To eliminate gender-based violence by developing a community of survivor-led grassroots organizations addressing the root causes of violence
Our Bureau
Trenton, NJ
Mathangi Swaminathan, founder of Parity Lab, has been selected as a 2023 Echoing Green Fellow. Since 1987, Echoing Green has been at the forefront of promoting transformational leaders from diverse backgrounds who lead by example and have a vision to solve the world’s biggest problems and challenge the existing state of affairs.
She is amongst the select few to make the grade with 20 fellows chosen in 2023 from nearly 2,000 applicants. Mathangi is the brain and heart behind Parity Lab, a first-of-its-kind accelerator for rural survivor-led organizations addressing violence against women and girls.
Mathangi, a survivor of gender-based violence herself, is determined to create a world that is safe for women and girls by breaking cycles of inequity, in the process, healing and ending violence in their social environment. About 33% of women experience violence at least once in their lifetimes, especially in the global south, facing barriers to a safe and just life due to language, caste, race, class, geography, religion, and literacy.
She will also get a $80,000 stipend and leadership development support for Parity Lab to address gender-based violence from the ground up, impacting marginalized rural communities in a positive way.
An alumna of the Harvard Kennedy School and a World Economic Global Shaper, Mathangi said, “I feel honored to be chosen as an Echoing Green Fellow. It recognizes the massive issue that gender-based violence is, affecting more than a billion people around the world.”
“This recognition will help us further build out our movement of survivor-turned-entrepreneurs fighting against gender-based violence and create a holistic ecosystem focused on mental health, legal counseling, and organizational capacity development,” she said.
She was awarded the 2019 Jane Mansbridge Award by Harvard University for her work on reducing gender bias in organizations. Her commitment to gender equity stems from her own traumatic experience as a survivor of violence.
