A street performance ends, and a student stays back with a question. A mehendi trainee takes on a paid assignment before completing her course. Girls under 15 and women over 40 take the field on the same cricket team.
Across six states—Kerala, Telangana, West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra and Gujarat—ten all-women Lions clubs are working in classrooms, marketplaces, school grounds, healthcare settings and community halls. Their projects differ, but many share the same practical instinct: look beyond the first activity and ask what must happen next.
A livelihood workshop is connected to a place to sell. Awareness is followed by vaccination. An exhibition gives women entrepreneurs both a marketplace and a network. Through these projects, women and girls gain opportunities to earn, ask questions, compete, make informed choices and bring their work into public view.
The clubs themselves have different histories. Some were formed decades ago, some are relatively new, and others transitioned from Lioness clubs. Their members span ages and professions, bringing their knowledge, networks and experience to the work.
These stories show women’s membership as an active force within Lions—shaping projects, building partnerships and creating more ways for women and girls to participate.
The Second Step
Several clubs in District 318A start from a practical question: what does someone need next? Trivandrum Icons Lions Club, formed in 2023, has built much of its work around it. Through its Solace project, the club taught mothers of children undergoing cancer treatment to make detergents and household cleaning products, a skill they could use to earn an income while managing the demands of care.
Other sessions have covered jewellery making, food preservation, umbrella making and crafts using recycled materials. They have reached women in care homes, mothers of children with disabilities and others looking for skills they may be able to use for income.
Being a Lion to me means…
Using my skills to serve, helping others grow, and turning compassion into action.
My favourite Lion memory is being part of the Kompella Lions Dialysis Centre (KLDC) project. Seeing it provide affordable dialysis to people who need it reminds me why I became a Lion.
~ Dr. Lakshmi Murthy
Dr. A S Rao Nagar Century Lions Club, District 320C Lion for 16+ years
The next step is a place to sell. Twice a year, the club holds a mega sale where women vendors pay for table space and sell directly to visitors. The club uses the proceeds from those tables to fund its service projects, so the same event that puts vendors in front of customers also finances the club’s service activities. Its annual women-only Dandiya Night is another innovative fundraising program.
The question of what comes next extends beyond livelihood. Another all-women club in the district, Trivandrum Daffodils Lions Club, organized Manoyanam, a mental health session at Salvation Army Higher Secondary School in Kowdiar. Led by Dr. Renju, the session gave students an opportunity to ask questions and talk about the challenges they face during adolescence. Trivandrum Petals Lions Club also conducted a mental health awareness program for over 120 women at Parassala, located in the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala.
These projects serve different needs, but each looks beyond a single activity: women learning a skill may also need a place to sell, while students and other community members benefit from opportunities to learn about mental health.
Fresh Energy, Shared Purpose
Hyderabad Athena Lions Club, District 320A, was formed in May 2019 under Charter President Alka Jejani, with Lion Sushil Jejani as Extension Chairperson and sponsorship from Hyderabad Corporate Lions Club. It began with 20 members. The club had barely begun its work when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted meetings and service activities. Members, however, kept in touch and continued to look for ways to serve. In 2023, around 12 younger women joined the club, bringing new ideas and fresh perspectives to a group whose members had bonded during the pandemic.
Today, the all-women club includes entrepreneurs, educators, college principals, advocates and women from other professions. They bring different skills, contacts and resources to the projects they take on together.
The club’s signature Kanyadaan initiative helps young women from families with limited means as they prepare for marriage. Over the years, the club has helped more than 30 women set up their homes by contributing clothing, utensils, toiletries, cosmetics, jewellery, watches, home appliances and other household essentials. In some cases, they have also provided financial assistance. Many of the gatherings have been hosted in members’ homes. There, the Lions present the items and celebrate with the young woman and her family.
Kanyadaan has also been taken up at the district level, where it has drawn wider participation from other clubs. It remains Hyderabad Athena Lions Club’s most distinctive undertaking among work that includes menstrual hygiene, girls’ education, healthcare, hunger relief and youth engagement.
Club members have also taken part in marathons and supported the Telangana Women’s Rugby League—giving women’s sport a place in the club’s service agenda.
Being a Lion to me means…
Having a heart that cares, hands that serve, and a spirit that inspires others to make a difference.
My favourite Lion memory is the awareness programs for teenagers. The programs build knowledge and confidence; which leads to responsible choices; and create stronger individuals and communities.
