Ms. Firoza Mehrotra may have been shocked to encounter a wife-beater in her very first posting, but the incident in fact made her work for empowerment and women, girl children, and rural development—a task she has been assiduously performing even 15 years after her retirement. She spoke to Indian Masterminds on her body of work.
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She has worked in the Indian Administrative Service, in India, for over 38 years, working both at the policy and field levels. Ms. Firoza Mehrotra has worked extensively in the areas of gender equality, women’s empowerment, child development, adolescents, population, police and jail administration, and rural development. She retired as a Special Consultant in the Planning Commission, Government of India, where she looked after the women and child development, handlooms and handicrafts, north-east, and voluntary sectors.
Firoza also worked with UNIFEM South Asia as the Deputy Regional Program Director for over 5 years in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In addition, she worked at UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) as the Gender Specialist for over four years.
The state where she worked—Haryana—is known for a paradox. The state has the worst sex ratio in the country. But this is also the state that sends Kalpana Chawla to space, Sushma Swaraj to Parliament and produces scores of international women sports personalities, including Olympic medallists. She explains the paradox by claiming that father’s support has been the clinching reason for these girls’ empowerment. “Wherever there is a Gem (Gender Empowered Man), the women are bound to touch the sky,” she says.
