ILSS Conversation
Negotiating Equality and Gender Rights: The Way to Social Justice
In this engaging conversation, Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India (PFI), joins Archana Ramachandran, COO of ILSS, to talk about her extraordinary journey in advancing women’s empowerment and reproductive justice. Poonam shares deeply personal stories that shaped her leadership style and reflect her unwavering commitment to equality. She highlights the groundbreaking campaigns and achievements of PFI, offering valuable insights into driving societal change, transforming mindsets, and fostering collaboration. This conversation is a powerful exploration of how passion, persistence, and purpose can drive significant impact.
The Population Foundation of India, established by the late JRD Tata in 1970, is a leading nonprofit dedicated to addressing population dynamics, gender equity, and sexual and reproductive health (SRH). The organisation focuses on empowering women, men, and young people to make informed decisions about their fertility, health, and well-being. Its multifaceted approach includes strategic engagement with policymakers, media, and other stakeholders, generating and sharing knowledge, leveraging technology, scaling up pilot initiatives, and promoting social and behavioural change communication. It collaborates closely with national and state governments and provides technical support to social purpose organisations to drive impactful change. Archana: What has inspired your incredible work promoting women’s health and reproductive rights for four decades?
Poonam: It may sound cliché, but Mahatma Gandhi deeply influenced our generation. His ideals became an integral part of our upbringing and value systems. You couldn’t have a better role model or influence than Gandhiji.
After Gandhiji returned to India, he travelled extensively across the country by train to truly understand India. Inspired by him, I followed his example. I always travelled unreserved in the third class compartment, sitting outside the toilet, and despite the challenges, I embraced it as part of my learning process. Another of Gandhiji’s practices that influenced me was living with the poorest in the community. I made it a point to stay in the homes of the people who were most deprived in the community. I stayed with the people. This experience gave me invaluable insights and sparked a fire in my belly that still burns today and is my driving force.
Executive Director, Population Foundation of India.
I was extremely fortunate to work with L.C. Jain, a great Gandhian who founded the cooperative movement, the Super Bazaar, and the Central Cottage Industries. He became my guru and had a profound influence on me. I sought out people I could learn from, such as Professor Ravi Mathai at IIM Ahmedabad. Every three months, I visited him for weekend sessions on rural marketing to enhance my understanding while working with craftspeople on their livelihoods.
I believe that when you truly wish to do something, the universe conspires to help you achieve it. I have been able to sustain and continue my work because of the encouragement and support of countless people and communities I have worked with, who I have embraced as co-travellers and participants in the journey. Even within government systems, regardless of which party is in power, you can create change and move the needle if you stay focused on the issues.
Archana: What role has gender played in shaping your experiences and perspectives?
Poonam: I was the third daughter in a middle-class Punjabi family, and my birth was met with disappointment. While my parents never discriminated against me, I saw my mother endure humiliation and felt the scorn of others. Even my tutor dismissed me, believing I couldn’t learn.
At six, after a particularly painful experience, I realised it wasn’t about me — it was about being a girl. From then on, I stopped taking things personally and started observing the world around me. Years later, while studying leadership at the Kennedy School of Government, I read about stepping onto the ‘balcony’ to observe the ‘dance floor’—a skill I had unknowingly practised since childhood. Watching, learning, and understanding discrimination shaped my leadership philosophy.
As I observed more, I saw injustice beyond gender. I noticed how Dalit workers were treated with disdain, which deeply upset me. I also became aware of everyday insensitivity. A potter at our school, whom we called Baba, never wore warm clothes. No one noticed, but I did. I found him a coat, and his gratitude was overwhelming. That moment taught me the immense joy of giving.
People often overlook the power of kindness and sharing. But for me, true happiness lies in lifting others, whether by challenging discrimination or offering small acts of care. My journey has been one of learning through observation, and it continues to shape who I am.
Archana: Tell us about the work that the Population Foundation of India does.
Poonam: The vision of JRD Tata, who founded the Population Foundation of India (PFI), went far beyond just family planning and access to contraception. His focus was on the overall development of women. PFI has embraced a strong rights-based approach to gender, women’s health and reproductive justice. My predecessor, who was a retired secretary of the government of India, brought this rights-based approach to PFI. I was fortunate to inherit an institution committed to empowering women through family planning, better health, and various other interventions. At its core, everything PFI does is to empower women, adolescents and the most marginalised.
Archana: Tell us the story behind PFI’s most popular campaign, Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon.
