No pin-up girls, here are 12 women who’ve made an impact at the grassroots level

Aimed at ‘breaking stereotypes’, the calendar has been conceptualised to demonstrate that rural women can surpass the barricades posed by illiteracy, poverty, gender and societal norms, if they have the will and the vision to look beyond, explained Medha Kotwal, a founder-member of Aalochana.

“The average village woman is still envisioned as a silent, passive personality, adhering to societal norms and wifely duties. In reality, the women’s reservations have opened up a new world of opportunities for rural women nationwide, who are not just voters, but also leaders in active politics,” she said.

Once the concept of the calendar was formalised, the onus of translating it into reality fell on freelance writer-cum-photographer Vidya Kulkarni’s shoulders. Kulkarni, who spent an intensive month traveling across the states in order to photograph the women, narated the challenges she faced while capturing the achievers on camera.

“The photographs had to express the essence of the women and my greatest challenge lay in capturing the strength and the confidence that the women exuded, on film,” recalled Kulkarni who has also prepared the profiles of the women, including quotes, describing experiences that bring to life, the personalities of each of the women.

Aalochana, which was one of the organisations to be selected to be a part of the UNDP’s capacity building programme for elected women representatives spread over 10 states, had worked in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. “Our work in Gadchiroli brought us into contact with women like Bele, a zilla parishad member and chairperson of Women and Child Development Committee from Latur, and Latifa Sheikh, sarpanch of Raimoha gram panchayat in Beed. The focus was also on women achievers from Haryana, Uttaranchal, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, by networking with the welfare organisations in those areas that were selected by the UNDP as well” said Kotwal.

“Our motive has always been to document and disseminate, and a calendar was the unanimous choice to project the achievements of these women to the world,” said Kotwal. “Throughout the year, the user of the calendar will get a glimpse of 12 inspiring breakthroughs into politics, traditionally considered to be a male domain, by women” she added.