International Women's Day: Stereotypes Are History, They’re Creating Future

Few expected much when Sharmila Chavda, a 45-year-old with no political pedigree, was elected sarpanch of Moti Marad in the 2022 gram panchayat polls. The village had been neglected for years, and she seemed an unlikely candidate to turn things around. She proved them wrong.

Today, the Dalit woman who once served as a panchayat member is being lauded for delivering roads, water and dignity to a village of 10,500 in Dhoraji taluka, Rajkot district. Her stellar work has even drawn the attention of the district administration.

But Chavda was built for hard things long before she became sarpanch. Her father, a mason, worked far from home for long stretches. Her mother battled a mental illness and frequent seizures, leaving her often unaware of where she was or what was happening around her. By Class 9, Chavda was the one holding the house together, commuting 8km each way between her father’s village, Vadodar, and Moti Marad, to continue her education — while looking after two younger siblings and a mother who needed constant care.

She couldn’t cook much beyond khichdi. But it was enough to keep her family fed. Today, Chavda is a mother of two and cannot stop praising her supportive husband.

“I grew up reading Babasaheb’s teachings because my father was a staunch Ambedkarite,” says Chavda.




“That gave me the fire to fight for basic rights. I didn’t come here to be popular. I came to change lives,” adds Chavda, who dropped out of BA English after the second year.

Her list of achievements reads less like promises and more like a checklist, ticked off, one by one: repaired crumbling school buildings, repaired and paved most village roads; installed gutter lines, a diesel kiln at the crematorium with the help of a donor, and a 9-lakh-litre water sump to resolve the problem of chronic shortages. Under her leadership, the panchayat switched to solar power.

“We were spending Rs 50,000-53,000 on electricity. After going solar, we have saved enough to cover the streetlight bills too,” she says.

Land was another fight she picked. Plotting grievances had gone nowhere for 15 to 20 years. Chavda took them up with the collector herself. When the approvals come in, 250 families will receive plots they had nearly given up hope of receiving. “I went to collectors, donors, villagers who had left and made good elsewhere,” she says. “I brought them all back as partners.”

Dilipbhai Shekhat, a construction businessman based in Surat but originally from Moti Marad, said, “She reached out to me for the village gate project, and I donated Rs 7 lakh. I am always happy to serve my village and my community.”

For residents like Sanjay Humbal, a solar contractor, the village has transformed completely.

“Earlier, the village’s underserved localities were not taken seriously. In my locality alone, at least 25 development projects have been completed since she became sarpanch. She fights for every issue and has even made cleanliness a village priority.”

Her tenure has not been without resistance. Opponents have filed complaints and brought in no-confidence motions, but none succeeded.

“They tried to stop the work. They couldn’t stop the people,” she says. Nearly 60% of the village lives outside in search of work, yet even those who have left remain supportive of the changes.

Chavda also hosted the regional finale of the national “Meri Mitti Mera Desh” campaign, which the district administration appreciated. She has quietly raised funds from unexpected sources. “This is not about me,” she says. “It is about a village that finally believes it belongs.”

Mission rescue: Vadodara pilot's new dream

Varija Shah, the woman from Vadodara who became one of the youngest people in Gujarat to earn a student pilot licence, has given her dreams wings — literally and figuratively. Much has been written about her determination to touch the skies.

For the 25-year-old who could not don the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) uniform, the mission now goes beyond manoeuvres: “I aim to use my flying skills to help people.” Her next milestone to achieve: “Join the emergency medical service (EMS) as a helicopter pilot and save lives.”

After failing the IAF’s height criterion by 4cm in 2021, Shah simply recalibrated her flight path. Two years ago, she crossed continents to train in the United States, determined to chart her aviation journey. Today, she commands helicopters for a private aviation company in South Carolina — one of the rare women from Gujarat to do so. The experience she will gain will help her on her newfound mission of saving lives.

