SO6 Episode 07: Srilatha Batliwala - Granny Sri

At 69, Srilatha Batliwala is a feminist grandmother to her four grandchildren and also sees “grandmothering” as a metaphor for how she operates in the world of feminist and social justice movements. Building on decades of activism and prolific writing as a feminist scholar – from her work with tens of thousands of women in village and slum communities in India to holding prestigious positions and fellowships at foundations, universities and transnational women’s rights organizations – Sri is dedicated to mentoring younger feminists and movement builders. Her brilliance at weaving complex strands of thought together into her seminal writing on power, movements, patriarchy and leadership continue to shape feminist perspectives, politics and practice in India and across the world. We are so excited about her recent work on feminist mentoring and the feminist parables she is writing to share and honor the wisdom she gathered from countless women’s village collectives (and, as a bonus to TOB listeners, we will be posting Sri reading one of the parables with this episode). Sri advises and consults with CREA (Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action), an international organization working at the intersection of gender, sexuality and human rights, and Gender at Work, a global network of gender experts supporting organizations to build cultures of equality and inclusion. She also recently became an Honorary Professor of Practice at SOAS, University of London. Welcome to the world of Granny Sri (her Instagram handle) who reminds us that her joy of being “a feminist mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, wife” and her pride at having raised a feminist son (and daughter) are amongst her most formidable achievements.