Kirthi Jayakumar facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kirthi Jayakumar
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Self-portrait photograph
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| Born |
Kirthi Jayakumar
15 December 1987 Bangalore, India
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| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | University for Peace, Coventry University |
| Occupation | Peace and gender equality activist, author and artist |
Kirthi Jayakumar (born December 15, 1987) is a special person who teaches about peace. She also works to make sure women are safe and treated fairly, especially in how countries make decisions. Kirthi is a lawyer and a writer too. She has received many important awards and fellowships, like being a Commonwealth Scholar. She also advises the G7 group of powerful countries, helping them think about women's issues. The UN Women Asia Pacific group even named her one of their "30 for 2030" leaders.
Kirthi started The Gender Security Project. This group studies how gender, peace, and safety are connected. They also look at how countries can make fair decisions for everyone. Before this, she founded The Red Elephant Foundation. This project used storytelling and community work to help achieve gender equality.
Contents
About Kirthi
Kirthi Jayakumar was born in Bangalore, India. She studied law in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
She later earned two master's degrees. One was in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution from the University for Peace in Costa Rica. The other was in Peace and Conflict Studies from Coventry University in the UK. She received a special scholarship called the Commonwealth Scholarship for her studies. Kirthi has also volunteered online for the United Nations.
What is Feminist Foreign Policy?
Kirthi has played a big role in discussing "Feminist Foreign Policy." This idea is about how countries can make decisions that are fair for everyone, especially women. She helped lead discussions for the Women7 group during the G7 meetings in Germany (2022) and Japan (2023). She has spoken to important groups like the European Parliament about these ideas. Through her work, Kirthi teaches the world's first course on Feminist Foreign Policy.
Kirthi as an Artist
Kirthi used to have an Instagram project called Femcyclopaedia. For this project, she drew pictures of inspiring women from history and around the world. She also shared their amazing stories. Femcyclopaedia won an award from World Pulse in 2017. Kirthi also created an art show for International Women's Day at the US Consulate in Chennai.
In 2021, Kirthi started another art project on Instagram called KJ and the Universe. Here, she creates beautiful art inspired by space. Her space artwork, especially pieces inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope, was even shown on NASA's official website for the telescope.
Kirthi as a Writer
Kirthi has written several books. Stories of Hope is her first solo book, which is a collection of short stories. She also wrote a book called Love Me Mama: The Unfavoured Child with Elsie Ijorogu-Reed. Another book she wrote is The Dove's Lament. This book was nominated for an award in 2015. A review said that Kirthi "weaves a story of strong human spirit" in the book.
The Times of India newspaper also reviewed The Dove's Lament. The reviewer said the book "takes the reader to several such places with a compassion that shakes you to your very core."
Kirthi in Theatre
Kirthi wrote a play called Frankly Speaking. This play continues the story from The Diary of Anne Frank. It shares the voices of eight young women from different parts of the world where there is conflict.
She also wrote and performed in HerStory. This show brings twelve women from history to life through poetry and dance. Kirthi also performed a monologue in a play called Dolls.
Kirthi has also lent her voice to audiobooks. She narrated stories for the audiobook version of "Like A Girl" by Aparna Jain. She told the stories of famous women like Justice Leila Seth and Mayawati.
Kirthi as a Public Speaker
Kirthi has given two TEDx Talks. In 2016, she spoke at TEDxChennai about how peace education can help stop bullying. In 2017, she spoke at TEDxChoice about her art project, Femcyclopaedia.
She has also given talks at many other events. She spoke about peace education at a conference in Pune. Kirthi was a speaker at SYCON, where she talked about her work with The Red Elephant Foundation. She also gave a speech at SRM Aarambh about her journey as a social entrepreneur working for gender equality.
Kirthi has spoken to groups like the Rotary Club of Madras South about "Women's Empowerment." She also spoke at the Economic Times Women's Summit about her app, Saahas. In 2019, Kirthi was a speaker at ISFiT, an international student festival, where she discussed women and peacebuilding.