“I was sad when I couldn’t make it to the IAF. But I didn’t want that to stop me from flying,” said Shah. She trained at Hillsboro Heli Academy in Portland, earned her commercial pilot licence, and went on to become both a certified flight instructor and a certified flight instructor instrument. Why choose helicopters, flying machines that are riskier and far less forgiving than fixed-wing aircraft? “Flying helicopters is a challenge and I like the thrill of it. Also, I can land a helicopter anywhere as I don’t need a runway,” she said. Flying isn’t her only arena for adrenaline. Shah is also a state- and national-level tennis champion. Her mother, Purvi, puts it best: “Varija was always an adventurous soul. Her dad, Prashant, wanted to be a pilot, and I wanted to be a professional tennis player. Our daughter has fulfilled both our dreams. We are proud of her.”

This IIM alumnus ensures newborn girls get the welcome they deserve

Ten years ago, IIM Calcutta alumnus Harpal Vala watched his friend’s daughter’s in-laws do something that left him shaken: they refused to hold their newborn grandchild, simply because she was a girl. That moment broke something in Vala.

Vala, an Amreli-born entrepreneur, channelled his anger into action, launching “Welcome Girl”, a campaign that has since celebrated the birth of over 3.25 lakh baby girls across India.

The premise is simple. When a girl is born, her family receives a specially curated kit at the hospital, handed over by a woman doctor. Inside: baby clothes, a parenting booklet, and a letter telling parents what they should already know — that their daughter is not a burden but a reason to celebrate.

The muscle behind it? A network of more than 25,000 gynaecologists nationwide. Often the first people to witness a family’s disappointment or joy at a birth, these doctors have become the campaign’s frontline ambassadors. Vala, who is also the founder-director of a pharma company, launched the initiative during the Covid pandemic and has not slowed down. In Gujarat alone, thousands of newborn girls have been welcomed through the programme.

“The stigma around a girl’s birth is not confined to villages,” Vala said. “It’s just as prevalent among the educated and the affluent.”

“Medicine has advanced, but sadly, the mindset hasn’t fully changed. Even today, some families feel unhappy at the birth of a girl child, whether they are from villages or big cities,” says Dr Pooja Mishra, who is part of the network.

“We must continue building awareness and education so that the arrival of a girl child is celebrated just as warmly everywhere,” says Dr Manpreet Kaur. Ankita Trivedi, who has received the kit, said, “It’s a nice feeling to see our little princess being celebrated from her very first day in this world.” Sanaya Thakkar, another new mother TOI spoke to, was all praise for the “care and kindness” behind the idea.

Rabindranath Tagore once wrote of a newborn asking her mother where she came from. The mother replies: “You were hidden in my heart as its desire.” Vala’s mission is to make sure every family feels that desire, regardless of whether the baby is a boy or a girl.

Her self-discovery tour spanned 100 countries!

If wanderlust could be a person, it would be Preety Sengupta — the septuagenarian from Ahmedabad has been travelling for half a century and has already traversed over 100 countries on all continents. She has even covered Antarctica and the Magnetic North Pole of the Earth in her constant urge to explore the world.

Born into a Shah family in the city, she had a protected childhood, and that became a motivation for her later to break free. “I remember that when I had to travel to Vadodara, a maid was sent with me. She travelled in another compartment!” Sengupta said. “Thus, when I went to the US for advanced studies in the 1980s, it opened a completely new world for me.”

Sengupta is in the city for the launch of her 50th book, which is on her travels on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans around the North and South Americas. She had taken the voyage aboard a ship in mid-2025.

Her first solo travel in Europe soon after marriage was a cathartic experience, but it was Jerusalem that turned her into a writer.

“I still get shivers when I think about the paths that I traversed where the confluence of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam bears the burden of centuries,” she said.

“The world was very different then and it moved me. I wrote my first article on the experience, and there was no looking back.”

She has ticked all continents, and has travelled to several countries multiple times; for example, Japan 10 times and South Africa eight times. “In a way, mine is a story of a woman who is always protected, and who wants to break free — I have had both good and bad experiences in the world,” she said. “In some countries, I was accosted for being a lone woman, whereas on some occasions I had to lock myself at night to keep safe. But it never stopped me from travelling.”

A generation of Gujarati readers virtually travelled the world with her books over the decades. She said that people now travel to tick a box or get likes on social media. “I would urge girls to step out in their own ways to cross the imaginary boundary and find themselves,” she said.Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Women's day wishes, messages and quotes !