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Feminists Around the World: Suhani Jalota · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Smantha and welcome to Stefan
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  Speaker 1: Never Told your production Viaheart Radio.
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  Speaker 2: And for today's feminists around the world, we are introducing
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  Speaker 2: I guess not really some of y'all already know who
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  Speaker 2: she is, but not all of us. We are introducing
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  Speaker 2: a social entrepreneur, a scholar, an activist, Shani Jelata. And
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  Speaker 2: at the young age of twenty five, I think she's
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  Speaker 2: like twenty five twenty six now, Jelata has already made
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  Speaker 2: a huge impact around the world and is continuously working
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  Speaker 2: to change the world for the better. And her work
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  Speaker 2: is very interesting because we've been talking a lot about
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  Speaker 2: periods and about trying to get more access to products
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  Speaker 2: and what that looks like, period tax and all of that.
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  Speaker 2: And of course there are those out there who understand
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  Speaker 2: the bigger, deeper implications of that, and she is one
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  Speaker 2: of those. And Jelata noticed that at the age of fourteen,
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  Speaker 2: the disparities when it came to the rights of women
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  Speaker 2: and those in lower income and social statuses of India.
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  Speaker 2: At the time, she had been diagnosed with an illness
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  Speaker 2: that led her to see how differently people were treated
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  Speaker 2: and knew she needed to do something to advocate for
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  Speaker 2: those in different communities, and if you listen to any
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  Speaker 2: of our interviews about her past, she credits her mother
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  Speaker 2: and her grandmother for their influence on her. She was
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  Speaker 2: talking about how her mother really stood up for her
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  Speaker 2: gender rights, even though they were very much in a
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  Speaker 2: patriarchal system. They understood that there's something wrong, and she
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  Speaker 2: credits them for the influence and her love and passion
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  Speaker 2: to be an advocate today.
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  Speaker 1: After her recovery, she went to different communities to see
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  Speaker 1: how she could help. She told the Global Citizen. When
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  Speaker 1: I started going to the Thumbs just after I had
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  Speaker 1: recovered from the illness, I started working with women on
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  Speaker 1: the ground. They were telling me stories with a smiling
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  Speaker 1: face about getting married at the age of twelve, abused
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  Speaker 1: by their husbands much much older than them, drunk all
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  Speaker 1: the time, asking them for money. So the women are
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  Speaker 1: working four to five jobs, taking care of all the children,
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  Speaker 1: feeding the children because the husbands are earning absolutely nothing.
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  Speaker 1: They're walking long distances to public toilets, then are harassed
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  Speaker 1: on their way to the toilet. They've seen their children die.
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  Speaker 1: They've accepted this as the norm. Those women didn't think
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  Speaker 1: anyone cared about what they wanted. Instead, life was about
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  Speaker 1: doing whatever they could to survive.
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  Speaker 2: And she knew with all the different things happening in
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  Speaker 2: those communities, she couldn't solve anything by coming in to
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  Speaker 2: quote just fix things, but needed to educate and offer
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  Speaker 2: solutions that can be implemented and taught. She goes on
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  Speaker 2: in the same article talking about advice she had gotten
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  Speaker 2: from her mentor who said you cannot come in to
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  Speaker 2: solve their problems. Doctor Jaquin R. Putam told her that's
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  Speaker 2: not what's going to change anything. It's about them solving
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  Speaker 2: their own problems. You need to just give them enough
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  Speaker 2: inner and confidence to be able to do that. And
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  Speaker 2: just for reference here, doctor Arputum has been kind of
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  Speaker 2: an expert when it comes to the Indian communities, especially
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  Speaker 2: those in what's considered the slums or the low income
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  Speaker 2: impoverished communities and populations. You can find ted talks from him.
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  Speaker 2: Fyi who discovered this, Yes more than us, absolutely so.
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  Speaker 2: She noticed the common theme as she spoke to the
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  Speaker 2: different women. She continues saying minstrel hygiene and sanitation was
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  Speaker 2: something that preserved or exposed a family's dignity. She says,
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  Speaker 2: we needed to have these difficult conversations that would bring
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  Speaker 2: up gender in the household.
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  Speaker 1: And she has been having that difficult conversation for ten
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  Speaker 1: years now. In twenty fifteen, Jelata, along with a few
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  Speaker 1: other women started the Mina Mahida Foundation, which works to
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  Speaker 1: empower young women and girls and to provide necessary items
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  Speaker 1: and support women India. Here's what Jalata, who is also
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  Speaker 1: the CEO of Mina, a bird from South Asia that
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  Speaker 1: is known for its loud tones and voice, Mihila Foundation.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what she said about the foundation and their annual report.
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  Speaker 1: Mina Mahuila Foundation started in twenty fifteen with the mission
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  Speaker 1: to provide voice to women all over the world and
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  Speaker 1: marginalized communities by creating a network of young female entrepreneurs.
