The women architects rewriting India’s social change playbook

WHEN YOU ENTER Said-ul-Ajaib, an urban village tucked away in Delhi’s Saket, nothing immediately sets it apart. The roads are pockmarked, drainage water seeps onto the crowded lanes, and hawkers jostle for space amid half-shuttered shops escaping the growing brutality of a late March sun. Yet, a few hundred yards in, history asserts itself — a Tughlaq-era monument stands unannounced, and directions to a Sufi saint’s dargah point to the medieval and the modern coexisting in quiet harmony.

Sometime in March, I navigated these narrow lanes, searching for Rangsutra’s office. At first glance, it appeared to be like any other boutique amid the urban sprawl. But stepping inside, the world shifted — Delhi’s noise faded, like smoke in the air, replaced by the hum of a quiet revolution in the making.

Founded in 2005 by Sumita Ghose, Rangsutra is not just a craft enterprise; it is a social movement driven by the belief that capitalism can also be a force for good. Starting as a cooperative of over 1,000 rural artisans — each contributing ₹1,000 — Rangsutra has grown into a thriving community-owned company with over 2,000 shareholders and an annual turnover exceeding ₹20 crore, according to data from Grant Thornton Bharat.

Specialising in handcrafted textiles and artisanal products, the company primarily works with women from Rajasthan, equipping them with skills, managerial training, and direct market access. Its partnerships with Fab India, which also owns equity in the company, and Swedish giant IKEA have opened up the world for these female artisans. Yet, at its heart, Rangsutra remains deeply rooted in its local ethos — ensuring that the hands that weave, embroider, and dye are not just earning, but leading.

“I trained as an economist and come from the development sector. But, you know, there was a time when I decided to take a break — this must be 2002. And I kept witnessing the growing urban-rural divide,” Ghose recalls, seated in her office, where black-and-white photographs of women artisans line the walls. “Because I used to work in Rajasthan, in Bikaner especially, I realised something must be done to empower the women I was working with.”

The idea was simple yet powerful: a cooperative model akin to what Amul achieved for dairy farmers in Gujarat, but for textile workers from Rajasthan. Today, Rangsutra has expanded beyond Rajasthan, establishing a presence in four other states. More than a livelihood initiative, it has become a blueprint for equitable growth in the crafts sector, one where artisans are not just labourers but stakeholders in their own success.

“The learning curve for me, as a woman entrepreneur, has been steep,” Ghose admits. “As a development professional, I saw first-hand the systemic challenges, especially when dealing with gender. If you’re working to make the world more equitable for women but aren’t asking the question of financial independence, then the approach itself is flawed.”

Ghose’s point is profound, especially more so when seen in the context of women’s participation in the country’s labour force. And the data speaks for itself. The World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report, from July 2022, for example, highlights a concerning decline in India’s female participation in the labour force, which dropped from 31% in 1990 to just 21% in 2019, ranking India 135th globally. The situation worsened with the Covid-19 pandemic, as nearly 47% of Indian women who lost their jobs faced permanent unemployment, underscoring the pandemic’s severe impact on women’s economic participation.

But if this is the scenario overall, what about women employed in the impact or social sector? To address that question, it is important to first take a holistic look at the sector overall. A recent study by consulting firm Bain & Company says that funding to India’s social sector is booming, and has reached about ₹25 lakh crore ($300 billion) in FY24, at a CAGR of 13% over the past five years; the number is projected to reach ₹45 lakh crore ($550 billion). But experts say that while the sector itself is booming, the role of women in it is skewed.

The Bain & Company study was conducted in partnership with the philanthropic organisation, Dasra, whose co-founder, Neera Nundy, has spent the last 25 years reshaping India’s philanthropic landscape, working at the intersection of capital and grassroots change. Speaking about her journey to Fortune India, she acknowledges the privilege she grew up with, a life that was shaped by the presence of strong women in her family who defied traditional career paths.

“My mother was the first female electrical engineer from IIT Kharagpur, and my grandmother was a psychiatrist who emigrated to Canada for her residency,” she recalls. “Growing up, there was a lot of pressure on my sister and me to pursue careers in STEM.”

Nundy followed that path, studying mathematics before moving into investment banking at Morgan Stanley in New York, where she met her life partner and future co-founder, Deval Sanghavi. It was in the fast-paced world of mergers and acquisitions that she first recognised the power of capital to drive impact. “Being in New York City, making more money than your parents, you start recognising privilege, but also the possibilities of what access to capital can do,” she explains.

That realisation led to the founding of Dasra, an organisation dedicated to strengthening NGOs by addressing gaps in institutional capacity — marketing, finance, technology, and governance. “We started with the idea that NGOs need more than just passion and commitment; they need structured support,” she says. But it wasn’t long before she and her team realised that capacity-building alone was not enough. “If you don’t put money behind it, there’s no point.”

When asked about the skewed role that women have in the impact sector, Nundy explains that to understand this one has to view it structurally; and there has been both progress and persisting disparities. “There are two parts to the sector: where the money is (philanthropy) and where the real work is happening (grassroots NGOs),” she says. “Women are becoming more visible in philanthropy, but leadership gaps remain,” she asserts. While women dominate the grassroots workforce in the non-profit sector, their presence in leadership positions remains disproportionately low. “There is no shortage of women in NGOs, but when you look at leadership roles, the numbers drop significantly,” Nundy notes. “Boards of non-profits are still male-dominated.”

As part of Dasra, Nundy points out that the organisation, through its work, has taken several steps to address this imbalance, like a leadership training programme designed to help corporate women take on board roles at NGOs. “We’ve seen some success, but it’s still a struggle to bring women into these spaces,” she says.

