Vodafone Foundation Launches Women Of Pure Wonder On International Women’s Day

Vodafone Foundation’s Tribute to Extraordinary Women and their Achievements

• 50 women achievers including Justice Leila Seth, Sooni Taraporevala, Kirthiga Reddy, Shovana Narayan, Ritu Dalmia, and Sanjna Kapoor amongst those featured in the book

• Women of Pure Wonder series has recognized over 150 women change-makers from across India

Sunil Sood, MD & CEO, Vodafone India, along with guests of Honour – Ms Aruna Sundararajan Secretary- Ministry of Steel, Shri JS Deepak Secretary Department of Telecommunications, Ms Shyamala Gopinath Chair CSR committee VIL India board launched the Women of Pure Wonder, a coffee table book by Vodafone Foundation on the occasion of International Women’s Day. This book, third in a special series focusing exclusively on women empowerment, chronicles tales of 50 inspirational women from across the country who opted to take the road less travelled.

The extraordinary deeds of these women, who courageously braved all social, economic, and familial odds to find success in their chosen field of work, are an inspiration, to women across the country. Each of these women have overcome several odds – social, cultural, economic, familial – to emerge as a game changer in their chosen field – business, culture, arts, civil rights, media & entertainment, sports, public service etc.

The awe-inspiring exploits of these 50 women have been categorised under three aptly named sections – Vision, Valour and Victory. From Arunima Sinha’s victory as the first woman amputee to climb Mount Everest; to Justice Leila Seth – the first woman judge of the Delhi High Court and first woman to become Chief Justice of a state High Court; to motivational speaker Kanchan Gaba – untiring blind mountaineer,crusader for the rights of the disabled and Kolkata High Court judge; to Meera Shenoy – Founder-Chairperson, Youth4Jobs, pioneer in skilling, with a focus on providing employment to disabled youth, women and scheduled castes, the success stories published in Women of Pure Wonder will act as a beacon of hope for women of all hues across India.

Saluting the women, their achievements and contributions, Sunil Sood, Managing Director & CEO Vodafone India, said, “I congratulate all the women achievers featured in the book and acknowledge the contribution of all women across India who are redefining womanhood in every sense. Gender disparity in itself is an acute social challenge in our country. We believe that mobile technology has a vital role in addressing some of the most pressing challenges related to inclusion, equality and access. At Vodafone, we are cognizant of our responsibility and are developing solutions that will empower women, enabling them to improve the standards of health, education, work and safety for themselves as well as their families. We are partnering with developmental sector organisations including NGOs working at the grass root level with women, to co-create and launch special offerings that address their felt needs with easy and affordable access to drive digital inclusion and in line with enabling the larger vision of digital India that Vodafone India is fully committed to.”

Speaking about the Women of Pure Wonder series and Vodafone Foundation’s efforts towards empowering women P. Balaji, Director – Regulatory, External Affairs & CSR Vodafone India Ltd said, “With its focus on women empowerment, Vodafone Foundation aims to share inspirational tales of women from all walks of life who have demonstrated leadership and paved the way for social change through the Women of Pure Wonder series. This third edition of the book follows the success of the first two editions and reveals several unheard and unknown stories from previously unexplored domains.”
Vodafone Foundation launched first edition of Women of Pure Wonder book in 2013, narrating stories of India’s unknown women champions. The second edition – Women of Pure Strength, illustrated how astutely women can steer the mast amidst waves of diverse social and cultural milieu.

Published by Roli Books, Women of Pure Wonder will be available at leading bookstores including and Flipkart and Amazon.

By leveraging mobile technology in the four areas of m-women, m-education, m-health and m-agriculture, Vodafone Foundation works in partnership with key charities, development agencies and the community to drive social change on a large scale in India. As part of social investment programme, the Vodafone Foundation in India also focusses on disaster relief and implements the World of Difference programme, a unique employee engagement