some of you might know me some of you might not I am an engineer a Model A mother of a two-year-old and some people call me an influencer and I still don't know why they call me that but I stand here today as a woman as a young girl who was bullied her whole life for the way she taught for the way she was who had never have confidence for anything let us let alone standing here in this platform on a tedx platform it's more than a dream more than a distant dream for me so
let me talk to you let me tell you how I reach here what helped me India as a country we celebrate a 75th year of Independence right and we talk a lot about independence uh almost for a long time now but what do you truly understand by the term Independence as a basic human being what you understand by the term Independence by definition in theory it means being free and not controlled by another person now let me ask the women out here how many of you can merely purchase an item without the permission of another
person let alone take a life decision of in of or in your own terms how many of you can ever if you can see very few here but most of the time the answer is a simple no why that's the reason why you're talking about financial Independence and that's the reason why that term comes into picture what you understand by that what you understand by Financial Independence is that having a job and earning for yourself not really it's about being responsible for your own expenses without depending on anyone else without your family without your spouse
or anyone else for that matter and it doesn't apply it applies to anyone not just women alone without uh regardless of your agenda or social economic situation anyone having a financial stability gives them a confidence gives them a sense of um or security uh respect we all need that right but why are we talking a lot about this topic among the female population because for our whole life as women we are trained and taught to be ideal daughter ideal wife and idea mothers who are not supposed to have an opinion of their own who are
not supposed to have a voice of their own and the sole reason behind that is because they can't they have to depend on another person for their basic needs and women around I mean for the most of the time what I have seen is that they are taught to rely on the men in their life by persuading of for the basic need and by persuading women to uh you know seek permission for each and everything in their life the men usually have the upper hand or um what do you call a grip in the relationship
and I've read somewhere that almost 77 percent of women in India are subjected to domestic violence and they don't talk about it they don't they don't they keep mom about they don't talk about it and one out of three women are likely to be subjected to physical emotional or sexual abuse and yet they decide to stay in the situation they decide to stay in that situation have you ever wondered why they do that why are they staying the situation because they're afraid because of the fear fear of the fact that where will I go what
will I do who will take care of me yeah the change in that ideology is what we need think what our income can do in that situation and income will give them a confidence to get out of the situation to get out and have a voice of Terror and say I think I can be the provider for myself I can be the provider for myself and my family and that change that change is where the change happens and comes to a new trend in the marriage Market with a women's education is merely a market value
for the marriage market and the first thing and I know from my experience and many out here the first thing after marriage they are asked to do is leave your job why because they're very well know that having a job having an income means they will have an opinion and that can and that person and that female can influence the Next Generation their children and that obviously will shatter the age-old system of patriarchy and gender bias so many people gender bias which so many people here are trying to protect it I still remember my mother
she always used to tell me study well get a job because she knew without a job I'll never have an existence because she never did one she never had a voice but she made sure that I had when her daughter had one now forever grateful for that and for all thankful for that because without that I would never understood the importance at that young age and without that I would have never reached what or where you see me right now and now we are talking about why do we need financial Independence come to how can
you reach that state how do you attain State how you might have a job you might not have a job but we all have a skill right we have a skill we can learn a skill which we can convert and convert monetize and convert to an income one thing if you have seen if you noticed during a lockdown days was a lot of women a lot of places a lot of households when the main income was shattered with the lockdown they found a way uh on a learning the basic skills into an income that starts
from the baking I mean I have seen many people with a home baking in their you know social media Pages two corporate tables and they learn to survive okay that shows how much surviving skills we have despite the situation we are in we always blame the situation we are in but we have the skill in ourselves we just don't have the confidence for that now we have an income then what an income should never be about expenses yes we earn to cover our expense then what you're saving your saving is your support system your confidence
is your saving and again if you want to grow beyond that invest always invest if you are aiming for something because without investing your savings is a debt money so always always think a very smart about how you can grow on your own without an external assistance there so now for all the women out here when I'm talking about financial dependence it can mean a different thing right it can be your self-confidence it can be a path you know for forging your own identity you we all night in the day how do you get an
identity right then towards a life it can build a life that you truly decide what you truly desire not for someone else there dream a dream is something that keeps us alive and financial Independence gives us hope to that dream hope to dream and wings to fly and what and have the courage to chase their dream there is nothing wrong about dreaming but you yet fight for it you have to work for it because at the end you have to understand it's just you who are responsible for your life you are the Savior for your
life so you have to find a way to sustain yourself there many people here not here who are listening to this having a financial Independence is the first step towards your self-realization towards your dream and without dreams you are nothing okay from a strong woman comes a stronger generation so let us be the reason for a stronger generation and a stronger being thank you