~ Renuka Kondapalli
Nalgonda Sneha Lions Club, District 320E Lion for 19 years
Forty-Two Stalls
Being a Lion to me means…
Being like a bamboo - strong yet flexible, adapting when necessary, standing tall when it matters, and reaching out with compassion when someone needs a hand.
My favourite Lion memory was when a worry turned into a smile, which was more than any applause or recognition, and it reminds me everyday why I serve.
~ Kushprit Hura
Sambalpur Silks Lions Club, District 322C2 Lion for 13 years
Aashayein Edition 5 filled a hall with 42 stalls offering clothing, jewellery, accessories, cosmetics, gourmet food and baked goods, plants, journals and tarot readings. Visitors moved between displays, stopping to look at garments and talk with the women selling them.
Kolkata Empowering Lions Club, an all-women club in District 322B1, organizes the exhibition every year to give women entrepreneurs a visible place to sell. Many run small businesses from home while supporting their families. Aashayein showcases their products, and the work behind them, to people outside their usual circle of customers.
The club also invites Leos to run a stall, which gives them practice in selling while they raise funds for their service activities. A talent show gives children a stage of their own.
The visibility works in both directions. As visitors get to know the women behind the stalls, they also meet the Lions who brought the event together. The club hopes those encounters will encourage more women to take an interest in membership and service.
Forty-two stalls bring individual businesses into view. Together, they also show what an all-women Lions club can organize for its community.
A Conversation Children Can Begin
A street play can reach children in ways a lecture may not. In school courtyards, an all-women local dance and drama troupe performs nukkad nataks built around Good Touch–Bad Touch, personal boundaries, and seeking help. The performances are part of ‘My Safety, My Right,’ an initiative of Silchar Lioness Lions Club, District 322G.
The club has taken the program to girls in vernacular-medium and government schools, particularly where conversations about personal safety may be difficult to begin. Beyond safety, the sessions also encourage girls to recognize their own agency — to say no and to trust that their voice will be heard. After each performance, children have an opportunity to ask questions. Club members say some girls have also approached them privately to speak about experiences that concern them.
The initiative has another dimension; it created a small but meaningful livelihood opportunity for local artists, helping preserve the traditional Indian street theatre form that is gradually disappearing.
The Inspector of Schools has asked the organization to submit an application proposing regular child-safety and POCSO awareness programs in schools. This is an encouraging development, which could take the message far beyond individual programs—placing child protection, gender sensitivity and personal safety within the regular educational environment.
Being a Lion to me means…
A Legacy! Being rooted in Service, my Lion parents nurtured a Leo, and now I have found a Lion Heart as a way of being.
My favourite Lion memory is my first service activity helping the flood victims along with my team.
~ Sukriti Sarma
Jorhat Greater Femina Lions Club, District 322D Lion for 3 months
Patterns That Pay
The music played in the background as twelve trainees bent over palms, applying mehendi for a hundred guests at a wedding ceremony. Between them, they earned ₹12,000 for the day — a paid opportunity that gave them a taste of what was to follow once they completed the certificate course in mehendi art, run by Ghatkopar Galaxy Lions Club, an all-women club in District 3231-A2.
Being a Lion to me means…
Serving with purpose, leading with courage, and empowering others to create a difference.
My favourite Lion memory is founding a Mobile Dental Van, bringing free dental screening and treatment to rural and underserved communities where care was often out of reach. It has now benefited more than 50,000 people.
~ Dr. Abhilasha Ravi Singh
Mohone Titwala Lions Club, District 3231-A2 Lion for 6 years
The course is the club’s flagship livelihood initiative, launched to make professional mehendi training accessible to those who might not otherwise afford it. Over 16 years, more than 645 young girls, women, and a few boys too, have completed the program. About 40 percent go on to earn from the skill, some making ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 a month. Several have opened their own small training centres.
Trained participants are engaged for weddings, festivals and celebrations, giving them paying work while they’re still building a client base of their own.
One early trainee now teaches the course herself. The club calls it “One Woman Empowering Many” — a woman trained to earn a living now trains others to do the same.
The club aims to train more than 100 participants during Lion Year 2026–2027.
Eight Players, Three Generations
Wearing a blue T-shirt, a batter sets her stance on the cricket pitch, eyes fixed on the bowler, bat raised and ready. At the Utkarsh Women’s Cup, her teammates could be half her age or twice it.
Every team must include two players below 15, four aged 15 to 40 and two above 40. The rule brings girls and women of different generations onto the same cricket field—and gives each a place in the game.
Organized by Gandhidham New Horizon Lions Club, District 3232-J, the tournament has been held for three years. Eight teams compete in an event that raises funds for the club’s service activities. Event Chairperson Neha Thakkar says the age requirements are intended to include everyone through sport and sportsmanship.
