaks to us and our cause. Because at Udayan Shalini Fellowship Program we too are committed to bringing women into the workforce and strive to make them stronger from within to take all of life events – whether it be marriage or childbirth, in their stride to become financially independent women living a life of dignity and purpose.
The Udayan Shalini Fellowship Program is a leadership program that is aimed at building agency and social capital amongst young women. We induct talented girls from resource poor backgrounds into this program after completion of X std and work with them for the next 6 years up to graduation, to build agency, self-confidence, communication skills, social sensitivity and employability. Girls are provided personal mentoring and go through carefully curated 18 modules of life skills and employability training through the program. Launched in 2002, the program has successfully completed 21 years and has spread across 34 city chapters in 13 states of India and has impacted nearly 14,000 Shalinis.
We value this partnership with Shaadi.org and are grateful for their support to our cause of women’s empowerment.”
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