Dr. Martha Farrell was a passionate civil society leader, renowned and respected in India and around the world for her work on women's rights, gender equality and adult education.
Born into an Anglo-Indian family to Iona and Noel Farrell in Delhi, Dr. Farrell studied English literature at Delhi University, followed by a postgraduate degree in social work at Delhi School of Social Work. She began her career in 1981 as a literacy worker at Ankur, an NGO working for women’s literacy and empowerment in Delhi. She later broadened her focus into adult education, where she began her lifelong practice of participatory learning methodology.
In 1991, she co-founded Creative Learning for Change, an NGO involved in research, training and documentation of learning materials for students, teachers and facilitators in non-formal settings. She remained connected to this initiative throughout her career.
Dr. Farrell joined PRIA (Society for Participatory Research in Asia) formally in 1996, working alongside her husband and founder of PRIA, Dr. Rajesh Tandon. As Director of PRIA’s program - Gender Mainstreaming in Institutions, she trained thousands of grassroots women leaders and professionals from different walks of life on issues related to citizen engagement in local governance, gender mainstreaming and sexual harassment.
In 1998, Dr. Farrell began her crusade for gender mainstreaming in organisations when the Vishakha Guidelines for the prevention of sexual harassment at workplaces were formulated by the Supreme Court of India. Until then, the major focus of gender mainstreaming in development had been around programs and projects in the field. Dr. Farrell championed the focus of making gender mainstreaming an integral part of all organisations – business, government and civil society. She undertook pioneering work on sexual harassment in the workplace in India, completing her PhD on the subject from Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi.
From 2005 onwards, Dr. Farrell led PRIA’s work on distance education, founding and developing PRIA International Academy, the academic wing of the organisation. She also taught part-time at University of Victoria and Royal Roads University in Canada.
At the international conference on Citizen Leadership and Democratic Accountability held in New Delhi in December 2011, Dr. Farrell presented PRIA’s pioneering work in promoting the leadership of women in politics at the local level (Panchayati Raj Institutions and urban local bodies). She was also invited to present on women’s leadership and political empowerment at the CIVICUS World Assembly in September 2012. The learning programs which Dr. Farrell conducted aimed at building self-confidence among women and shared knowledge and information to help them work in male-dominated work environments.
In 2014 her book Engendering the Workplace: Gender Discrimination & Prevention of Sexual Harassment in Organisations was published, the first-of-its kind on the subject in India.
Amongst Dr. Farrell’s great personal characteristics was her ability to seamlessly integrate with everyone from all walks of life. Martha was a thoughtful friend, a great support to others, and a generous giver of gifts, great food and warm hospitality. The Tandon-Farrell household was always full of guests, laughter,and more food than one could finish.
Dr. Martha Farrell was among 14 people killed in a terrorist attack on a guest house in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 13, 2015 where she had been leading a gender training workshop with the Aga Khan Foundation. She was many things to many people and she is dearly missed.
Participatory Lunch is an institutional event which Dr Martha Farrell introduced in PRIA more than 15 years ago. The Martha Farrell Foundation brings the principles and method of organising Participatory Lunches to help you host similar events in your organisation. Send us photographs of the Participatory Lunch you have held, write about your experience and share interesting recipes in the Your Martha Story section;of this website.
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