Anuradha Kapoor, Founder & Director, Swayam

Anuradha Kapoor, Founder & Director, Swayam

Anuradha Kapoor is the Founder and Director of Swayam, a feminist organization committed to advancing women’s rights and ending gender inequality and violence against women, established in May 1995. 

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A woman continually breaking glass ceilings, we have with us Ms. Anuradha Kapoor a feminist and a constant supporter and worker of woman rights and female empowerment. Anuradha is the Founder and Director of Swayam- a committee dedicated to advancing women’s rights and ending gender inequality. She is an activist, trainer, and consultant.

With her initiative- Swayam, Anuradha has helped many survivors of violence and given them a platform to reinvent themselves in a safe and secure environment. In conversation with Ashutosh Garg, Anuradha shares the story of Swayam and why such feminist initiatives are the need of the hour in a heavily patriarchal society. Tune in for a much-needed discussion around the subject of patriarchy and how it is etched in every culture, religion, group, society, and family. Learn about the striking work that Anuradha is doing towards making a shift in the gender imbalance prevalent in society. 

About Swayam:

Swayam is a feminist organization set up by Ms. Anuradha Kapoor in order to end violence against women and gender inequality in society. It was set up 26 years ago when the subject of gender equality was not as evident as it is today. Anuradha felt the need to help women get out of this violence and inequality and stand against it. Swayam works on two strong bases. 

1. Helping violence survivors and providing them with services such as counseling, legal support, and employment.
2. Creating awareness in order to prevent violence against women and gender inequality in society.

Over the past decade, Swayam has helped a lot of survivors fight for a dignified life. 

Anuradha Kapoor is the Founder and Director of Swayam, a feminist organization committed to advancing women’s rights and ending gender inequality and violence against women, established in May 1995.  

Swayam’s multi-faceted approach to addressing violence includes direct support to women in crisis; emphasis on empowering women, men, and youth to address violence in their communities; broad campaigns, training, research, and publications to shift social and cultural norms that perpetuate gender-based violence; and work at the state and national level with government and judicial bodies to influence policy and practices. 

Anuradha is an Ashoka Fellow, an Eisenhower Fellow, and was a member of the Civil Society Advisory Group for UN Women’s Multi-Country Office for India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.

She is an activist, trainer, and consultant for women and human rights organizations, academic institutions, and UN agencies and has co-authored articles, research, and manuals on the issue of violence against women. She has also co-edited ‘The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, a Litigation Guide and Compilation of Judgements in 2015. She was a speaker on the online course ‘Confronting Gender-Based Violence: Global Lessons for Healthcare Workers’ conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education. 

Anuradha is actively involved in advocacy on women’s rights and keenly advocated for the introduction of The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, and has since been working to ensure its effective implementation at the State and National levels. She has contributed towards other legal and policy initiatives including the Civil Society Alternative Report for India to the CEDAW Committee in 2014 and to numerous laws related to violence against women being introduced/revised in India namely laws dealing with Sexual Assault, Dowry Prohibition, and Marital Property Rights. She also made submissions to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and the Justice Verma Committee in 2013, and to the Parliamentary Committee on the controversial proposed amendments of Section 498A in 2011.

Anuradha has been invited to speak on issues related to violence against women at various workshops and seminars conducted by organizations working on women’s rights and human rights issues in India and abroad. These include women’s rights courses conducted by Women’s Studies Departments in Calcutta University and Jadavpur University, a panel by UN Women during the Commission on the Status of Women in 2015, at international conferences on Human Rights, Equality and Gender issues at the University of Connecticut, USA organized by the UNESCO Chair in 2006, 2008 and 2013 and at The 2nd International Conference on the Training of the Judiciary’ organized by the National Judicial Institute, Canada. She was also invited as an expert to the Global Technical Consultation on the Coordination and Governance of Essential Services to respond to violence against women and girls, in 2015 in Spain organized by UN Women as well as on numerous technical advisory committees of UN women and other organizations.

A believer in alliance building, Anuradha initiated the setting up of AMAN Global Voices for Peace in the Home, an international network of organizations working on Domestic Violence, and has initiated and coordinated national-level campaigns against violence on women and girls.

As part of the Asia Pacific Forum on Judicial Education on Equality Issues, Anuradha was involved in conducting Judicial Training in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh with judges and judicial officers from the High Courts and District Courts.

Anuradha has a Bachelors’s Degree in Commerce from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi. She schooled at La Martiniere for Girls in Calcutta.