International Day of the Girl 2020: 10 women who are examples of women empowerment

Today, October 11, is World Girl's Day. International Day of the Girl Child is celebrated worldwide for women's rights, their voice and well-being. Women are lagging behind in society despite of giving equal participation in education, science, literature, medical, arts and culture. Therefore, the importance of this day is huge when a special day is celebrated to raise the rights and voice of women all over the world. 

Rani Rampal, Indian Hockey Team Captain

Struggle: Spent whole life in mud house and this daughter of rickshaw puller went to become a successful hockey player

Rani Rampal, captain of the Indian women's hockey team, has recently been honored with the Arjuna Award. Born in a small village in Haryana, Rani has spent her childhood in a mud house, she has suffered poverty as well as taunts of relatives and society. Her father used to pull rickshaw and sell bricks to run the house. Her house use to get flooded during heavy rainy days. 
Rani told that when she expressed her desire to play hockey, her parents and relatives did not cooperate. Relatives also used to taunt the father and say, 'What will she do by playing hockey? Just wearing a short skirt will run in the field and ruin the honor of the house'. At that time, she was afraid that she would never be able to play hockey. Today, the same people praise her and visit her place when she returns home.

Gunjan Saxena, 1st Indian female pilot in combat

Struggle: Became 'Kargil Girl' by flying fighter jets among boys

On World Girl's Day, how can we not talk about India's first female fighter aircraft pilot. Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena, popularly known as Kargil Girl, is the first female officer of the Indian Air Force to go to war for the first time. At that time, women were not allowed to go to the war zone and fly the fighter plane at war time. 
Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena was selected in the Indian Air Force in the year 1994 along with 25 other women trainee pilots. This was the first batch of female IAF trainee pilots. Gunjan Saxena then created history during the 1999 Kargil War and at that time she became a flying officer in the Indian Air Force. During that time she flew Cheetah helicopter in Combat Zone and saved the lives of many Indian soldiers. During that time, she created history by doing so and set an example for the future generations.

Seema Kushwaha, Nirbhaya's Lawyer 

Sturuggle: This lawyer who fought for Nirbhaya's justice was poor and sold her anklets for education.

Seema Kushwaha, who got Nirbhaya justice, is remembered not as a lawyer but as a bulwark of strong law. Her father, a resident of Uggarpur village in Etawah, UP, was a farmer. She went to school till eighth. Further studies were banned. At that time, it was not considered right to educate girls much. But her father decided to teach her. He died when Seema was doing her graduation. She did not have the money to pay college fees, her aunt paid the fees by selling her gold jewellery and anklets. She somehow completed her graduation by teaching tutions and today, Seema has become a strong woman, a capable advocate and a strong voice for women.

Mary Kom, Boxer

Struggle: She used to practice boxing with empty stomach

Mary Kom is a name that has made indian and every indian proud by winning 10 national and many gold medals. Mary Kom entered the world of boxing at the age of 18. She faced many challenges and even had gone against her family too for her boxing career. 
Her father was a farmer and she use to help in farming. Mary has suffered a lot because of her poverty, there use to crisis of food at home and she used to practice empty stomach.Talking about Mary Kom's Records, in the year 2000, she registered a stunning victory in the Women's Boxing Championship. She then won the silver medal at the Women's Boxing Championships AIBA held in the US in 2001. A film has also been made on Mary Kom's life.

Ummul Kher, IAS

Struggle: She went to become an officer after 16 fractures and 8 surgeries

Ummul Kher, an IAS officer who came out of Delhi's slum area, has been a warrior in herself. This daughter of a peanut seller has lived in a slum. Ummul Kher's father used to sell goods by carting on the roadside. In the year 2001, her slum was demolished and she started teaching tutions in rented house. She became the sole bread earner for her family and supported her studies too with these tutions. Poverty was not the only struggle in Ummul Kher's life, but also that she was born with a bone fragile disease due to which her bones were factored 16 times and had to undergo operation 8 times. With all these struggle, she became a topper in the 10th and 12th standard by teaching tuitions. After this, she started preparing for JRF and UPSC. She cleared the UPSC examination with 420th rank in the first attempt. Now she is serving the country and society by becoming an Assistant Commissioner.

