The SisterHood Network

Inspiration

As someone with an amazing network of female friends in every stage of my life, I have realized that the patriarchal nature of society revolves around domestic boundaries for women, which means that women who are neighbors, who probably have more in common than they think would seldom talk to each other about their problems, their worries, or even something lighthearted about their favorite food or past romantic crushes. It is considered taboo to talk about certain concepts and ideas in certain cultures like India, which is where I'm from. A woman laughing too loudly, talking too loudly, talking about her sex life, or even the fact that she was harassed on her way back from school are things our elders regularly shush us. The #MeToo movement has taught us one singular thing, that women must talk, and other women must be able to hear them talk. It is only in sharing our experiences that we go forward as a demographic. I have always cultivated a sisterhood in every stage of my life, some women do not have the privilege or the time to do so. The sister-hood network is for them.

What it does

The sister-hood network is based on the principle of the sharing economy. This principle believes that people are always good and helpful and if given the chance they will do no evil. The network is not a purely networking tool, it does not expect you to share your lives with strangers, it does expect you to be able to reach out to someone close to you location-wise in times of need. For example: If I go from Mumbai in India to Amherst, which is where my college is, and I find myself in a Uber ride on a deserted road, there is no point in my parents tracking my ride from India. It will take them hours to get help. The Sister-hood network vets people and has an approval process in place for them to be added to a community. With my ID I can land at Boston airport, switch on my network app, look up a community in Amherst. The approval is estimated to take minutes. Once in, I can request a fellow local community member to track me as I travel. Our names could be masked or unmasked as we deem fit. I can award my sister reputation points for helping me. Nothing in this app is monetized. The app is not meant to collect any information that is not needed to make ad revenues. That is not the purpose of the app. In a survey by my close friend we found out that 98% of women don't report sexual assaults for the simple reason that they are scared of the police procedures in place. Imagine placing a help request on the community and having your sisters turn up to support you morally through the ordeal especially if your parents are old and you do not want to trouble them with the details.