March 5: Women empowerment is one of the hot topics for discussion in India and the context is always aligned with external support for women. Changing this perception, ‘The Atypical Tale of a Typical Indian Woman’ by Kanika Saxena is a book based on Women’s Empowerment with a different perspective. It focuses on empowering the woman from within so that she can take on tough situations.
Entrepreneur and author, Kanika Saxena is the Founder & CEO of ‘The Writing Right’, a content writing startup, and has published six books in the self-help genre. The book, The Atypical Tale of a Typical Indian Woman starts with the different stages in the life of a woman like a daughter, wife, mother, etc., and the challenges they face at each stage and ways to overcome them. The author focuses on the demands of the family and society by a woman. She explains how women are important members of society who can be change-makers. According to her, the role of the mother is vital because she brings children into the world and raises the future citizens of society. So, a mother has a strong influence on how these citizens shape up.
According to Kanika, a mother needs to lead by example as she is the role model for both her son and daughter. Mothers need to treat themselves with respect and not be subservient to the male members of the family. If she treats everyone equally without undermining herself, the daughter will grow up with the belief that men and women are equal. And, the son will learn how to treat women with respect. This change can come about only at home and impact society.
The foundation for women’s empowerment begins at home. It depends on how the parents welcome a girl child and treat her. The daughter is empowered when parents treat sons and daughters equally and give daughters the freedom to make choices. When a family raises a daughter without bias they will be more confident. And they can take many responsibilities and use the external resources for empowerment.
Kanika Saxena says that for a mother to have a balanced approach in how she treats herself and her family members, she needs to empower herself. Self-empowerment begins with self-acceptance and self-care. She emphasizes that only when a woman takes care of herself, she can take care of others around her.
All the suggestions and ideology presented in the book come from Kanika’s personal experience and that of other women. The book is based on real-life stories of real women and what they go through in their lives. The solutions suggested have been tried and tested by the author, and other women who have broken the stereotype.
Empowering herself through her journey, Kanika holds degrees in engineering and management. She has worked for some of the top organizations in India for seven years and chose to be a stay-at-home mother for her kids. After being on sabbatical for twenty years she re-entered the corporate world as a fresher in content writing in 2016, started as a freelancer and soon founded her content writing startup ‘The Writing Right in 2020’. Kanika embarked on her journey as an author at the same time and published six books in 18 months. Her journey was not an easy one, she has taken care of her responsibilities for her family without neglecting herself. Kanika shares her recipe for success with The Atypical Tale of a Typical Indian Woman!