Mai Soli, “Never Alone”: Equipping women to battle gender inequality

Supriya Dewanjee 

“I have always wanted to help people since I was a child. Mai Soli gave me that chance.”- Rodela Hasan, a Mai Soli mentor 

Mai Soli foundation is aiming to change the systemic issues of gender inequality in developing countries, focusing on Bangladesh. The motive of Mai Soli is to create opportunities for underprivileged girls and women. Some undergraduate students of Asian University for Women have started to work at Mai Soli as mentors, where every mentor will supervise 10 girls aged between 15-17 years. Their mentorship goal is to instruct them in entrepreneurship, financial literacy and confidence. This year, the Mai Soli foundation has conducted a synchronized six days long orientation program from 6th January 2020 to 12th January 2020 in Talespace at AUW, where the guidance team of the Mai Soli foundation instructed the mentors about their tasks and created an auspicious environment so that the mentors can express their ideas and opinions. The Echo had the privilege of interviewing a diligent mentor, Rodela Hasan, to learn about her mentoring experience in Mai Soli. 

S: What is the purpose of Mai Soli’s work? 

R: Mai Soli creates opportunities for underprivileged girls and women. In this era, women and girls are the victims of gender discrimination, child marriage, and physical and mental abuse. Mai Soli finds out the solution to such problems. If the girls are rigid on their own decision and consolidated [with] their goal, no one can [undermine] them. No one can impose their decision on the girl by destroying their dreams. The girls will not be dropped out of school at a very early age and [will not be made to] get married without their consent. Mai Soli teaches the girls how to overcome these obstacles of life. So, the mentors of the Mai Soli foundation train them in entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and leadership quality. These qualities will help them raise voice against injustice, inequity, unethical discrimination and discrimination on the girls and women by society. 

S: Why did you join Mai Soli as a mentor? 

R: I always wanted to help people since my childhood. The people around us, especially girls in rural areas, are not getting enough guidelines and opportunities. They feel [they are] inferior when they fail to make decisions in critical situations of life. They become the victim of social stigma. They are unable to raise voice against gender discrimination. They are forced to get married at a very early age. This early marriage prisons them in the boundary of four walls of their in-laws' house and giving birth becomes their paramount duty. As they do not have proper knowledge about maternal health, they face the traumatic situation- miscarriage which is also a life risk. One the other hand, if they successfully give birth to a child, they have a lack of knowledge about postnatal care. So, the child and the mother have a high risk of getting infected in diseases. At the end of the day, the girls are treated as good for nothing in the family and society. These kinds of [societal pressures] always strike my nerves. I always felt the need to help the girls to raise their voices against these social apertures. Mai Soli gave me that chance to stand beside the underprivileged girls and women. Our cordial counseling can be their strength. 

S: What are your expectations from Mai Soli? 

R: Our mentorship goal is to supervise the girls to be obstructive against child marriage, sex trafficking, and gender inequality. Throughout the mentorship program, we will be dealing with different cases. By solving the cases, we can enhance our critical thinking power. Furthermore, we will get to learn how to deal with people from different perspectives. We can learn how to make proper decisions in critical situations. During the mentorship program, we will be conducting different tasks, different workshops and different cohort sessions with the mentees, which [would be] a great learning experience for me. 

Mai Soli mentors from AUW, with the coordinator (Saraf Nawar, leftmost), and the Vice President of the foundation 

Women like Rodela are what AUW’s goals and dreams are made of, and has proved the university’s mission successful time and again. The Echo celebrates the passion and thirst for justice within the women for AUW, and wishes Mai Soli all the best for its future endeavors!