In Dasra’s Social Impact Leadership programme, which has been running for over 13 years, the organisation actively pushes for greater female representation. “Initially, the majority of participants were men. We made it a goal to fill the class with a majority of women. Today, we’re at around 60-70% women, but it required intentional effort,” she says. “Without that push, leadership in non-profits would still be overwhelmingly male.”

Nundy is not alone in her views. According to Naghma Mulla, CEO of EdelGive Foundation, the non-profit arm of the financial services major Edelweiss, the tragedy of the impact sector is that despite being far more progressive and reform-oriented than others, it still has not been able to solve the problem of equity in the workplace, especially when it comes to women in leadership positions.

“The sector has never been scarce of women in the lower tiers of employment,” she points out. “But where are the women CEOs? Even in the development sector, where gender equality is a core principle, leadership remains male-dominated. And that is the tragedy of it all, because if any sector had to walk the talk, it was this one.” Mulla is forthright in saying that when it comes to leadership, the underlying theme is power. “Leadership is about power,” she says. “Let’s remove gender from the debate for a moment. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, highly competitive and aggressive. Women have been systematically kept away from such spaces, which means they often lack exposure to the power dynamics of boardrooms.”

But how can this conundrum be resolved? Mulla points out that at the level of corporate governance, some solution can be had. But she is careful to also note that in areas where women are already in leadership roles, they should bring more of their compatriots in. “Women in leadership must stretch themselves to bring more women into decision-making roles. We need to ensure they are not just present, but prepared. It’s about actively creating spaces where women learn to navigate power structures.” But she also stresses that male leadership must step up. “Not all men are trying to push women out. Many good leaders, if asked, would be willing to mentor and uplift women. It’s time to start asking. If a CEO says, ‘I want more women leaders,’ HR will make it happen. It’s about willingness, not policies.”

For Nundy, one possible way out is also through institutional and policy levels. “There needs to be both government and corporate policies that support this work,” she argues. “What we need to solve as a country is how do we get women to stay in the workforce and not exit — because the biggest time of exit is during time of care, whether for children or for the elderly.”

She recalls her own struggles two decades ago when she had her first child. “There were very few day cares. There wasn’t even a day-care policy,” she says, pointing out how childcare responsibilities often force women out of the workforce. Beyond care responsibilities, she also underlines the patriarchal mindset that discourages women from continuing their careers. “For some reason, you’re of a lower status if the women in your family work, which is even more bizarre.”

To counter this, Nundy suggests financial incentives and systemic interventions. “If the banking sector came in and said, we will give you tax incentives, we will give you all kinds of products and services — if women had that kind of financial literacy, inclusion, and independence, that might be another area to actually explore.”

Experts have repeatedly pointed out that the level of inequity is present not just at the level of women leaders taking up significant and meaningful spaces in the boardroom, but also when it comes to female entrepreneurs wanting to start something of their own. Rangsutra’s Ghose confirms when she highlights that the struggle is real, and women have to hustle far more than men when it comes to raising funding for their ventures. Most importantly, because for her the core moat behind her venture is bettering the financial inclusion of women through market-led initiatives, in her case via Rangsutra, the importance of this is borne out by the fact that even well-educated, urban women struggle when it comes to starting their own venture.

“Let me give you an example. One day, I had gone to Bikaner. And I saw that one woman, who is a shareholder in Rangsutra, frame and hang a share certificate on the walls of her hut. I asked her why, and I was blown away by her answer: Because the certificate — she understood what it meant very clearly — was a symbol of her financial independence. A ticket to freedom,” Ghose says.

Ashapurna Baruah, assistant professor at IIM Raipur, explains it succinctly. “One of the primary reasons for this disparity is women’s limited access to financial capital, which is often linked to weaker social networks. Women frequently have less exposure to high-value investor networks, making it more difficult to secure funding. This lack of social capital translates into fewer opportunities for mentorship, partnerships, and investor confidence,” she says.

How can this be resolved? Naina Subberwal Batra, CEO of the social investment network AVPN, believes that one of the ways tangible changes can happen is if policymakers step up with targeted interventions that go beyond rhetoric and drive real action.

Batra points out that many a time, women-led ventures secure funding because funders just want a tick mark against their diversity quota fulfilment. It cannot be an add-on and, instead, must be seen as a fundamental strategy for social transformation and economic growth. Batra says that governments and financial institutions must actively incentivise investments in women-led ventures and initiatives focused on gender equality.

“Access to capital is critical. We need policies that streamline access to low-interest loans, grants, and venture capital specifically for women entrepreneurs. Imagine the innovation we can unlock,” she says.

Structural change is impossible without representation. Batra points to the Companies Act in India, which mandated gender diversity on corporate boards, as an example of how policy can shift entrenched norms. “We need similar mandates across government, philanthropic organisations, and social enterprises,” she asserts. True empowerment comes from ensuring that women are not just participants but decision-makers in the spaces that shape economies and societies, she says.

The conversation around women’s role in philanthropy and social entrepreneurship cannot be limited to encouragement alone. “These changes are not just about fairness; they are about building a more dynamic, equitable, and impactful social sector,” Batra says. It is time for policies that do not merely open doors but actively push women forward, ensuring their leadership shapes the future of philanthropy and innovation.

The challenges of gender equity in leadership are neither new nor unique to the impact sector, yet they feel particularly jarring in a space built on the promise of social change. The paradox is stark: women form the backbone of grassroots development work yet remain sidelined in decision-making roles. But what Dasra, EdelGive, and Rangsutra underscore is that change, though slow, is possible when intentional action meets structural reform.

As Mulla of EdelGive notes, conversations have been had aplenty, and now it is time for action. And the impact sector, in this endeavour, must lead the way. Because if those striving to create a more equitable world fail to do so within their own ranks, then the road ahead would remain as uneven as ever.