Dr. Shruti Kapoor (born 25 September) is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

women's rights activist Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

, and

social entrepreneur Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of o ...

. She is the founder of Sayfty, an initiative that aims to educate and empower young women and girls against all forms of

violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or Power (social and p ...

Background

Born in

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...

, India Kapoor moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 2000. After earning a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in economics from

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

, she worked as an economist for the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

for two years. Following this, she moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to complete her PhD in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

, and remained a consultant for the

. After graduating with a

doctorate degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

, Kapoor taught

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...

for a year.

Activism and social entrepreneurship

Dr. Kapoor founded Sayfty in June 2013 as an initiative to educate, and empower young women and girls against all forms of violence. The initiative aims at training young women and girls in self-defense, the use of safety tools including

pepper-spray Pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum spray, OC spray, capsaicin spray, or capsicum spray is a lachrymatory agent (a Chemical compound, compound that irritates the eyes to cause a burning sensation, pain, and temporary blindness) used in policing ...

, awareness of laws and

legal rights Some philosophers distinguish two types of rights, natural rights and legal rights. * Natural rights are those that are not dependent on the laws or customs of any particular culture or government, and so are ''universal'', ''fundamental'' and ...

, and creating dialogue around safety and what makes women feel unsafe. Sayfty was awarded the People's Choice Award by Femvertising in 2015. Kapoor founded Sayfty in the wake of the

2012 Delhi gang rape and murder The 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, commonly known as the Nirbhaya case, involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South West Delhi. The incident took place when Jyoti Singh, a 22-year ...

of a 23-year-old female, which shocked the country and caught the attention of the global news media. In May, 2019, Kapoor started a public petition on Charge.org to oppose two shelters for women and children in her neighborhood of

Park Slope Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Aven ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In her opposition to the shelters she stated that "locating two large buildings for the homeless on two adjacent blocks is not fair to our community", and that they would have "a negative impact on the property value” despite providing no evidence that homeless shelters affect property values.

Public Speaking

As an

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

, Dr. Kapoor has addressed many public forums including the Youth Assembly at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

in August 2016. In August 2017, Shruti delivered a Talk at 2017 Summer Youth Assembly at the

, addressing her work around the use of technology to address gender equality. In March 2017, Shruti moderated a panel on Young Women As An Economic Force at Youth Forum (CSW61)at the

. In January 2017, Shruti addressed the Winter Youth Assembly at the

. She talked about Young

Women's Economic Empowerment A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

. In November 2016, In celebration of the

International Day Lists of holidays by various categorizations. Religious holidays Abrahamic holidays (Middle Eastern) Jewish holidays *Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread – 7 days of consumption of matzo with wine and avoidance of leavened foods ...

for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Organized by

UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and focu ...

and the

Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development, Shruti talked about the impact of violence against women on young women's economic empowerment. In August 2016, Shruti addressed the Summer Youth Assembly at the

on two separate panels. Her first talk focused on Youth Involvement at the

. The second talk focused on Investing in Young Women's Leadership.

Awards and recognition

Dr. Kapoor is named by

Apolitical Apoliticism is apathy or antipathy towards all political affiliations. A person may be described as apolitical if they are uninterested or uninvolved in politics. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased pos ...

as One of the Most Influential People in

Global Policy ''Global Policy'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal based at Durham University focusing on the "point where ideas and policy meet", published in association with Wiley-Blackwell. The journal was launched at the 4th Global Public Policy Network ...

2019. Indian Ministry of Women and

Child Development Child development involves the Human development (biology), biological, developmental psychology, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. Childhood is divided into 3 stages o ...

facilitated Dr. Kapoor as one of the 30 #WebWonderWomen who have been driving positive agenda of social change via social media. Richtopia named Dr. Kapoor as one of the top 100 leaders from multilateral organizations globally in 2018. Dr. Kapoor served on the judging panel for Anu and Naveen Jain's $1 million, Women Safety Xprize competition. Dr. Kapoor is the recipient of the International Women Of The Year Award by Aosta Valley, Italy (2015). She was the 2nd runners up. She also received the Rex Karamveer Global Fellowship on the 23rd of March, in New Delhi at the exclusive awards function, which is a part of “iCONGO’s REX Conclive, organized on 21st, 22nd, `and 23rd of March 2015. In March 2016, she was one of the EU top 200 Women in the World of Development Wall of Fame. She was also one of the nominated changemakers for the United State of Women 2016. She is a three-time story award winner with

World Pulse World Pulse is a “Social-Media-for-Social-Revolution” initiative, founded and run by Jensine Larsen, in 2003, based out of Portland, Oregon. World Pulse is a social network for women. History World Pulse was founded by Jensine Larsen. In 20 ...

In September 2016, Shruti was one of the women shortlisted for the Rising Stars Award 2016 by We are the City

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, which she went onto win. In October 2016, she was recognized as one of the "52 Feminists" by 52Feminists.com.

References

External links

About Our Founder: Shruti Kapoor
(Sayfty) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kapoor, Shruti Indian social entrepreneurs 20th-century Indian businesswomen Living people Indian human rights activists Indian women economists World Bank people Marquette University alumni University of California, Riverside alumni Indian women's rights activists 20th-century Indian economists People from Kanpur Activists from Uttar Pradesh Year of birth missing (living people) Businesspeople from Uttar Pradesh Women scientists from Uttar Pradesh Businesswomen from Uttar Pradesh