Poonam: When I joined PFI, I had already spent close to 4 decades in the development sector, working on community participation, craftsperson’s livelihoods, women’s rights and empowerment and realised that social norms were the biggest roadblock which never changed significantly. Around this time, I attended a meeting at the Gates Foundation, where they presented a framework for scaling up to change social norms. I was particularly drawn to the impact of entertainment education and decided to explore how we could use it. So I contacted Firoz Abbas Khan, a brilliant and thoughtful theatre director I had worked with before on a documentary about family planning. His gender sensitivity, creative genius, and perceptiveness made him the perfect partner for this initiative. We also reached out to an Indian-origin academic, Prof. Arvind Singhal in the US, an expert in communication and behaviour change.
The title Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon felt like the perfect choice for our initiative. I knew that women in rural areas rarely uttered their own names. They always identified themselves in relation to the men in their lives as someone’s daughter, wife, or mother. In such a context, for a woman to say, Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon (I can achieve anything) was, in itself, an act of empowerment.
We conducted positive deviant case studies in communities to showcase inspiring stories. These stories were meant to show what was possible and encourage communities to embrace value-based change. The central characters in the series were doctors, ASHAs, and ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwives), reflecting key roles in healthcare delivery. ANMs and doctors were portrayed as leaders with the potential to influence and engage communities through entertainment, education, and real-life stories.
Archana: Was the campaign successful in bringing about a change in mindset?
Poonam: The program brought about changes that surprised us, according to the independent evaluations. Newspapers reported about men in a village called Chhatarpur in Bundelkhand, a region known for its male-dominated, feudal mindsets who, inspired by the program, took a vow never to beat their wives again. They promised to help with childcare and household work and even decided to practice family planning, including vasectomy. It turned out that 48% of our viewers were men. We had created a program showcasing positive roles for men, which helped transform them into more responsible and supportive individuals.
Another inspiring story was that of a girl from a village in Uttar Pradesh. She became the first girl from her village to go to college. Inspired by Dr Sneha, she convinced her parents to spend the money they had saved for her marriage on her education instead. Despite opposition from the village and even an attempt on her life, she survived and made it to college. Within two years, ten more girls from her village followed in her footsteps, inspired by her example.
Archana: What has progress been like in the journey of the Population Foundation of India?
I believe PFI’s biggest contribution has been its ability to use data for thorough analysis and to advocate with the government for necessary changes and improvements.
Poonam: PFI’s biggest contribution has been its data-driven approach to advocacy, using thorough analysis to push for necessary government changes. We built coalitions to apply collective pressure, supporting the government while holding it accountable with evidence. This strategy has led to significant reforms.
For instance, we urged the government to focus on the most marginalised communities, helping identify service gaps in 146 underserved districts. As a secretariat for community action, PFI mobilised 2,30,000 villages, fostering dialogue between health professionals, frontline workers, and communities.
During a sterilisation drive in Bilaspur, our investigation led to a report with key recommendations, later included in a PIL in the Supreme Court. Long-standing reforms we had advocated were implemented almost overnight, allowing women to access family planning services on demand rather than waiting for sterilisation camps. This was a quiet revolution for reproductive justice.
We have been working with the media, members of parliament and policymakers to provide data and analysis to dispel myths and misconceptions about women’s reproductive justice, family planning, and population issues. We highlight that women’s lives should involve less household drudgery and caregiving roles and offer more opportunities for a balanced work-life. Achieving this will require a significant shift in men’s behaviours and attitudes for greater involvement in household responsibilities. We are actively working to change how men think, with our slogan, Desh Badlega Jab Mard Badlega — which is also the name of a grant we received from the Rohini Nilekani Foundation. Women’s well-being is not just a women’s issue — it is as much a man’s issue, as it is a societal one.
Archana: In your own journey as a leader, what has been the key to sustaining and thriving in both your professional and personal journey?
Poonam: First, I have zero tolerance for inequality — not just gender inequality but any discrimination — which one must negotiate with parents, partners, friends, relatives, colleagues, even bosses. Everyone should develop negotiation skills, and I highly recommend women read Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury, a 90-page book I found very useful.
Secondly, men often support each other; women need to do the same.
Finally, I always stay inspired and optimistic. When I consider the world’s suffering, I realise how fortunate I am and how much joy life holds. Above all, enjoy what you do.
To know more about Population Foundation of India visit www.populationfoundation.in
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