When researchers figured out women in India were having trouble saving money, they came up with a unique solution: comic books targeted to women that would teach principles of financial literacy, according to an article in The Guardian sponsored by Visa and written by Debbie McCullough, an independent writer.
Deepti KC and Mudita Tiwari, both of the University of California, Irvine, worked with Creative Rats, a design and illustration company, to tell the stories of Saraswati and Radha, two Indian women who overcome typical obstacles, such as raiding savings when children become ill or having stashed cash stolen by a thief, according to McCullough.
Tiwari and KC found that women who increased their financial literacy with the comics increased their savings 8 percent, while those who did not read the comics increased it by 1 percent.
It's not the first time a comic book has been used to inform and empower women in India. In 2014, Indian-American filmmaker Ram Devineni helped create "Priya's Shakti," a comic book inspired by Hindu mythological tales that traces one young woman's fight against gender crimes in India, the BBC reported.
Priya's story was inspired by a brutal gang rape and murder of a student that led to protests in Delhi in 2012, Devineni told the BBC. He realized that sexual violence was a cultural issue as much as a legal issue, and that something was needed to help change attitudes and perceptions.
Devineni also recruited street artists to paint murals in Mumbai's largest slum with "augmented reality features" that "allow people to see special animation and movies pop out of the wall art when they scan it with their smartphones," the BBC reported.
Comic books are a "perfect, immersive vehicle" for reaching women in India, McCullough wrote.
The Deseret News reported in 2015 that India has one of the lowest levels of female employment among emerging economies, in part because of cultural attitudes that keep some girls from leaving their homes for education or work. This inequality stunts the country's GDP and is likely linked with instability and poverty.
"A growing body of research is showing that empowering women is among the most effective ways to fight global poverty and extremism. As a result, more money and more programs are serving women and girls throughout the developing world," according to the Deseret News.
The "Priya's Shakti" website offers a downloadable guide to creating a comic book aimed at effecting social change.
The biggest change will be "when people understand that there is no excuse to justify sexual violence, the garments women wear, what time they go out or the place they go to," Jasmeen Patheja, founder of Blank Noise Project, which addresses sexual assault and rape, told the BBC.
"Graphic novels, comics, story books, films all have immense potential to help," she says.
Deepti KC and Mudita Tiwari, both of the University of California, Irvine, worked with Creative Rats, a design and illustration company, to tell the stories of Saraswati and Radha, two Indian women who overcome typical obstacles, such as raiding savings when children become ill or having stashed cash stolen by a thief, according to McCullough.
Tiwari and KC found that women who increased their financial literacy with the comics increased their savings 8 percent, while those who did not read the comics increased it by 1 percent.
It's not the first time a comic book has been used to inform and empower women in India. In 2014, Indian-American filmmaker Ram Devineni helped create "Priya's Shakti," a comic book inspired by Hindu mythological tales that traces one young woman's fight against gender crimes in India, the BBC reported.
Priya's story was inspired by a brutal gang rape and murder of a student that led to protests in Delhi in 2012, Devineni told the BBC. He realized that sexual violence was a cultural issue as much as a legal issue, and that something was needed to help change attitudes and perceptions.
Devineni also recruited street artists to paint murals in Mumbai's largest slum with "augmented reality features" that "allow people to see special animation and movies pop out of the wall art when they scan it with their smartphones," the BBC reported.
Comic books are a "perfect, immersive vehicle" for reaching women in India, McCullough wrote.
The Deseret News reported in 2015 that India has one of the lowest levels of female employment among emerging economies, in part because of cultural attitudes that keep some girls from leaving their homes for education or work. This inequality stunts the country's GDP and is likely linked with instability and poverty.
"A growing body of research is showing that empowering women is among the most effective ways to fight global poverty and extremism. As a result, more money and more programs are serving women and girls throughout the developing world," according to the Deseret News.
The "Priya's Shakti" website offers a downloadable guide to creating a comic book aimed at effecting social change.
The biggest change will be "when people understand that there is no excuse to justify sexual violence, the garments women wear, what time they go out or the place they go to," Jasmeen Patheja, founder of Blank Noise Project, which addresses sexual assault and rape, told the BBC.
"Graphic novels, comics, story books, films all have immense potential to help," she says.