Manasi Pradhan

Women’s rights activist

• Born: October 4, 1962
• Birthplace: Khorda District, Orissa (Odisha), India

Significance: Manasi Pradhan is a women’s rights activist, social worker, and author. She has campaigned to end violence against women in India and fought for education for girls and women. She has founded and headed organizations such as Honour for Women National Campaign and Odisa Yuva Sanskrutik Sansad (OYSS Women). Pradhan overcame superstitions against educating girls beyond middle school to become the first female high school graduate from her village. She went on to become the first woman from the region to earn a law degree.

Background

Manasi Pradhan was born into an impoverished family in a small village in Orissa, modern-day Odisha, in eastern India. She was the eldest of three children, and her brother and sister were considerably younger. Her father was a farmer while her mother cared for the family. From an early age, she recognized that women in her community were not respected. They toiled to support and care for their families but often were victims of domestic violence. Pradhan resolved to one day help women but had to fight a culture in which education for girls was not valued or encouraged. However, she persevered. To attend high school, she had to take public buses and walk more than 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) each day. When she graduated, she became the first girl from her village to finish high school. After this, she had to fight for the opportunity to attend college. She worked while she was a student to pay her younger siblings’ education expenses. She graduated from Government Women’s College with a degree in economics. Later she earned a master’s degree in Odia literature from Utkal University.

Pradhan enrolled in a law program, but in her second year her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Her father was unwell and bedridden, so Pradhan decided to take over all responsibility for her siblings. She briefly worked for the government of Odisha finance department and for a bank. To support her siblings and parents, she bought a printing press and founded Josodhara magazine. She completed a Bachelor of Law degree as well.

Life’s Work

In the 1980s, while studying law, she decided to work toward her longstanding goal of helping women and girls. She founded a nonprofit organization, OYSS, to help girls to seek higher education and fund it. She encouraged many young adults and students to volunteer to educate women in villages. Over time, the organization, which was active in several states, expanded to offer leadership training, vocational programs, self-defense classes, and more. OYSS also launched the first Model United Nations (UN) program exclusively for female students. In 2013 more than seven thousand female delegates attended the first National Meet on Rural Women Empowerment and OYSS Women National Meet on Tribal Women Empowerment.

Pradhan launched Honour for Women, a national movement to fight violence against women, in 2009. The campaign provides community education, encourages self-defense training in schools, demands limits to sales of liquor, and pushes the government to provide special units to investigate and prosecute crimes against women. More than ten thousand volunteers were involved in the organization’s work, many with the unit called Nirbhaya Vahinin. Pradhan, who was both an activist and a social worker, explained that the demand to limit or ban sales of liquor was meant to support women and children. She said many wives called her asking for help because their husbands, who worked as day laborers, spent most of their pay on alcohol. This left meager funds to feed and care for the family.

Pradhan is also an influential author and poet. She has published several collections of poetry. Her fourth book, Urmi-O-Uchchwas, has been translated into eight languages. She is the editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Jasodhara, which is published by Jasodhara Global Media. Several documentaries have been produced to share her work and life.

Impact

Pradhan has achieved success toward her goals to help women, girls, and children. Although her demands for social change have not been universally adopted, they have found greater acceptance in urban areas. Self-defense classes for girls, for example, have been incorporated in curricula in some cities. Some states have curtailed the availability of liquor.

Pradhan has been recognized for her activism. The United Nations Women and National Commission for Women conferred on her the 2011 Outstanding Woman Award. She received the Rani Laxmibai National Stree Shakti Puraskar award from President Pranab Mukherjee on International Women’s Day in 2014. The award is India’s highest national honor. It recognizes courage and personal achievement. She is a member of the International Governing Council of World Women Organization. In 2018 she was invited to address the Oxford Union in England as the Leading Global Women’s Rights Icon.

Personal Life

Pradhan reveals little about her personal life. She is the mother of a daughter, Baisali, with Radha Binod Mohanty.

Bibliography

Ambaly, Anwesha. “Activist at Oxford Union.” Telegraph India, 18 Apr. 2018, www.telegraphindia.com/odisha/activist-at-oxford-union/cid/1412151. Accessed 27 June 2023.

Dsouza, Gerald. “Her Childhood Experience Urged Her to Take Up Higher Education Issues for Girl Child in Orissa.” Book of Achievers, 2018, bookofachievers.com/articles/indian-womens-rights-activist-manasi-pradhan. Accessed 27 June 2023.

“International Women’s Day.” Advance Charity, 8 Mar. 2021, www.advancecharity.org.uk/international-womens-day/. Accessed 27 June 2023.

“Manasi Pradhan Wins Rani Laxmibai Puraskar.” Orissa Post, 2014, web.archive.org/web/20160304031553/http://www.orissapost.com/epaper/080314/p2.htm. Accessed 27 June 2023.

Mathew, Shannon. “Interviewing Manasi Pradhan.” The YP Foundation, Apr. 2017, theypfoundation.org/resources/interviewing-manasi-pradhan/. Accessed 27 June 2023.

Panchal, Praveen. “Manshi Pradhan.” Womens Activism NYC, 26 Aug. 2016, www.womensactivism.nyc/catalog/980. Accessed 27 June 2023.