In the second edition of Leadership Inspired, we zoom into women’s leadership in the social sector – a critical lever to accelerate impact in the sector, and also for overall progress as a nation.

The work on women’s leadership needs to acknowledge the multiple roles women play and recognise that not all women are the same. This led us to focus on the community of women across mid to mid-senior roles in the sector today to put them on a path of accelerated leadership and growth. That is how The ILSS Emerging Women’s Leadership (EWL) Program was born. This isn’t just another leadership program — it’s a movement to reimagine leadership in the social sector. We have captured the evolution of the program and the remarkable journeys of 118 alums of the Program in a book,  A Kind of Magic, which you can access below.

We also organised the inaugural India Women’s Leadership Conference in November 2024,  to celebrate the EWL alumni, as well as to share learnings from the ILSS work on women’s leadership with the wider sector.

This edition of the magazine is a celebration of women leaders who are transforming communities with their inspiring leadership journeys. Recognising that a woman’s career is rarely linear, the cover story puts the spotlight on women’s returnship and what it takes to collectively enable women to stay in the workforce. It is an honour to have Srilatha Batliwala – a globally recognised feminist thinker, activist, and leader in social justice – share her insights and experiences on feminist leadership in the guest column. In the ILSS Conversation section, we capture the incredible journey and work of Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India and a leader and advocate in the space of women’s empowerment and reproductive justice. The edition captures the phenomenal journey of our alumnus, Swati Singh, who is leading a movement for change in menstrual health and comprehensive sexuality education.

As you engage with this edition, we hope you see how leadership development for women is a game changer not only for the individual woman, but also for those around her who experience the ripple effects. And it is this magic waiting to unfold as we focus on leadership and change for and with women that reaffirms that ‘The future is indeed female’.