India has a long and strongly embedded history of patriarchy where the traditional place of women is within the confines of the house and often linked to the family’s honor. Early marriages and the dowry system convert women into burdens leading to the killing of female fetuses, child marriage, dowry abuse, and victimization of women. Getting a woman to emerge from these shackles and take advantage of any empowerment project has to be front-led by strong awareness training, reproductive health rights, literacy, and paths to a sustainable livelihood.

Kolkata Foundation recognizes that women’s empowerment is a complex and multifaceted social issue, and entails engineering a systemic change – at the social, political, religious, and economic strata.  At the heart of KF’s effort is the understanding that disjointed rights training or isolated livelihood initiatives are not the answer, and no program can succeed in isolation. We are envisioning a suite of synergistic programs that address gender-based violence (GBV), women’s health rights, education, and income opportunities, and creating positive spillovers that strengthen each goal. However, while these programs are interlinked, they are agile in their implementation, and can easily respond to shorter-term on-demand needs, such as those during a natural disaster.