Do you remember Rajni of 80’s television? Or the first time Tulsi stood up to her mother in law? What set them apart from other thousands of women like them? The answer is self esteem, they knew that being a woman is a blessing and in no way a curse, no matter what the society tells them.

Imagine a country which has the largest number of professionally qualified women but still has the newspapers filled with cases of all kinds of abuse against women. Paradoxical? That is India.

Exactly this paradox is understood by Swabhimaan which also tries to correct this and give women the self esteem needed to become self respecting human beings and not just mothers, sisters and daughters.

Swabhimaan is an initiative by Smile Foundation, which aims to give dignity and self respect to women and the girl child. It is a programme specially designed for the girl child (12-25 years) – the future women of India – to realize their full potential and gain their rightful place at home, work or the community.

Through a series of methods like mobile health clinic, building community trainers and communicating behavioural change and giving proper information and education to the girl child it tries to achieve its objective of building stronger, more confident women for tomorrow, even in the most vulnerable of settings.

Started in 2005 it counts among its achievements many young girls who stood up to sexual abuse at home, harassment while traveling or at work, early marriage and domestic violence, to become peer educators and guiding lights to their respective communities.

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