Learn how the SHEROES women-only app is empowering women by creating inclusivity, social justice, and financial independence for women in India.
When defining inclusion or inclusivity as “providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized,” we cannot ignore the fact that women in India are often excluded from the resources and opportunities they need to thrive.
In our essay on women’s empowerment in India, we defined women empowerment as giving every woman the ability to become self-sufficient in every possible way, giving her the right to choose, and a voice to express her opinions authentically.
This is exactly what SHEROES – the social network for women – is doing! As CEO & Founder of SHEROES, Sairee Chahal is building a safe social networking and online community for women in India and abroad, where they can find a safe space to network and express themselves.
Why do we need a women-only social network?
In India, having women-only space matters, both culturally and in terms of safety for women on the internet. In fact, India’s gender equality statistics are Sairee’s greatest motivation. As she says:
In fact, India’s women’s labour force participation rate is just 20.3% as of 2020, compared to 76.0% of men, and rural women are leaving India’s workforce at a faster rate than urban women.
Promoting gender equality and social inclusion by creating women-only communities, a women-only social network, and women-only banks is what Sairee hopes to achieve. She notes:
SHEROES is a safe social network for women
Social media sites can be hostile places for women in general. Even well-known celebrities have been harassed online and forced off social media. For women in two-tier and rural communities in India, social networking sites can be a minefield.
A lot of women today are looking to create their own identity in a safe space where they are free to express themselves and share their opinions in the absence of judgment and hostility. On SHEROES, social networking is safe, and SHEROES provides a safe space where you can be YOU.
In fact, SHEROES is one of the few social networking apps where every new user has to go through a process of identity verification and submit a selfie to ensure they are who they say they are. This ensures that only women can join the virtual community.
As one of the best social networking apps for women, SHEROES is focused on promoting social inclusion, meaning the process of improving the terms on which women take part in society – improving their abilities, providing opportunities, and helping them live with dignity.
Get free online counselling on SHEROES
Because of all the negativity on the most popular social media platforms, we usually think of online social networking and mental health as being antagonistic forces.
But SHEROES is also very much a women’s mental health social network because it is based on empathy and runs a very popular free online counselling chat helpline for women.
Women from anywhere in the world can chat with a counsellor about any problems they are facing, such as depression, relationship issues, domestic violence, on the AskSHEROES online counselling chat helpline.
You can also find a number of supportive online communities where you can get professional advice, such as free legal advice online in India from an advocate.
SHEROES is also one of the best social networks for students to get free career counselling and access free courses, career tests, internships and resume building tools in a virtual brand community.
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Sell products online on SHOPonSHEROES
SHEROES is not just another one of the many free social networking sites for chatting online. In addition to promoting social inclusion for women, it is also a great social network for creatives and women entrepreneurs.
Women business owners who start their own SHOPonSHEROES get access to the SHOP & SHECO Academy, an eLearning community where they can access exclusive training and tutorials on how to use social media for entrepreneurs and attend Masterclasses on various aspects of selling online.
Looking for a safe social network for entrepreneurs? Join the Women in Business Community, one of the best online communities for entrepreneurs and businesswomen.
In this entrepreneur community online, you can connect with other women business owners and business coaches and ask for advice and guidance on starting and growing your business or startup.
SHOPonSHEROES is a social commerce feature that allows women to build an online store free and sell products and services online. It is based on ease of use since women can build an online shop with SHOPonSHEROES in minutes – no technical know-how required!
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Join online communities based on your interests
If you’re looking to join a women-only internet community based on your interests and learning preferences, you can find a multitude of interesting online communities on SHEROES. For example, you can learn English or share quotes with other users.
You can join online creative communities like the Poetry community, where you will get a lot of appreciation for your poems. You can also find one of the best online writing communities where you’ll get support and guidance to publish your own book.
In fact, you can find a free online community for almost any hobby or interest in this list of virtual communities on SHEROES:
- Love, Sex & Relationships Community
- Parenting & Childcare Community
- Career & Exams Community
- Mahila Money Community
- Health Community
- Art, Craft & Photography Community
- Beauty & Makeup Community
- Cooking, Food & Recipes Community
- Fashion & Lifestyle Community
- Music, Dance & Movies Community
- Festivals Community
- Women in Corporate Community
- Lean In India Community
- Yoga & Meditation Community
- Animal Lovers Community
If you can’t find what you’re looking for in any of these niche online communities, you can become an online community manager and start your own online brand community based on your interests or promote your products and services.
As India’s top social media platform for women, SHEROES is one of the best online community platforms to start building online communities and forums, because it combines the best features of social networking with equity and inclusiveness for women.
Building financial independence for women
In India’s patriarchal society, women have traditionally been excluded from financial resources, as men are usually the ones who earn and handle money and finances in the home. Sairee notes:
Many Indian women are unable to achieve financial independence, especially during their childbearing years. So, financial inclusion is one of the types of inclusion for women that SHEROES has been working on for years.
As founder of the SHEROES social networking service for women, Sairee Chahal is not only promoting inclusion but is also building an entire financial ecosystem of products and services that will allow women to earn from home and help women entrepreneurs fund their own businesses.
The growth of remote work during the pandemic created a world of opportunities for Indian women who wanted to start working remotely, and once again, SHEROES has been ahead of the curve in terms of helping women work from home.
MARS by SHEROES has created a remote workforce of highly-skilled, highly-qualified, remote work-certified women. It helps them find work from home opportunities in various roles, such as customer service, remote sales and lead generation, content creation and more.
Female entrepreneurs in India usually find it difficult to get small business loans to start and grow their businesses because the system is not set up to serve them.
When they go to a bank, they’re usually asked to bring their husband and their family documents. This complicates the process of getting a loan for women entrepreneurs and most are forced to give up their dreams.
With this in mind, Sairee Chahal created a digital Mahila bank called Mahila Money – one of the first of its kind in India. This is a neo-banking community platform to help millions of women entrepreneurs whose capital needs are very small. As she says:
With over 22 million users in 2022, the SHEROES social media network is on its way to becoming one of the most popular social media platforms, social shopping networks, and top social media websites for women in India.
Download the SHEROES app for women and join the movement to create inclusivity, social justice and inclusion for all women.
About the author:
Priya Florence Shah is the Group Editor at SHEROES and author of Devi2Diva, an emotional self-care book for women.
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