ThinkHer

I had heard of Bertha Lutz before—as a women’s rights activist, a leader in Brazil’s suffragist movement, and one of the four women who signed the UN Charter in 1945, the document that officially established the United Nations. That’s how she’s usually remembered: a fierce feminist, a diplomat, someone who stood her ground at the world’s most important political tables. But what surprised me was where else her name shows up—not in laws, monuments or even street names, but in frogs and lizards!! It turns out Bertha Lutz was not only a political force, but also a trained biologist and naturalist. Before her name became tied to international diplomacy, she was studying amphibians at the Sorbonne and working as a researcher at Brazil’s National Museum. Her background in biology wasn’t a footnote—it shaped the way she thought, worked, and fought. She approached activism with the same discipline and curiosity she applied to science. I’m often struck, in conversations with fellow researchers,...

Janaky and I started ' ThinkHer ' to discuss women in society—our achievements, stories, fights, and struggles. Along the journey, sometimes I found myself questioning the purpose of this process. What are we achieving out of this? Are we changing anything? Can we shift perspectives with posts and reels? As we continued exploring stories to build our page, I came across Amanda Nguyen. Her story was a powerful reminder that even small beginnings can lead to a better world. For her, it all started with one group email copied to every person she knew. Her journey—from surviving a broken system to changing U.S. law, to representing women in space shows that when we speak, act, and demand better, we’re not just telling stories. We’re reshaping society. made on Canva by ThinkHer Born on October 10, 1991, in California, Amanda Nguyen is the daughter of Vietnamese refugees. As she grew up, her father’s anger turned their home into a place of fear and violence. The desire to get away fr...

I first came across the term microfeminism while scrolling through Instagram reels. Microfeminism is all about the subtle, everyday choices we make that push back against ingrained gender biases and create more equitable spaces [1]. These acts may appear small—inviting women to speak first in meetings, or confidently taking space in public—but they carry the weight of intention and resistance. Change doesn’t always have to be loud or sweeping; often, it begins with these quiet but deliberate gestures. Made in Canva Though the word microfeminism has gained traction only recently (especially online), the concept—and even the term itself—has roots that go back much further. In a 1998 article from the book 'Wired-Up', academic Sue Turnbull explored how her students responded to everyday feminist practices [2]. Rather than aligning with broad, unified political frameworks, they were drawn to more grounded, personal actions that addressed gender dynamics in daily life. Turnbull noted...

India’s era of social reform, marked by calls for progress and justice, brought child marriage into focus as a deeply entrenched obstacle to the rights of women and girls. Though outlawed in 1929, the practice remains alarmingly prevalent, with 23% of Indian girls still married before the age of 18. Prominent reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar strongly opposed child marriage, pointing to its devastating impact on health, education, and personal freedom. Girls forced into early marriage face serious risks, including high maternal mortality, greater risk of domestic and sexual violence, and the loss of education and autonomy. While these practical harms motivated most reformers, as early as the 19th century, one woman named Rukhmabai Raut took the argument further. She launched a revolt that was grounded in the ideas of consent, autonomy, and dignity. Rukhmabai’s opposition to child marriage stood apart not merely because it was bold, but because it was intel...

I remember how, during my years of higher education, students in the sciences were seen as the most apolitical. Unlike universities, India’s scientific research institutions actively discouraged student politics.  When we had a few protests organized on campus, and there were professors who told students that if they were absent from the lab to participate in the protests, they should not come back to work.  This was all justified by the belief that science 'should not be politicized.' But I often felt the discomfort of being asked to detach my intellect from the political realities around me.  I knew that this so-called objectivity wasn’t objective at all, but a quiet reinforcement of the status quo. Wangari Maathai through protests and recognitions Reading about Wangari Maathai brought this tension into sharper focus. She was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a Ph.D. in Biology—and she refused the apolitical ideal so often pushed in scientific instituti...