Kirthi Jayakumar: Peace and Gender Equality Activist for India

Kirthi Jayakumar
Image Credit: The Hindu

Born in 1987 to Hindu Parents in Bangalore India, Kirthi Jayakumar wears many hats as she is described on her Wikipedia page as a peace activist, social entrepreneur, lawyer, artist, writer and an Indian women's rights activist. After studying Law in Chennai, volunteering for local organizations, and seeing stories of rape and abuse throughout the media and her home, Jayakumar founded The Red Elephant Foundation in 2013. She describes in an interview for the Inspirational Women Series that this foundation's goal is to provide information to people through Storytelling, Education & Sensitization, Tech for Good, Digital Advocacy, and Research in order to address gender inequality and violence towards women. The foundation also provides support and resources to victims of gender-based violence and wants to guide civilian people into naturally fighting gender inequality with non-violent conversations and peace.

Doodle of Angela Davis from
@femcyclopaedia

According to Lazarus, Jayakumar says that this foundation has allowed her to, "[tell] stories of survivors of conflict rape in Congo, the Gaddafi regime in Libya, chemical attack survivors in Syria, Yazidi women who have escaped the ISIS, displaced Kashmiri Pandits, Afghan refugees and change makers the world over." She also uses her artwork, "Zen Doodles", to show impactful female accomplishments, that otherwise fly under the radar, in order to promote her activism for peace education and recognize the diversity of female power around the world. These can be found on her Instagram titled Femcyclopaedia.

Jayakumar is especially influential to me because of her way of writing about issues of suffering and human resilience around the globe through her beautifully composed short story collections like Stories of Hope and The Dove's Lament. In an interview, she says that these stories provide the public with a view on war through the eyes of people who are caught in the middle of the conflict. Through this, she is evoking empathy in peoples' hearts and therefore creating a mindset for the reader of unconditional love and understanding for others. This influence on a common citizen's natural thought process, in my opinion, is what can change the world and is what feminism is all about.

Schoolroom in Afghanistan
Image Credit: Building Peace Through Education

Kirthi Jayakumar is such a loving and intelligent woman that I think if everyone were to have her beliefs on gender-equality and peace, women around the world would not be exposed to as much violence as they actually face. To me, she embodies a true female warrior that understands that although people are not born equally advantaged, we have the opportunity to offer equality in the way we treat others. Jayakumar works not only on a governmental level but on the level of an everyday citizen who is looking for guidance on how they should think or act from their leaders.

“One of the more important things in the big picture in any activist’s attempt is that if we want change, we must collaborate, and not compete. It’s not about how many people follow my initiative or subscribe to my ideas versus yours; it is about how much we can do together and how effectively we can make change happen" -Kirthi Jayakumar 

Sources:

Lazarus, Susanna M. Bringing Change from Chennai to DC. The Hindu, 15 June 2016, www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/Bringing-change-from-Chennai-to-DC/article14424029.ece. Accessed 17 Sept. 2017.

Kirthi Jayakumar. Wikipedia, 10 Sept. 2017. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirthi_Jayakumar. Accessed 17 Sept. 2017.

Kirthi Jayakumar. Interview by Megan Foo. Inspirational Women Series, n.d., inspirationalwomenseries.org/2016/11/15/inspirational-woman-interview-kirthi-jayakumar/. Accessed 18 Sept. 2017.