Sandhya Shetty shares her fearless battle towards making a safe space for women, to protect them from abuse, support health initiatives, and improve lives
It often takes considerable bravery to stand up for the rights of women. A world that believes “Ek aurat hi aurat ki dushman hoti hai”, Sandhya Shetty, a supermodel, an actor and a Commonwealth Gold medalist in Karate is committed to empowering women and girls via her initiative #nofear which she likes to call “Voice of Women”.
A five times State Karate Champion, Six times National Karate Champion from 2004 to 2017, Sandhya believes that women are disproportionately affected by all forms of violence and by discrimination in every aspect of life. Her initiative #nofear works to promote women’s rights across India, violence against women in every form, empowering and educating them, teaching them self defense.
“There are people who believe that we do not need feminism today, but nothing could be further from the truth. Women have struggled for equality and against oppression for centuries, and although some battles have been partly won, we have a long way ahead” says the holder of three International glorious medals- Commonwealth Karate Championship Gold Medal 2015, SAKF Bronze Gold & Bronze Medal in 2017 for India.
“Why do we have a pay disparity at work? Why do women feel unsafe at every point? Why do we have the maximum number of domestic violence cases, why is India called a male dominated society?. We have the maximum number of cases of rape, child marriage, witch-hunting, and acid-attacks, I would like to ask why” questions Sandhya who is a recipient of Super Achiever Award of Indian Karate by the hands of super star Rajnikanth.
Nofear is an action oriented mission which provokes a shift in the thought process of people .We need to inculcate the importance of “gender equality” at the root level in schools and homes. Both girls and boys must treat each other with respect on every level.
“One needs to be bold and responsible” says Sandhya who is the global brand ambassador of women empowerment. She is very Happy and basking in the Glory of her Debut film “Dharavi Bank” on OTT mx player and excited for her Another Debut Malayalam Film release ‘Corona papers” directed by Priyadarshan in April.
She concludes by saying “Nofear” is a slogan we all should imbibe in our daily lives with our action and live life fearlessly and Happily”
