Three Indians on BBC’s 100 most inspiring women list: Who are they?
Three Indian women—Aruna Roy, Pooja Sharma, and Vinesh Phogat—have been included in BBC's list of 100 inspiring women for 2024. They have made significant contributions to social activism, performed last rites for the unclaimed, and advocated for women's rights in sports.
Three women from India have featured in list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2024, released by BBC.
Aruna Roy, Pooja Sharma, and Vinesh Phogat from India have made to the list.
Aruna Roy
Social activist and former civil servant Aruna Roy engages with rural communities, volunteering for their rights. Roy is the co-founder of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), an organisation that played a key role in the enactment of the Right to Information Act in 2005.
She served as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from 1968 to 1975 and then resigned to work with rural people in Rajasthan.
In a career spanning more than four decades, Roy won many awards. In 2000, she received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for her work in community leadership. Roy is president of the National Federation of Indian Women. Her memoir, The ‘Personal is Political’, was published this year.
Pooja Sharma
Pooja Sharma has performed the last rites for unclaimed dead bodies in Delhi for the last three years.
Her journey started with a personal tragedy where she had to perform the final rites of her brother, who was killed, and nobody helped her during the funeral. Her act faced backlash from priests and the community in general, as the last rites in the Hindu religion are performed by men traditionally. The backlash did not stop her.
She performed last rites for over 4,000 people across various religions and faiths. She has also shared her work on social media, advocating the right to give everybody the dignity they deserve in death.
Vinesh Phogat
Wrestler Vinesh Phogat has been named one of BBC's 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2024. She has won many accolades, including Championships, Commonwealth, and Asian Games.
In 2024, Phogat became the first Indian female wrestler to reach the Olympic final. However, she was later disqualified after failing to meet the eligible weight criteria to participate in the final.
She is very vocal about sexist attitudes towards women in sports and actively participated in months-long protests by Indian wrestlers against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, accused of sexually harassing female athletes.
After the Olympics, Phogat retired from sports and joined politics. In the Haryana Assembly Election this year, she won from the Julana constituency as an Indian National Congress (INC) candidate.
Apart from three Indians on the list, two are Indian-American, including NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and AI expert Sneha Revanur. Other notable names include rape survivor Gisèle Pelicot, actress Sharon Stone, Olympic athletes Rebeca Andrade and Allyson Felix, singer Raye, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, visual artist Tracey Emin, climate campaigner Adenike Oladosu and writer Cristina Rivera Garza.
The list acknowledges women who are pushing for change around them through resilience. It also tries to highlight the effect of climate emergencies by recognising climate pioneers who have worked to handle their impacts.
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Business NewsNewsThree Indians on BBC’s 100 most inspiring women list: Who are they?
First Published:4 Dec 2024, 10:18 PM IST
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