Want To Be Her

We are a nation starved of role models. Decades of blightedhope have made this both unexamined certitude and fashionable assertion. But is it perhapsa male urban legend? When research agency Cfore conducted a focus group discussionamong well-educated Delhi women—both home-makers and working women—the group didnot have any trouble in coming up with 36 names of “role models for the 21st centurymodern woman”. The names ranged from Sheila Dixit to Mallika Sherawat (“fordoing what she wants in the way she wants to”), from Sushmita Sen (“for her lackof hypocrisy”) to tennis champ Sania Mirza. Cfore researchers then asked 758women—college students, graduates and post-graduates—in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta,Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore to rate these 36 women on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 standingfor “excellent role model”. The respondents also indicated which of sixqualities each of the 36 possessed—success, modern outlook, independence, fame,courage and personality. The dozen women profiled, then, represent, in their diverse ways,what today’s average Indian woman looks up to and aspires to be.