To: Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, Indra Nooyi, Pepsi Co. CEO, and Ajay Banga, Mastercard CEO
Indian CEOs in the U.S.: Use your powerful voice to protect and save Indian women and girls
Girls and women in India are being brutally raped, beaten, and killed with impunity.
You are powerful. As CEO’s of global corporations based in the United States you have global reach and influence. As Indians with a personal and cultural connection you have a special obligation and responsibility to use your influence, power and voice to make change. Your corporations have lasting and deep ties to India.
We are begging you to take action to support your home country, which has contributed so much to your success. Join together, speak up publicly, and use your voices. Show your anger and heartbreak over the brutal violence, rape and murder of Indian women and girls. Call on the Indian Government to take action to legally and physically protect women and girls. Give your support to civil society campaigns to advance women and girls’ rights and protection, and transform the caste system that is contributing to the violence. Let your voices reach the ears of women and girls who are suffering, and give them strength. Let them know there is a world beyond their boundaries that is grieving, supporting and fighting alongside them.
Take responsibility for the powerful positions you are in and speak up!
You are powerful. As CEO’s of global corporations based in the United States you have global reach and influence. As Indians with a personal and cultural connection you have a special obligation and responsibility to use your influence, power and voice to make change. Your corporations have lasting and deep ties to India.
We are begging you to take action to support your home country, which has contributed so much to your success. Join together, speak up publicly, and use your voices. Show your anger and heartbreak over the brutal violence, rape and murder of Indian women and girls. Call on the Indian Government to take action to legally and physically protect women and girls. Give your support to civil society campaigns to advance women and girls’ rights and protection, and transform the caste system that is contributing to the violence. Let your voices reach the ears of women and girls who are suffering, and give them strength. Let them know there is a world beyond their boundaries that is grieving, supporting and fighting alongside them.
Take responsibility for the powerful positions you are in and speak up!
Why is this important?
The cases of rape an brutal murder of women and girls are a daily occurrence in India. These women and girls are not only being raped, they are being murdered in the most horrific ways. All of the case also involve a gang of men and often times a police officer is part of this gang, leaving the women or girl completely powerless from the beginning.
Here are a few incidents which have all made national headlines:
December 16th 2012- Munirka: 23 year old girl raped and murdered by several men on a bus outside Delhi. The young women was raped in a brutal manner, which include the use of a pole. She was with a male friend who was beaten with a pole. Afterwards she and her friend were thrown off the bus alongside the road. The perpetrators tried to run her over at that point, but she was pulled to safety by the male friend she was traveling with. They were found and taken to a hospital. More brutality to her body was found and she was flow to Singapore to receive treatment. She died 2 weeks later.
The rape case on December 16th sparked protests across India and all over the world, but many incidents have followed. Sadly, nothing has changed.
February 20th 2013 - Nagpur: Three sisters ages 11, 9 and 6 were found dumped in a well in Nagpur. The girls were on their way home from school. The autopsy reports showed that they were brutally raped.
(http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/22/17056657-india-reeling-after-rape-and-murder-of-3-young-sisters?lite )
May 28th 2014 -Katra Village near Lucknow : Two girls ages 16 and 14 were found hanging in a mango tree. The police reports show that the two girls were raped and strangled to death when they went to go the bathroom in the field. Afterward they were hung in a mango tree nearby.
June 3rd 2014 - South Garo Hills, Meghalaya: A mother was taken from her home while her family was locked inside. They could watch from the window. In resisting molestation the mother was shot in the head point blank with her family watching from the window
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/04/318890896/latest-
sexual-assault-in-india-underscores-u-n-chiefs-call-for-action
Women and girls are crying out for change. They need our help. It is time for these powerful Indian-American CEO’s of global corporations to speak up and help build the support that is so desperately needed.
I am a mom, I am Indian–American. I was the first generation of my family born in the US. I have many family members living in India and I have had the opportunity to travel extensively through the country as an adult, and I spent many of my summers in India as a child. I have made connections, I have seen the beauty, I have seen the sadness, and this is why this issue hits home. Not to mention I have two beautiful daughters.
Right now I am angry and completely heartbroken. I also feel completely helpless. That is why I am doing this.
Please join me and supporting and helping these women and girls who are having their precious lives taken from them in the most horrific ways. It is our responsibility to push people with powerful voices to use those voices where they are needed most and to use those voices loudly.
Here are a few incidents which have all made national headlines:
December 16th 2012- Munirka: 23 year old girl raped and murdered by several men on a bus outside Delhi. The young women was raped in a brutal manner, which include the use of a pole. She was with a male friend who was beaten with a pole. Afterwards she and her friend were thrown off the bus alongside the road. The perpetrators tried to run her over at that point, but she was pulled to safety by the male friend she was traveling with. They were found and taken to a hospital. More brutality to her body was found and she was flow to Singapore to receive treatment. She died 2 weeks later.
The rape case on December 16th sparked protests across India and all over the world, but many incidents have followed. Sadly, nothing has changed.
February 20th 2013 - Nagpur: Three sisters ages 11, 9 and 6 were found dumped in a well in Nagpur. The girls were on their way home from school. The autopsy reports showed that they were brutally raped.
(http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/22/17056657-india-reeling-after-rape-and-murder-of-3-young-sisters?lite )
May 28th 2014 -Katra Village near Lucknow : Two girls ages 16 and 14 were found hanging in a mango tree. The police reports show that the two girls were raped and strangled to death when they went to go the bathroom in the field. Afterward they were hung in a mango tree nearby.
June 3rd 2014 - South Garo Hills, Meghalaya: A mother was taken from her home while her family was locked inside. They could watch from the window. In resisting molestation the mother was shot in the head point blank with her family watching from the window
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/04/318890896/latest-
sexual-assault-in-india-underscores-u-n-chiefs-call-for-action
Women and girls are crying out for change. They need our help. It is time for these powerful Indian-American CEO’s of global corporations to speak up and help build the support that is so desperately needed.
I am a mom, I am Indian–American. I was the first generation of my family born in the US. I have many family members living in India and I have had the opportunity to travel extensively through the country as an adult, and I spent many of my summers in India as a child. I have made connections, I have seen the beauty, I have seen the sadness, and this is why this issue hits home. Not to mention I have two beautiful daughters.
Right now I am angry and completely heartbroken. I also feel completely helpless. That is why I am doing this.
Please join me and supporting and helping these women and girls who are having their precious lives taken from them in the most horrific ways. It is our responsibility to push people with powerful voices to use those voices where they are needed most and to use those voices loudly.