It’s Not Just the Message, It’s the Messenger

Spokespeople aren’t always CEOs and founders.  Often, the most impactful spokespeople are the ones we relate to most. It’s not just the message, it’s the messenger.

Without money, a cell phone or even the ability to read and write, a sixty-something year old woman from a rural village in northwest India became a spokesperson of the #MeToo movement.

Bhanwari Devi works on a farm in Rajasthan, India and has long been an avid social activist.  In 1992, Devi was a saathin (or friend) for the Rajasthani state government’s Department of Women and Child Development. In addition to educating women about hygiene and family planning, Devi was earnest in campaigning against child marriage.  Devi was brutally attacked and gang-raped in retaliation for her work.

Devi filed a police complaint and pursued her case all the way to India’s Supreme Court. Her dedicated efforts led to India’s first workplace sexual harassment guidelines in 1997.  Since then, women across the country have looked to Devi for inspiration and to the guidelines she helped develop for solace.

Devi is being called the mother of India’s #MeToo movement.

Check out the full story at:  https://www.npr.org/2018/10/24/659917663/they-deserve-justice-mother-of-india-s-metoo-speaks-out