Women's Day 2023 – An Ode to Female Environmentalists, Wildlife Activists and Naturalists

There is no force more powerful than a woman determined to rise – W.E.B. Dubois. 

Every day, women worldwide carry out several tasks, make decisions, and work relentlessly to make this world a better place. They have also gone on to achieve great success. But, the achievements of innumerable women in history have been overlooked, with naturalists, environmentalists, and wildlife activists being no exception.  

With International Women's Day 2023 around the corner, which falls on the 8th of March, at Club Mahindra, we thought it would be a great time to pay tribute to a few trailblazing women who inspired a generation and left a lasting impact on wildlife and nature.  

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These wonder women dared to rise above all odds. Their work crossed new boundaries and brought social transformations. On this Women's Day, we celebrate them! 

• Dr Jane Goodall
• Wangari Maathai
• Nehara Pandey
• Dr Krithi Karanth 

 Dr Jane Goodall

There is only one word in our books to describe the great Dr Jane Goodall: LEGEND. The champion of the Chimpanzees, Dr Goodall, is a globally recognised Chimpanzee expert, and she has been advocating for their protection for more than 55 years. In a field that was dominated by men, she broke all stereotypes, remained unflustered and embarked on a journey to study the beautiful apes at the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania.  

Despite strong criticisms from everyone and on fronts for her approach to studying the Chimpanzees by interacting with them at a personal level and giving them names, she went on to forever change the way humans viewed apes. For her extraordinary work, she has been conferred with several illustrious awards and recognition worldwide, including the Kyoto Prize, Japan's most prestigious award and the Legion of Honour, the highest honour given to a person in France.  

The world salutes her, and we salute her too!

Wangari Maathai 

Wangari Maathai's story is as fascinating and inspiring as it can get. Like most women in Africa, she faced several tribulations throughout her life and fought every challenge life threw at her to achieve greatness only a dew dares to dream, let alone achieve it.  

Born in Kenya to a farmer's family, she was the first person from her village to go overseas for education; she went to the US and attained a degree in Biology and later completed her PhD in veterinary anatomy at the University of Nairobi.  

She is best known for introducing the idea of community tree-planting in Kenya to reduce poverty in the region and conserve the environment. She later founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 to restore the degraded environment in Kenya and cater to the basic needs of the women in the country, especially from the tribal regions.  

She encouraged women in Kenya to plant more and more trees in their localities, and they were granted a small stipend for doing so. The movement she started soon gained immense popularity, and together women in Kenya planted more than 51 million trees.  

Talking about her work in the region, she once famously said, "When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and hope." She did indeed sow the seeds of hope amongst the people of Kenya for protecting the nature around them for a better living.  

For her immense contribution to preserving nature and her strong commitment to human rights, she was conferred with the much-revered Nobel Prize in 2004.

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Nehara Pandey 

A true-blue water baby, Nehara Pandey believes the ocean is where she belongs and is her second home. Hailing from one of the prettiest coastal states of India, Goa, Pandey forged a deep connection with the ocean from a very young age. She was only 11 when she received an Open Water Diver certification and later became a rescue diver and an emergency first responder.  

Her love affair with the ocean is not just limited to diving; she has been rigorously working for ocean conservation and raising awareness about the ill effects of ocean pollution on people. She even made a short film titled 'Seventy' about the impact of ocean pollution, which was well received by the audience.  

In 2015, she was felicitated at the National Institute of Oceanography for her brilliant work in the field of ocean conservation. In 2019, she represented India at the World Ocean's Day Organisation's International Youth Advisory Council.   

She may be young, but she is fierce and determined to bring about a sea of change in the people's and society's mindset about one of nature's greatest gifts, oceans and stop ocean pollution.  

Dr Krithi Karanth 

The daughter of the pioneer Indian conservation biologist Dr Ullas Karnath, Dr Krithi Karnath has been following in her father's footsteps and working for Tiger Conservation. She became fascinated with the forests, and the wildlife, especially Tigers, from a very young age as she accompanied her father into the jungles tracking Tigers.  

She soon realised that apart from the poaching activities, the real threat to the Indian jungles and the wildlife stemmed from the farmers and wildlife encounters. After earning her Doctorate in Conservation Biology from Yale University, she returned home and started mapping and modelling human-wildlife conflict zones across India and finding solutions for humans and animals to co-exist peacefully.  

As an Executive Director at the Centre for Wildlife Studies in Bengaluru, Dr Karnath has dedicated her life to improving the lives of the Tigers in the Jungles and providing a better natural habitat for them to prosper. Recognising her immense contribution to wildlife conservation, she was selected as one of India's Power Women by Femina.

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Show your gratitude to the women who inspire you 

As Indians, most of us need not look beyond our families to find inspiration. The women in the family are perhaps the most significant inspiration we need. We may have all seen our mother or sister work relentlessly, often at the cost of their own health and happiness, to provide for us.  

So, whoever has inspired you, be it your mother, sister, teacher or neighbour, you can show gratitude to them on International Women's Day by gifting them a Club Mahindra membership plan. Depending on the person's interest, and age, you can choose from a variety of plans and give them the wings to travel anywhere they want, have new experiences and create new memories for a lifetime.