L iterature is full of stronggirls who have inspired uswith their willingness toseek adventures outside of

their comfort zone. Fearless, feistyand determined, these characters —including Pippi, Matilda, Lyra — havechallenged the tyranny of establishedgender roles. They showed us that itwas possible to be an explorer, totake on bullies or our own innerdemons with sheer grit andgumption – and that strengthof heart and soul is greater thanwealth, social class or gender norms.

It’s time for women to reject gender discrimination, demand equality, andunapologetically revel in our ambition and success. Today we celebrate the heroines —fictional and real-life — who taught us to question status quo

Presenting real-life daredevils who have made aname for themselves in fields that weretraditionally dominated by men

BIKING With more than 11 years of expe-rience with motorbikes, CandidaLouis has been to South Africa,Indonesia, Cambodia, USA andAustralia on her motorcycle. Theplucky woman has been undertak-ing motorcycle expeditions for along time and has by now organ-ised and led about 34 cus-tomised biking grouptours – in India andabroad. She has alreadymotorbiked in 14 coun-tries and five conti-nents, which is a phe-nomenal achievement in itself.

SNOWBOARDING Vasilisa Ermakova may be too young for school, but thesix-year-old Russian girl has already made a name forherself as a snowboarding prodigy. Ermakova spendsfive hours a day barrelling down slopes outside Moscowand has even smashed a number of national records.Coached by her father — himself a former competitivesnowboarder — from the age of three, she has mas-tered 360-degree jumps off large snow banks andeven 540-degree spins. She has recently achieved anew Russian record for the fastest downhill skate-board ride, at 30mph (48 km/h).

WRESTLING Charlotte Flair, also known bynicknames such as The Nature Girl,The Genetically Superior Athlete,and The Queen could do a standingback flip at age 13. A strong,groundbreaking, independentfemale in a male-dominated field,

she is the first WWE female tohold all four titles: NXTWomen’s Champion, WWEDiva’s Champion; WWEWomen’s Championship andthe SmackDown Women’sChampion.

FLYING At the start of World War II, women werenot allowed to fly military aircraft but all

that changed in 1940. Described as a ‘pio-neer’ and ‘heroine,’ Mary Ellis was among

the first batch of female pilots for theAir Transport Auxiliary (ATA), which

delivered fighters and bombers to RAFairfields during WWII. By the end of

the war, Ellis had spent morethan 1,100 hours flying

dozens of differenttypes of air-

craft, includ-ing 400

Spitfires.

PIPPI LONGSTOCKING Since 1945, this rebel girl has been questioning conven-tional ideas about how girls should behave – and chal-lenging social norms like no other. For instance, therewas an incident went she to the marketplace dressed inan evening gown! Cheeky yet kind, this unusual girlalways stood up for the weak and oppressed.

ANNE Anne is proof thatyou do not need tobe popular, coolor edgy to be awe-

some. Anne of- fers young read-ers a model of the independentyoung woman with the deter-mination and drive to becomea successful career-woman. ThoughAnne makes choic-es, and ultimatelysacrifices, to sup-port her family,writer L M Mont-gomery allows us tosee that it is an em-powered choice.

MEG MURRY An unruly teenageheroine who coulddo square roots inher head; dabbledin math andphysics and con-fronted the prob-lem of evil heads-on. But what Meg reallyshowed us all was thatwe can still be heroiceven if we don’t reallyhave any extraordi-nary talents.

MATILDA WORMWOODThe world’s biggest bookworm wasneglected by her parents, terrorisedby her headmistress and discour-

aged from following hertrue passion. But none ofthat stopped her from be-coming the hero of herown story. The adven-

turous girlstood her

own againstthe scary Miss

Trunchbull in amanner that only

boys would in moretraditional literature.

It isimpor-tant towidenyour horizons as itempowers you. Andwith great power comes great responsibili-ty, so if and when you do embark on anadventure... keep your family updated onyour movements, listen to their guidance,stay vigilant and trust your instincts whenit alerts you to danger.

I travelled alone to anothercity, to my grandparents’place, for vacation a few yearsago. It made me feel empow-ered as I organised everythingon my own: from packing myluggage, going through thedetails of the journey and the

stay. Managing mythings and sched-

ule withoutdepending onmy parentsmade me feel Icould be an

independent indi-vidual. Once the

safety issues are takencare of, I don’t see why girlsshouldn’t be on their own. Sharmila Pentapalli, class XII,Silver Oaks Intl school,Hyderabad

I was given an opportunity tohead the department for pub-lic relations for mock UN edi-tion at my school. Taking upsuch an important responsi-bility that had previouslybeen handled by boys gaveme a chance to show that

girls are deservingcandidates too. It

was at thistime I had toprove that usgirls do notneed male

supervision allthe time and that

we don’t crumbleunder the pressure of workand responsibilities.Akshita Sharma, class XII,Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula

My first solo rickshaw ridefrom home to school! I wasworried that, despite knowingthe route like the back of myhand, the rickshaw driverwould lead me somewhereelse, and that made me extravigilant. I observed the little

details — how somepeople stared at

me at signalsbecause I wasalone, and inmy school uni-form; and how

the driverassumed that I

didn’t know the way. Overall, it was a thrilling butworrying first experience. Chaitra Abhijeet Vartak, classIX, SSPM’s Sri Sri RavishankarVidya Mandir, Borivali East

Because I was a girl I was toldthat I could not go out of thehouse alone, while my brother,who is older to me by only ayear was allowed to do so. Oncea friend had to go to a placethat was within walking dis-tance from my house and

it had gottenquite dark. I

knew theroads betterthan she didand decided toescort her. When

I told my mothershe was furious, but

now my family knowsthat I can take care of myselfas well those around me when Ihead out.Rutuja Balraj, class X, Sacred Heart School, Kalyan

#WORKPLACEHAPPYHow often have youseen the CEO of a compa-ny joining their employeesfor a dance break in themiddle of the day? In a viral video, the CEO of

Welspun, Dipali Goenka, wasdancing with her fellow

employees on the remixed ver-sion of the song ‘Muqabla’ from

‘Street Dancer 3D’. Goenkahas been lauded for creating a positive

and enthusiasticworkplace envi-ronment!

Women entrepre-neurs can create170 million jobs inIndia by 2030A joint report by global man-agement consulting firm Bain &Company and Google says womenentrepreneurs could single-handedlylower India’s unemployment rate. Thereport said with India’s unemployment ratestanding at 6.1 per cent in the 2018 fiscalyear, empowering women to open and scalebusinesses has the potential to employ upto 170 million people by 2030. The report,called ‘Powering the Economy With Her,’also pointed out:

1Women own 20 per cent ofall businesses in India, andalready directly employ 27

million people.

2By focusing on female entre-preneurs, direct employmentwill increase by 50 to 60 mil-

lion people and indirect andinduced employment

will increase by 100to 110 million people

by 2030 — 25 percent of the new

jobs required forthe entire working-

age population.

MARY POPPINSThe magical Eng-lish nanny MaryPoppins was awoman whocould get thingsdone, wasn’t re-liant on a man inany way and un-derstood the im-portance ofself suffi-

ciency. Even though sheworked in a feminine pro-fession, her negotiationskills were impeccable.

LYRA This scrappy,ordinary girl

taught us to bebold, brave, andspeak up. Shealso said thatwhile it is impor-tant to followrules becausethey can be useful, that does notmean one place their faith entire-ly in them. It’s good to break rulesonce in a while!

A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES BEGINS WITH A SINGLE STEP: NIE YOUTH REPORTERS

‘Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rightsare human rights.’ Hillary Clinton