“I remember college where all my female friends used to get harassed by a group of boys who used to wait for them at the gates. They would come to me crying with thoughts of leaving college. One day I got really mad (laughing) and I went up to them and shouted so much so that they never dared to do it again!

Since then, I have wondered why women are subjected to this kind of abuse. We face discrimination everywhere: in our homes, our work place and our relationships … this cycle needs to be broken, and this can only happen when men and women both understand that we are not the weaker sex.

The process begins at an early age when sons and daughters are told to behave in a certain way and be someone they’re not. I want to end this cycle of abuse and show everyone that women are strong and able to do a lot. This stereotype of men being stronger is false, just ask me (smiling) I’ve had lots of fights and arguments with men and they always say: “Sorry Soniaji, I made a mistake.”

So now I do a lot of work in my spare time to set up meetings to raise awareness, as well as share ideas and discuss new ways of ending violence against women. It’s really a learning experience for everyone involved: people, whether it’s a college student or a rural woman, bring their own insights and approach to the issue being discussed.

In these interactions, we’ve used the Change Maker kits to help explain the different ways in which women are abused. The pictures, especially, are really good to break the barrier of illiteracy and get everyone involved. I also believe that more should be done to represent the many vulnerable women in terrible working conditions on the construction sites and the ‘beedi’ factories … individuals can associate themselves with our organisation and become semi-unionised, so that they don’t have to settle for low pay and discrimination in the work place.

In the future, I think it’s important to get as many men involved as possible. This will not be any easy task but I believe that both men and women need to be involved in the campaign for there to be an actual change in society as a whole.”