My long walk across India for women's freedom | Srishti Bakshi

After days of negotiation, for the very first time, my parents allowed me to step out unescorted for a movie with my friends. I was 14 and beyond excited with this new freedom I had. With a big smile on my face, I ended up at the back of the theater. And just ten steps from my seat, I felt these heavy hands grab both my breasts. And before I knew it, these hands disappeared. I screamed and ran outside. And I still remember those dirty handprints on my white, crisp cotton shirt, announcing to the world what had just happened. I returned home devastated, kept the lights on all through the night and the outdoors terrified me. I didn't want to go out at all. It is not news that women face rampant violence inside homes as well across the world. So if it's unsafe outside and inside, where do we go? Women in India are over 600 million strong. That's a lot of people. But this is what my country looks like. The outdoors. You can count the number of women in these pictures. And there aren't any, or just one or two. And this is by the day. But this number significantly drops at night. You don't see many women walking alone at night because they're simply not safe. 400,000, that's 45 women every hour, face varying degrees of violence, ranging from domestic violence to rape in India. A 13-year-old girl and her mother were gang-raped on a highway just 45 minutes from where my parents live. When I heard this, I just recalled the same incident that happened to me. I was devastated. I found myself in the same hysterical state I was outside of that theater. For everybody around me, life moved on. We are hardwired to think that this is just how the world is. Instead of asking the fundamental question of how wrong this is. I'm here and I'm fighting for safer spaces for women by increasing their mobility, by movement of the body and mind to take control over their lives. So how I did that. I wanted to prove to the world that I can face my demons. And not just for one, but 230 continuous days. So I decided to walk across the length of India from the very south to the north, a distance of 2,300 miles. (Applause) 2,300 miles. How much is that? If you started from LA, you would reach New York. If you started from Stockholm, you would reach Cairo. That's the distance that I walked. And mile after mile, as I walked, it became very apparent that women's lack of mobility hinders their freedom to earn an income and exert any form of independence. On my long walk, I wanted to understand what made India one of the most unsafe countries in the world. I was determined to meet the women who are facing challenges around their safety. And above all, I wanted to understand if the situation is beyond repair. So I walked through 170 cities, small towns and villages, and I met over 85,000 women, in small huddles to, like, large crowds. This is a workshop. This is with women of an organization in small huddles inside their homes. And that's when I realized that mobility plays a very, very big role in their freedom to pursue anything outside of their homes. When I was walking across the country, in my conversations with these women, I was talking to them about different topics. And this ranged from being financially independent to taking defensive positions in times of physical assault. This is an activity we did where we want to anchor ourselves and find our ground, and if somebody comes, you push. Or just feel stronger. What it feels in your body to be stronger. And most of the times our discussions were around finding your voice. (Video) (Speaking Hindi) (Together) Aaah! I wanted women to move with their bodies and to shift their minds. The media amplified our cause and reported with new energy on a demand for a safer country for women. On my long walk, I met so many people. And most of the times, I noticed that marriage in India is treated a little differently from the rest of the world. You see, marriage means a woman becomes the property of her husband and his family. And not being able to step outside to pursue an education, a job, or create a community of her own, that's lack of mobility, both social and physical, that is what reflects the state of gender inequality in our society. On my long walk, I bore witness to chilling, violent, incomprehensible human behavior. But at the same time, I met brave women, survivors of atrocious crimes who lit my path with their unbelievable strength to carry on. And then something miraculous happened. I met this woman named Jai Bharathi. On her motorcycle, she arrived in the same village I was in, and she was there at a training camp, teaching other women how to ride scooters. I had never seen anything like this before. She donned the narrative of being fierce, the odd one out, smashing patriarchy every single time she rode her motorcycle. She was an inspiration for all women, young and old. And at the training camp, I saw how revving a motorbike and holding a steering wheel didn’t [justt] give these women the ability to drive but that much needed control over their lives. And I knew instantly that having women take charge and create change for themselves is the only way to transform our broken systems. It got me thinking: What if we could get communities of women moving, actually physically moving away from the house? That would open a window where they could move psychologically, where they could understand or realize that she could step out of bad situations and have the ability to do it. This way we would have more women feel safe and confident. So Jai Bharathi and I, we both decided that we are going to join forces and create a movement exclusively for women, focused on mobility. We have set up a system where a woman can train to drive for themselves or for Ubers, taxis, or just become delivery agents for Amazon and other big companies or local businesses. That's money in the bank. And the freedom and the psychological, you know -- know that I can step outside of my home. We are connecting these women drivers on a national network where they can reach out to each other for support and to share experiences. And not just that. She can actually ping another driver in her vicinity if she is feeling distressed, if she's in danger, or if she’s simply just waiting for her next ride or pickup and doesn't want to wait alone. For us, receiving our first paycheck might be very empowering. But for 59-year-old Nagamani that moment arrived when she put her scooter on a center stand and feeling physically strong, and proving to the society that she's beyond being just a sidekick. We have trained 1,800 women who are road ready. (Applause) And raring. Road ready and raring to go. And our decade-long mission is to bring one million women into mobility and be the largest network of women drivers connected to each other. By rethinking mobility for women, giving them a safe transport and safety outside of home, it is our hope to transform our culture. Apart from having a profound impact on the Indian economy, this is about something much bigger. As you all know, when we move, we can be seen. The more women see other women in public spaces, the more safe, independent and empowered each one of us will be. So. If we can learn how to walk, certainly we can learn how to fly. Thank you. (Applause)