Target: Harmanpreet Kaur, Captain of India Women’s National Cricket Team
Goal: Support strides made for women in cricket and in Indian society.
Gender equality has been a rocky road in India, where oppression of women and acts of gender-based violence are still all-too-common. This ForceChange petition and this petition called attention to serious disparities that continue to haunt a nation that has pledged reform. Fittingly, a sector that often brings together the people of India has emerged as a torch-bearer for hope and equality.
India recently secured its first World Cup in women’s cricket. While this achievement’s significance may not seem apparent at first, it was monumental for the women who have struggled and fought to gain recognition and validation for years. Although cricket is immensely popular across India, it only became open to professional women players in 2017. And a full women’s league was officially introduced six years later. Before this time, there was such a stigma and lack of opportunity that players from the World Cup-winning team had to play on a boys’ team as children. Now, these women are being hosted by India’s prime minister and can finally secure the resources they need to build their championship legacy. Perhaps most importantly, they have become role models for an entire generation of young girls who feel emboldened to pursue their own dreams.
Sign the petition below to commend the successes of this iconic team that go far beyond the playing field.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Ms. Kaur,
Following your historic victory, you stated that without the World Cup, “the revolution, the change we want, won’t come.” Your words show that you understand how the gravity of the moment extends beyond cricket and into every home and village in India. The powerful sentiments expressed by young cricket players in the wake of your victory validates this understanding. One teen girl, once the only female on her team and at her training academy, said, “I think winning this World Cup has solidified it in our mind that women can do everything.” An 11-year-old girl with a passion for the sport echoed the thought: “this winning match proved to everybody that women’s cricket is as good as men’s, they played very smoothly. We can hit as hard and we can run as fast.”
Thank you for being an ambassador and a role model who proves every day by your example that women can indeed do anything.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Bahnfrend
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