Cash prizes, trophies and medals recognize the best batter, bowler and fielder, alongside the player of the match and player of the series. The club also involves its Alpha and Omega Leos and Cub Club members.
Now in its sixth year, the all-women Lions Club has 48 members. Formerly a Lioness club, it transitioned to a Lions club. “Once a Lion, always a Lion,” says Club President Adv. Rita Shah.
That continuity also shows in its school support: the club has provided stationery to children for six years. Its permanent projects include a bus stop, a chabutra, and an RO water plant with a cooler at a government school.
Being a Lion to me means…
A strong sense of duty toward society, and a commitment to teamwork. My favourite Lion memory is conducting health camps with a team of dedicated doctors in remote villages.
~ Neetakumari B Jadeja
Central Jamnagar Lions Club, District 3232-J Lion for 36 years
Powering Small Businesses
For a woman building a small business, making or sourcing a product is only the beginning. She must find customers, promote what she sells, develop her business skills and build a network—often while working from home and managing other responsibilities.
Being a Lion to me means…
Proving that age is no barrier to service. People said I'm too young to serve. Lions said you are just right to start. I'm 26 and I have already adopted a school.
My favourite Lion memory is from a village we adopted: a nine-year-old girl drew our logo in her notebook and wrote, in Bengali, "Our village is now your village." We adopt villages on paper. That day, the village adopted us.
~ Biva Majhi
Bankura Central Lions Club, District: 322C3 Lion for 2 Years
The Shagun Exhibition gives women entrepreneurs a public marketplace for their products. Launched in 2022 by the all-women Nanded Angels Lions Club, District 3234-H2, the annual exhibition brings together women running businesses in Nanded and the surrounding region.
More than 50 women-led stalls have featured products ranging from crafts and textiles to jewellery, food, bags and stationery. For participants, the exhibition offers a place to promote their work, reach new customers and expand their business contacts.
The club’s support continues beyond the marketplace. Training and skill-development workshops help women strengthen their entrepreneurial abilities, while mentorship and community connections give them access to advice as their businesses develop.
Shagun also brings women in business together. Participants can exchange ideas, learn from one another and form relationships with others facing similar challenges. The exhibition gives their work visibility; the support around it helps them develop their businesses after the stalls come down.
From Awareness to Action
According to GLOBOCAN 2024, cervical cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer among women in India. An estimated 79,360 women developed the disease in 2024, and 36,319 died from it.
In Chandrapur, the response began in the classroom. On September 3, awareness sessions were held at 15 schools and colleges across the city, where more than 3,500 girl students heard doctors explain cervical cancer, its connection with HPV, the symptoms that require attention and the importance of vaccination and timely screening.
Six days later, the program moved from information to prevention. On September 9, 605 students received the HPV vaccine. The two-stage approach gave students information first and then made vaccination available to hundreds of them.
The campaign was led by Chandrapur Queens Lions Club, District 3234-H1, along with other local Lions clubs. CA Amit Chandak of Nagpur Samarpan Lions Club and Dr. Deepika Chandok of Swasthya Vriksha Foundation provided guidance and support. Principals, teachers and members of the medical community also took part, enabling the program to reach students across several institutions.
For Chandrapur Queens Lions Club, the project brought women Lions, educators and healthcare professionals together around a health concern that will affect these students later in life. Its scale lay in the numbers reached; its value lay in following the classroom conversation with access to vaccination.
Taken together, these stories show an attentiveness to what comes next. A skill needs a market; awareness needs access; a child who speaks needs an adult prepared to listen. Across generations, all-women Lions clubs bring experience, local knowledge and shared responsibility to that next step. In doing so, they also show other women what membership can make possible.
Is your club doing something similar — a livelihood project, a safety program, an initiative built by and for women? We’d like to hear about it. Share your story with your Associate Editor, or email PID Mathangopal, Chairman & Editor, Lion (India), at mathan1963@gmail.com
Being a Lion to me means…
A source of pride, an opportunity to serve, and a sense of fulfilment.
My favourite Lion Memory is a cancer screening camp where early detection gave someone a second chance at life. That moment made service truly meaningful.
~ M. Ramadevi Reddy
Capital Lions Club, District 320D Lion for 13 Years
Is your club doing something similar — a livelihood project, a safety program, an initiative built by and for women? We’d like to hear about it. Share your story with your Associate Editor, or email PID Mathangopal, Chairman & Editor, Lion (India), at mathan1963@gmail.com