Shooter Dadi

Struggle: Chandro and Prakashi Tomar created history and record by learning shooting at the age of 60

Chandro and Prakashi Tomar, two women from Johri village in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, are known as 'Shooter Dadi'. Both are sister in laws. At the age of 60, they learned shooting at a local club and set many records. There is a Hindi film also made on their life. Prakasho and Chandro's granddaughter Shaifali used to learn shooting at the shooting range of  village. During this time both these grandmothers also accompany their granddaughters. One day Chandro made a perfect shot and coach praised her. After Chandro, Prakashi also aimed precisely. Since then, their shooting journey began. Between 1999 and 2016, these grandmothers has won 25 National Shooting Championships. Not only this, in a shooting competition Prakashi won the gold medal by defeating the DIG of Delhi.

Laxmi Agarwal, Acid Victim

Struggle: She suffered serious burns by acid thrown on her but she bounced back with double courage and became an example

Laxmi Agarwal is an acid attack survivor. Hailing from a middle class family, Laxmi is from Delhi. Lakshmi's dream was to become a singer, but an accident with her at an early age changed her entire life. A 32-year-old man wanted to marry Lakshmi, Lakshmi was just 15 years old at the time. When she refused to marry the young man, in 2005, he threw acid on Laxmi. After the incident, she said, 'When the acid was thrown at me, it felt as if someone had set my whole body on fire. Against this, in the year 2006, she filed a PIL and asked the Supreme Court to ban the acid. Laxmi speaks for the rights of acid attack victims. She is now the founder of Stop Cell Acid. This is a campaign against acid violence and acid sales. Laxmi has also received the 'International Women Empowerment Award 2019' from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and UNICEF for her campaign Stop Cell Acid. Apart from this, she has also received the 2014 International Women of Honor Award by US First Lady Michelle Obama. Today she has become a very big celebrity.

Malala Yousafzai

Struggle: She was shot by Talibani's for raising her voice for women education

Malala has become the idol of all over the world. Malala, who hails from the Swat Valley of northwest Pakistan, started writing a diary for BBC Urdu at the age of 11, titled Gul Makai. Malala used to bring out the agony of the children living in Swat area. She raised her voice strongly against Taliban terror and for the education of women. 
Malala received a National Award for bravery for exposing the hardships of children through a diary. After this Malala was attacked by the Taliban and shot in the head and tried to kill her. People from all over the world supported Malala against this attack. After this Malala did not look back. 
She emerged as a woman to raise the voice of women in front of the world by defeating the Taliban attack. In 2014, Malala received the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala is the youngest to recieve Nobel laureate at the age of 17.

Arunima Sinha, Indian mountain climber and sportswoman

Struggle: She was thrown out of moving train, the amputated limb did not discouraged her

Arunima Sinha, the victim of the accident, is the first Indian handicapped to conquer Mount Everest. Arunima, born in Sultanpur (UP)was interested in sports since childhood, she was also a national volleyball player. An accident changed the history of Arunima's life. In 2011 she was travelling from Lucknow to Delhi where some vicious criminals thrown her out of the moving train, which caused her left leg to be cut off. The whole night Arunima Sinha with a severed leg kept screaming with pain. She kept fighting for life in the hospital for four months. After getting an artifical limb, she bounced back with double strength. Arunima did not loose her courage and he decided to climb Mount Everest, which she completed. After climbing Everest, she set a goal of climbing the highest peaks of all the seven continents of the world. In this sequence, she has so far flown the tricolor on Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa and Mount Elbrus in Europe.

Geeta & Babita Phogat, Wrestlers

Struggle: When these Dangal Girls fought boys to learn the game

Geeta and Babita. These two names have been so mixed up on every Indian's tongue that even more discussion about it is like questioning the abilities of these two Wrestler sisters. These two daughters of Mahavir Phogat made the country famous worldwide in wrestling. They are called 'Dangal Girl'. 
These sisters, who have given many medals to the country, reached here by wrestling with men. Due to lack of women wrestlers in the village, the father made them wrestle with boys and prepared them for the International Games. Raised in poverty, Gita and Babita's struggle is well known. In Haryana, these athletes have been ideal for both boys and girls. These four sisters Geeta, Babita, Ritu and Sangeeta are all wrestlers and their brother Dushyant Phogat has also adopted the game.