'Close your eyes and visualize a woman.'
I do this exercise in my parenting workshops with audiences of both men and women. The most common response? "Beautiful."
Yes, every woman is a beautiful soul. And yet, beauty is perhaps the least remarkable thing about her.
Across continents, women have demonstrated their strength, courage, kindness, empathy and integrity in varied shades and forms proving, quietly and consistently, that a woman can change the world not through spectacle, but through the steady, unrelenting power of who she is.
Why do we call them silent warriors? Not because they are invisible. Not because they are not fighting. But because their battlefield is different - it exists inside homes, inside relationships, inside the thousand invisible decisions a woman makes every single day. They face personal, family, career and societal burdens that slowly test their soul. And yet, they are not deterred. Amidst every adversity, each woman makes a choice - a choice to be true to herself, a choice to remain an embodiment of what is right, and a choice to build a stronger world for the people around her.
The Woman Who Shaped Me
I have been fortunate to be born into a family of such women.
My mother is an embodiment of love, compassion and integrity - measured in her words, deliberate in her deeds. She leads what I can only describe as a deeply purposeful life - one that exists beyond the material, one that became a moral compass for everyone around her. She wove rituals and affirmations into our daily rhythm. My days began with a prayer to be optimistic, confident and fearless enough to be myself and chase my own dream, and ended with a prayer of gratitude for everything the day had brought. This quiet, consistent practice built the architecture of my emotional intelligence. It built the resilience I have drawn on in every challenge I have faced since.
The joy of motherhood that radiated from my mother made me want to become one. And that is where my journey truly began - as a woman, a mother, and a passionate early childhood educator.
What Thirty-Five Years Taught Me as an Educator
I have spoken to thousands of parents across the globe, especially mothers - not because I am a feminist, but because I believe, with every fibre of my professional being, in the power of a woman to build a community that humanity can be proud of.
What three and a half decades of research, coaching and practice has made absolutely clear to me is this: women are emotionally strong by nature, and it is precisely this strength that makes them the most powerful builders of the next generation. Emotional intelligence, the ability to understand, regulate and harness our emotions is, as researcher Daniel Goleman established, twice as important as cognitive ability for outstanding performance in life. And the most important truth about emotional intelligence is it is not fixed. It can be nurtured. It can be taught. And a mother is its first and most powerful teacher.
This is not a statement I make lightly. It is one I arrived at after spending countless hours with extraordinary mothers - watching them carry what should break them and instead build something extraordinary from it.
Meera
Let me tell you about one of them.
Meera walked into my preschool seeking admission for her two-year-old son. She was living in a joint family - her second husband, mother-in-law, brother-in-law in an environment that she felt was quietly working against her child's wellbeing. Against the wishes of her family, she enrolled her son. He spent three years in our inclusive, nurturing space and became a child everyone adored, a child other mothers pointed to and said, "I want my child to be like him."
But the real transformation was not the child's alone. It was the family's.
In the years that followed, I coached, mentored and had deep, sometimes difficult conversations with Meera and her family. I watched a woman who carried adversity she had not chosen, use it deliberately, patiently, love-first to reshape every relationship around her. It was slow. It was hard. There were many moments where the outcome was not certain. But Meera remained undeterred, because her dream was not a selfish one. It was a dream born of love - love for her child, love for the people in her life, and an unshakeable belief that she could create something better for her child.
She did.
Such is the power of a woman.
What Makes the Transformation Possible
Meera was not exceptional because she had an easy life. She was exceptional because of what she chose to do with a difficult one. Her emotional intelligence was not taught in a classroom — it was built through real experience. Her resilience was forged through practice. And her dream was the same dream that lives inside every mother I have ever met - to give her child the best possible chance at a full, meaningful life.
For a woman to orchestrate this kind of transformation in her family, in her community, in the world, she must choose to lead a mindful life; build from adversity with a growth mindset; deepen her emotional intelligence and resilience; create a family culture rooted in love, empathy and kindness; and nurture in her child the values that will make them a responsible, thinking citizen of the world.
Women who do this on their own are an inspiration. But as an educator and mentor, I have taken it as my life's mission to lend a hand to the millions of women who are silently working toward this dream because when you support one woman in realising it, you are not just changing her story. You are changing every story she will ever touch.
What WOMAN Really Means
After a lifetime of knowing many extraordinary women and being one, I have come to believe that WOMAN is an acronym the word was always meant to carry -
“Women Orchestrate Magnificent & Agile Nurture”
For their children. For their communities. For the world.
This International Women's Day, I stand for WOMAN and I invite each of you to join this journey. Because the most powerful force for social change is not loud or sudden. It is steady, purposeful and unstoppable.
This belief has been my life's true north.
It has driven me to research, innovate and build programs for parents and educators across the world. It has taken me to places I never imagined, shown me capabilities in women that have left me humbled and forever changed, and shaped me into the community leader I am today - not one who leads from the front, but one who believes the most important thing a leader can do is make others realise they were never powerless to begin with.
Every woman I have ever worked with has confirmed what I already knew in my bones - the change the world is waiting for is not coming from boardrooms or ballot boxes alone. It is coming from homes. From mothers. From women who carry everything and still choose, every single day, to build rather than break.
That is the silent warrior. She has always been there. She simply deserves to be seen.
Empower one woman. Change a generation.
About the Author
Dr. Nagamani Krishnamurthy, FRSA, is the Founder of Balavikasa Educational Academy and a globally respected education influencer with over 35 years of experience in child development and transformative learning. She serves as the Community Leader for the North of England at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), President for Karnataka State at the Conscious Parenting Council, and is actively associated with the Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (WICCI). Her work reflects a powerful blend of science, education, and human potential.
For more than three decades, she has been transforming research into real-world impact through evidence-based programs that have shaped thousands of educators, parents, and children across the world. Through Balavikasa, her living research preschool, she has spent over 16 years demonstrating how emotional intelligence, resilience, and metacognitive skills can be intentionally developed in children through play, storytelling, and drama-based learning.
A master trainer, transformational coach, and behavioral scientist, Dr. Nagamani Krishnamurthy is known for inspiring educators and reshaping the way institutions approach child development. Her international collaborations, including the US–UK STORY PARK community initiative through the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), reflect her commitment to building a stronger future for children and families.
For more information, visit: https://linktr.ee/balavikasa
Contact: balavikasa4u@gmail.com