Meraki Foundation took its form and shape during Gandhi King Global Initiative conference held in Stanford University, in October of 2019.

“A women empowered is a generation empowered” is the Gandhian philosophy that defined the purpose and vision of the organization.

Background

Excerpt:

Among the different proposed causes for the high domestic violence (DV) frequency in India are deep-rooted male patriarchal roles (Visaria, 2000) and long-standing cultural norms that propagate the view of women as subordinates throughout their lifespan (Fernandez, 1997; Gundappa & Rathod, 2012).

Even before a child is born, many families have a clear preference for male children, which may result in their preferential care, and worse, sex-selective abortions, female infanticide and abandonment of the girl-child (Gundappa & Rathod, 2012).

During childhood, less importance is given to the education of female children; further, early marriage as occurs in 45% of young, married women, according to 2005–2006 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) data (Raj, Saggurti, Balaiah, & Silverman, 2009), may also heighten susceptibility to DV (Ackerson, Kawachi, Barbeau, & Subramanian, 2008; Raj, Saggurti, Lawrence, Balaiah, & Silverman, 2010; Santhya et al., 2010; Speizer & Pearson, 2011).

In reproductive years, mothers pregnant with and/or those who give birth to only female children may be more susceptible to abuse (Mahapatro, Gupta, Gupta, & Kundu, 2011) and financial, medical, and nutritional neglect. Later in life, culturally bred views of dishonour associated with widowhood may also influence susceptibility to DV by other family members (Saravanan, 2000).