The Concept

At the age of 8 when I jumped off a jetty for the first time, I knew that adventure sports were something I would thoroughly enjoy. Since then I jumped off a cliff at the age of 12 and became a certified open water diver at the age of 14.

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I have done kayaking, parasailing, jet skiing, and my future bucket list is endless. I participate in adventure sports because it makes me feel fearless and powerful. When the idea of doing a women empowerment event first came to my mind, I knew that adventure sports had to be involved. I did a google search about risk-taking tendencies in women in the corporate world and found numerous studies and research papers stating that women take fewer risks than men do. Knowing many such women and aspiring to be a woman in the corporate world, this was something that struck a chord within me. I knew I had to do something about it. When I brought these two aspects of my life together is when the idea of ‘SheDares’ started taking shape. I then learnt about Pratham Education Foundation’s Second Chance Program (which gives women who drop out of school, a second chance to complete their education) and knew that giving the funds from the event to them would be in line with the aim of the event itself.

Ayesha Dhall

Founder of SHE DARES 

The research says…

There is overwhelming research which suggests that women do not take as  many risks as men - A large scale study by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor across 67 countries published in HBR, outlines

Women’s entrepreneurship still lags men’s in all but seven countries in the world  

A meta-analysis of 150 studies of risk-taking tendencies of male and female participants

were compared, 322 risk-taking parameters were studied. On 60% of the parameters, there was a significant difference, men do have greater risk-taking tendencies

A 2012 study by Mara Mather and Nichole R. Lighthall found that "gender differences are amplified even further under stress. Male risk-taking tends to increase under stress, while female risk-taking tends to decrease under stress"

In an HBR article titled “Do Women take as many risks as Men ?” Doug Sundheim,

author of the book “Taking Smart Risks: How Sharp Leaders Win When Stakes

are High” (McGraw-Hill, January 2013) concludes

The rate of women entrepreneurs is rising faster than for men.

Comparing 2003-6 and 2013-16, the number of women set up their own business rose by

45 percent, compared to just 27 percent among men 

As a lot of the research states, part of the problem is “nuture”. The difference does not stem from natural abilities, but how boys and girls are raised. The kinds of opportunities and

activities girls and women engage in do not encourage risk-taking, this is more so in India

than anywhere else

Therefore…

I would like to provide some elements of “nurture” to encourage risk taking among women.
It is this mindset that this initiative seeks to transform, that girls can be adventurers as well, embracing risk for the big upside in business or in life.

References

1. Vanderbrug, Jackie, “The Global Rise of Female Entrepreneurs”, September 04, 2013; Harvard Business Review.

2. Byrnes James P., Miller David C., and Schafer William D. University of Maryland, “Gender Differences in Risk Taking: A Meta-Analysis”, Published in 1999, Psychological Bulletin, cited in 1346

3. Mather Mara and Lighthall Nichole R., “Both Risk and Reward are Processed Differently in Decisions Made Under Stress”, Published in Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2012 Feb; 21(2): 36–41

4. Chapman Ben, “Gender gap narrows among entrepreneurs as women excel with start
   ups”, July 4, 2017, Independent

Sponsors

In Support of

Pratham's Second Chance program focuses on providing school

drop-outs, especially women, another chance at education.

The Event

Execution

Would you like to create your own SHE DARES event? I did everything from scratch but you can learn from my experience. I am keen to help and support you in your endeavor and have put down the basic tenets of planning and managing a ‘She Dares’ event, with all the information you will need to do so. I have also created a detailed starter kit, in addition, to help you with this. Click here for a quick summary of what it takes to take SHE DARES forward and a copy of the Starter kit.

Meet The Team

Leaders from Other Cities

Ayesha Dhall

Founder of  SHE DARES

Ayesha is a Grade 12 student at The Shri Ram School, Aravali in Gurgaon, and is extremely passionate about issues such as women empowerment and girl child education. She has a deep interest in arts and sports and enjoys painting, swimming, kayaking and scuba diving.    

SHE DARES was kicked off with an event in Gurgaon. Now it has been expanded to several other cities led by our city leaders

Riddhi Jhunjhunwala

Delhi

Riddhi is a Grade 11 student at The British School in Delhi and very motivated by issues of women’s health and global health. She is  especially interested in facilitating access to pre-natal healthcare resources for rural women

Stuti Daga

Mumbai

Stuti is a grade 10 student

at Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai.

She is really passionate about sports. She also loves music and art.

Sia Harisingani

Mumbai

Sia is a grade 10 student and 15 years old. She is  currently studying in Dhirubhai Ambani International School in Mumbai. She is interested in art and kickboxing

Suhani Mehrotra

Mumbai

Suhani is a grade 10 student at The Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai. She is passionate about art and playing sports such as badminton.

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