Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi was an Indian Carnatic singer from Madurai,Tamil Nadu. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna,India's highest civilian honour and the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award.
Bilquis Bano Edhi was a Pakistani nurse who helped save the lives of over 16,000 children. During her career as a nurse and marriage to Abdul Sattar Edhi,she was one of the most active philanthropists in Pakistan. She was the co-chair of the Edhi Foundation,a charity organization that provided many services in Pakistan including a hospital and emergency service in Karachi. For her contributions,she was awarded the 1986 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service and the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice in 2015. She was also a recipient of Hilal-i-Imtiaz,Pakistan's second highest civilian honour. For her service to the country,she was also referred to as The Mother of Pakistan.
Dita Indah Sari is an Indonesian trade union and socialist activist. As a human rights campaigner during the Suharto regime,she was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in 1996 on the charge of sedition. During her imprisonment,she was named a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
Harish Hande is an Indian social entrepreneur,who co-founded SELCO India in 1995. He was awarded with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2011 for "his pragmatic efforts to put solar power technology in the hands of the poor,through his social enterprise SELCO India".
Mahabir Pun is a Nepali researcher,teacher,social entrepreneur and an activist known for his work in applying wireless technologies to develop remote areas of the Himalayas,also known as the Nepal Wireless Networking Project. He is a widely known figure in Nepal,and his work has been recognised by the Ashoka Foundation,the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation,[University of Nebraska Kearney],and Global Ideas Bank.
Dewi Sartika was an advocate for and pioneer of education for women in Indonesia. She founded the first school for women in the Dutch East Indies. She was honoured as a National Hero of Indonesia in 1966.
Aniceto Guterres Lopes is an East Timorese politician and human rights lawyer.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan is a Bangladeshi attorney and environmentalist. She has particularly focused on regulations for the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh,and was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2009. She was also awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2012 for her "uncompromising courage and impassioned leadership in a campaign of judicial activism in Bangladesh that affirms the people's right to a good environment as nothing less than their right to dignity and life."
Alanda Kariza is an Indonesian writer,youth advocate,and social entrepreneur. She initiated the Indonesian Youth Conference as a tool for young people in Indonesia to speak up and address their aspirations.
The roles of women in Indonesia today are being affected by many factors,including increased modernization,globalization,improved education and advances in technology. Many Indonesian women choose to reside in cities instead of staying in townships to perform agricultural work because of personal,professional,and family-related necessities,and economic requirements. These women are moving away from the traditional dictates of Indonesian culture,wherein women act simply and solely as wives and mothers. At present,the women of Indonesia are also venturing actively into the realm of national development,and working as active members of organisations that focus and act on women's issues and concerns.
Mira Widjaja (Wong),or Mira W.,is a highly popular Indonesian author. In spite of her background being an ethnic Chinese of Cantonese extraction from the Peranakan Chinese diaspora community,her work now reaches audiences from the entire country. Her father,Othniel,was among the pioneers of the Indonesian movie industry. She writes in an accessible genre,and deals with topics such as romance,crime and hospital life. She was a medical doctor before establishing herself as a writer.
Nileema Mishra is a social worker from the Indian state of Maharashtra. She received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in 2011. Nileema was born into a lower-middle-class family in 1972 in the village of Bahadarpur Taluka Parola,Maharashtra,District- Jalgaon,Maharashtra. She is a postgraduate in psychology from the University of Pune. After her education,she worked with Vigyan Ashram,Pabal under the guidance of Dr Kalbagh. She registered Bhagini Nivedita Gramin Vigyan Niketan formally in the year 2005 with the help of Dr Jagannath Wani. Nileema has association with Caring Friends,Mumbai and Let's Dream foundation,Delhi. She donated her award money to her Bhagini Nivedita Gramin Vigyan Niketan,which helps poor women through micro-financing. She was awarded Padma Shri in 2013 for social work.
Anshu Gupta is an Indian entrepreneur. He founded the non-governmental organization Goonj. Goonj works on bridging urban and rural inequality. It does this by channelizing the urban surplus to initiate rural upliftment,disaster relief,and rehabilitation. Through Goonj,Anshu is building a parallel trash-based economy by creating barter between rural communities and urban surplus material. Anshu has been recognized by the Ramon Magsaysay foundation for his "creative vision in transforming the culture of giving in India".
Mandakini Amte popularly known as Manda Amte is a medical doctor and social worker from Maharashtra,India. She along with her husband,Prakash Amte were awarded the Magsaysay Award for 'Community Leadership' in 2008 for their philanthropic work in the form of the Lok Biradari Prakalp amongst the Madia Gonds in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. She is the daughter-in-law of Baba Amte.
Ligaya Fernando-Amilbangsa is a Filipino dancer and academic known for her studies and promotion of the pangalay dance tradition of the southern Philippines and is a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award.
Tara Basro is an Indonesian actress and musician.
Abuya Kyai Hajji Uci Turtusi bin Dimyati,better known as Abuya Uci,was an influential Indonesian Muslim cleric and preacher from Banten. Uci was the leader of the Pondok Pesantren Salafiyah Al-Istiqlaliyah Cilongok who succeeded his father,Abuya Dimyati bin Romli,who died in early 2001. The Pesantren was founded in 1957 by Abuya Dimyati,an influential cleric in the Tangerang Regency.
Swietenia Puspa Lestari is an Indonesian underwater diver,environmental engineer and environmental activist.
Feminism in Indonesia refers to the long history of discourse for gender equality to bring about positive social change in Indonesia. The issues women in Indonesia currently are facing include gender violence,underage marriages,and lack of representation in the political system. Feminism and the women's right movement began during colonial Indonesia under Dutch rule and were spearheaded by the national heroine Kartini,a Javanese noblewoman who advocated for the education of all women and girls regardless of social status. In the early 19th century,women's rights organizations and movements were allowed to developed under Budi Utomo,the first Indonesian Nationalist organization. Modern day Indonesian feminism include and are influenced by both fundamentalist and progressive Islamic women's organizations.
Rahmah el Yunusiyah was a Dutch East Indies and Indonesian politician,educator,and activist for women's education. Born into a prominent family of Islamic scholars,she was made to leave school in order to get married as a teenager. After a few years of marriage,el Yunusiyah obtained a divorce and returned to her education.
