This isn’t just a revolution played out through creative circles; young Indian women are challenging the status quo in every aspect of the female experience. Suhani Jalota’s Myna Mahila Foundation, whose mission is to break down taboos around menstruation and end period poverty, is tackling wider challenges in Mumbai’s slums. It offers education, a support network and financial independence by empowering women through employment. Efforts like this help to combat common preconceptions about India that lead to issues such as poverty porn and bridge the gap between how locals and outsiders view the country. ‘Dharavi is 90 per cent industry,’ says Jalota (pictured). ‘But visitors often don’t want to capture the reality – that a lot of people choose to live there because it’s cheaper and happier.’ And so modern India is steadily reclaiming its narrative; signalling a turning point. ‘I see a lot of that “I’m not going to take s*** any longer” attitude now,’ adds Charanjiva. ‘And men rally around this, because it’s not just a passing thing. It’s centuries of treatment that condition attitudes and if we want to break them, it has to be loud, it has to be long and it has to be all of us.’
Keep scrolling for more pictures of artwork and activism by these rule-changing women
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