“There are plenty of leaders who believe in gender equality but are afraid or hesitant to use the word feminism. There is a negative connotation in our society that feminism in some way is anti-men (…) The biggest challenge is the misconception that exists in our society as to what feminism is – and busting those myths, and having people really own it and say “Yes, I am a feminist”.
Dr Shruti Kapoor, April 2019
Dr Shruti Kapoor’s Bio:
Dr. Shruti Kapoor is an award-winning gender equality activist and founder of Sayfty. Shaken by the horrific gang rape in Delhi 2012 that caught the attention of the global news media, she founded her organization, Sayfty to educate and empower women and girls of India against violence. The organization aims at not only creating awareness of laws and legal rights around the issue of violence against women, but also uses self-defense training, digital media, and storytelling for women’s safety.
The Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development recently recognized Dr. Kapoor as one of the 30 #WebWonderWomen who have been driving positive agenda of social change via social media. Richtopia named Dr. Kapoor as one of the top 100 leaders from multilateral organizations globally in 2018. In 2016, The White House nominated Dr. Kapoor as a change maker for The United State Of Women Summit 2016. She is the winner of Barclay’s We Are The City 50 Rising Stars Award in 2016, India. Sayfty was awarded the People’s Choice Award for their campaign on gender equality by Femverstising (2015), and won a State recognition award by the Uttar Pradesh government in India for the organization’s work on safety and education of girls. In 2015 also, Dr. Kapoor was awarded the Rex Karamveer fellowship, “to share impactful ideas for action and transform lives through projects and ideas of hope”. She also received the “Woman of the Year Award (third prize) ” by Regional Council, Aosta Valley, Italy.
Dr. Kapoor holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University of California, Riverside, and has worked at International organizations like The World Bank and UN Women. She served as an Adjunct Professor of Economics at Occidental College in Los Angeles; CA teaching economics to students. Dr. Kapoor is an active member of the UN Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development Working Group on Youth and Gender Equality Task Force. She served on the core organizing committee of UN’s Youth Forum for the Commission on the Status of Women 2017.
Dr. Kapoor has addressed many public forums including various sessions of the Youth Assembly at the United Nations, UN Women Events, The World Forum On Urban Violence, IIT Delhi, Merit 360 and World Woman Summit. She is an award-winning writer, Huffington Post contributor, and World Pulse Impact Leader and Digital Change maker. Shruti is dedicated to media, digital and traditional to strive for gender equality and gender responsive implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. She is an active user of social media and would love to connect with you.
Twitter: www.twitter.com/kapoors_s
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shrutikapoor1/
The Feminist Leadership Project 