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  Speaker 1: We needed to make sanitary pads because we wanted every
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  Speaker 1: woman every woman to have access to them. Because Mina
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  Speaker 1: was started by the same community members who was intended
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  Speaker 1: for the producers are our consumers. We go door to
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  Speaker 1: door to educate and distribute pad packets. We hold meetings
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  Speaker 1: and courses with them and counsel them to work and
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  Speaker 1: respect themselves.
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  Speaker 2: And their vision and mission. According to Minamahala dot Com
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  Speaker 2: is one improving mistral hygiene, and it goes on to
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  Speaker 2: explain knowledge about mistraation and hygienic habits are curtailed by
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  Speaker 2: stigma and taboos in the Indian society where talking about
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  Speaker 2: period is not allowed. Mina is tackling the very issues
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  Speaker 2: of mental hygiene management at its roots. Working with the
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  Speaker 2: Govandhi slum dwellers communities, Mina is helping to raise awareness
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  Speaker 2: aroundministration and bringing affordable sanitary products directly to the women
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  Speaker 2: in need by manufacturing low cost, high quality sanitary napkins
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  Speaker 2: more affordable than what is already present on the market
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  Speaker 2: and selling them on a door to door scheme. Two.
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  Speaker 2: Generating female employment in slums. Mina was built as a
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  Speaker 2: social enterprise with a clear vision of wanting to generate
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  Speaker 2: employment for women by creating a workplace and environment that
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  Speaker 2: tries and succeeds to tackle the constraints used as arguments
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  Speaker 2: to prevent women to enter into the labor force. It
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  Speaker 2: is a safe space at walking distance from their home
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  Speaker 2: that provides them a steady salary in flexible timings adapted
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  Speaker 2: to their social context. Mina Mohila is more than an
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  Speaker 2: employer in by slums. It was created by women for
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  Speaker 2: women and is as such a woman's entrepreneurial project.
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  Speaker 1: And three women's networks mean it provides the family for
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  Speaker 1: the women where we take care of them professionally and
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  Speaker 1: personally to help them grow as individuals and business women.
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  Speaker 1: Our employees are not simply here to work. They are
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  Speaker 1: also here to learn and to engage in the dynamic
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  Speaker 1: community of women who stand up to get their rights acknowledged.
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  Speaker 1: They are motivated by the same cause speak up about
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  Speaker 1: women's issues, starting with the basic need for proper menstrual hygiene.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and she's been doing a lot of amazing work.
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  Speaker 2: I'm just thinking about the fact that we have places
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  Speaker 2: like Florida which are saying that they can't talk about periods,
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  Speaker 2: which is again the same stigma that she is fighting.
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  Speaker 2: So oh the irony? Is that irony or is that
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  Speaker 2: just tragic? Anyway, strategy and yeah, what she is doing
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  Speaker 2: has brought a lot of attention to the foundation and
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  Speaker 2: the needs of women of India. One of the big
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  Speaker 2: things that she talks about is the fact that she
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  Speaker 2: has collaborate and continues to collaborate with Megan Markle, as
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  Speaker 2: we know former Duchess. I guess because they renounce. I
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  Speaker 2: don't renounce their titles. But she has been a part
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  Speaker 2: of their foundation because she loved what they were doing.
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  Speaker 2: And of course she has been recognized for her hard
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  Speaker 2: work as she should be. At the Duke University graduate
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  Speaker 2: has been awarded with the Forbes thirty Under Thirty Asia
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  Speaker 2: twenty eighteen. Is a Queen's Young Leader from twenty seventeen
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  Speaker 2: representing India. Was one of Glamour's Women of the Year
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  Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen and at Duke University, she was a
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  Speaker 2: Baldwin Scholar of Women's four Year Leadership Program and a
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  Speaker 2: Melissa and Doug Entrepreneurship a Fellow twenty sixteen that actually
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  Speaker 2: helped her found the Mina Mahela Foundation and was a
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  Speaker 2: Global Citizen Prize Cisco Youth A Leadership Award nominee in
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty. Obviously she's doing so much more. The foundation
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  Speaker 2: from Mardykendell is thriving, has been a big help in
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  Speaker 2: India during the pandemic as well. So yeah, they're doing
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  Speaker 2: a lot of work. She continues on is still the
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  Speaker 2: CEO and has been a force when it comes to
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  Speaker 2: being an advocate and working for the women of India.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's that's such an important thing and it
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  Speaker 1: is a conversation all over the world. So great work
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  Speaker 1: and as always, well I'm sure we'll have an update
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  Speaker 1: in the future about what she's doing in the meantime.
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  Speaker 1: Listeners as always, if you have a suggestion for this segment,
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  Speaker 1: please let us know. You can email us at Steph Media,
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  Speaker 1: mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us
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  Speaker 1: Thanks as always to our super producer Christina, our executive
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  Speaker 1: producer Maya, and our contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks
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