Dr. V. Mohini Giri, a renowned women’s rights activist in India and Nobel Prize nominee, will speak at Columbia College on Monday, May 5, 2008.  The Lessons in Leadership presentation will be held at 6:00 p.m. in the Breed Leadership Center, room 201-202. This event is free and the public is welcome.
 
This internationally known social activist will share her story of helping the women of India. She will offer her ideas on what American women and men can do to make a difference throughout the world.
 
As founder of the War Widows Association and the Guild of Service in India, Giri helped thousands of widowed women who were living as social and economic outcasts. Her work included establishing cottage industries, providing job training, hostels for children, emergency shelters, and even inter-religious and inter-caste remarriages. This training allows women to stand independently and to use the power given them by their nation's constitution.
                       
In her four decades of committed work, Giri has received seven honorary doctorates. She lives with an urgency and feeling that life is not long enough to do all the things that need to be done. The legacy she would like to leave is “to see a strong, vibrant Indian nation, where women share equal rights and positions."
 
Dr. V. Mohini Giri is bringing hope, pride and justice to India's mothers, daughters, and sisters by giving a voice to the voiceless. "Women can no longer be subjugated," she says with passion. "We have found our voices, we have found our wings. And we are going to fly."

India’s President Kalam presenting the Padma Bhushan Award to
Dr. Mohini Giri in New Delhi on March 23, 2007.