Awards and Recognition
Kirthi has received many awards for her important work. She earned the United States Presidential Service Award multiple times. She also won two United Nations Online Volunteering Awards in 2012 and 2013.
In 2015, she was nominated for the Digital Women Awards. In 2016, she was named one of the EU's top 200 Women in the World of Development. She also won two story awards from World Pulse, and her work was even featured in Time Magazine.
India Today recognized Kirthi as one of the "Game changers" in Chennai. She was the youngest speaker to address a gathering at FICCI FLO in Chennai.
In September 2016, Kirthi won the Rising Stars Award from We are the City India. She was also recognized as one of the "52 Feminists" by 52Feminists.com. In October 2016, she received the Burgundy Achiever award at the Digital Women Awards. She also won the Peace Award from the Global Peace Initiative.
Kirthi was featured on Google's WomenWill Landing page for International Women's Day in 2017. She was also named one of "eleven of India's feminist bloggers who are making a difference." In 2018, she was awarded Outstanding Social Entrepreneur of the Year by FICCI FLO Chennai. She also received the Heroes of Chennai Award.
In 2021, Kirthi was listed as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy by Apolitical. In 2024, the Royal Society of Arts listed her as one of "Nine famous female fellows inspiring inclusion." She was also named one of 50 famous fellows of the Royal Society of Arts.
List of Awards
- US Presidential Services Medal (Gold, Silver and Bronze) 2011–2012
- UN Online Volunteer of the Year Award (Delta Women) 2012
- UN Online Volunteer of the Year Award (Association of African Entrepreneurs) 2012
- UN Online Volunteer of the Year Award (Delta Women) 2013
- UN Online Volunteer of the Year Award (Association of African Entrepreneurs) 2013
- Finalist, Muse India Young Author's Award in 2015
- Rising Stars of India Award (We Are The City India) 2016
- The Peace Award (Global Peace Initiative) 2016
- Orange Flower Award for Video Blogging, Orange Flower Awards, (Women's Web), 2016
- Local Pathways Fellow (UN SDSN), 2017
- Social Entrepreneur of the Year, 2017 (Brew Magazine)
- Young Achiever (Entrepreneurship) MOP Yuva Samman (2017–2018)
- Outstanding Social Entrepreneur (NGO) of the Year, FICCI FLO Chennai (2018)
- Nominee, True Honour Awards, 2018
- Outstanding Woman Achiever Award 2018, FICCI FLO, Jaipur (2018)
- Vital Voices VV Engage Fellow (2018)
- Heroes of Chennai – Social Good (Rising) (2018)
- HerStory Woman on a Mission Award (March 2019)
- Web Wonder Woman (Ministry of Women and Child Development, Twitter India and Breakthrough India) (March 2019)
- CII-IWN Award for Unsung Heroes, March 2019
- Best Feminist Voice, The Lifestyle Journal Awards, August 2019
- The TIAW World of a Difference Award, October 2020
- The World Pulse Spirit Award (Champion), February 2021
- UN Women: 30 for 2030 (August 2022)
- Imagine Award of Excellence for the Rotary year 2022–23
- Women Have Wings Award 2023 (October 2023)
- Apolitical's 50 Gender Equality Gamechangers 2024
- Walkie Talkie (Walking the Talk), Hivos, 2024
Books by Kirthi
Books She Wrote
- Game Changers: Untold Stories Of Indian Feminists From The Past And The Present (Hay House India, 2020)
- The Doodler of Dimashq (Readomania, 2017)
- The Dove's Lament (Readomania, 2015)
- Stories of Hope (Maitreya, 2013)
Chapters in Other Books
- Mother of the Nations (Demeter Press, Contributor, 2015)
- Routledge Handbook of South Asian Criminology (Routledge, Contributor, 2019)
See also
- List of peace activists
