Shivansh Gupta: The Teen Rural Economist Empowering 40,000 Women And Transforming India From The Ground Up

In the quiet villages of Haryana, where tradition often trumps transformation, 17-year-old Shivansh Gupta is turning systemic gender inequality on its head. From training 40,000 rural women in financial independence to publishing academic research on unpaid labor, his work straddles grassroots action and global thought leadership. What makes his efforts unique isn’t just the scale - it’s the fusion of gender economics, policy reform, and youth-led community design.

Growing up in a conservative Marwari household in Gurgaon, Shivansh witnessed firsthand the silencing of women’s economic potential. His grandmother’s unpaid labor at home - unrecorded, undervalued, and unquestioned, was the catalyst for a deeper inquiry: why are care and domestic work so invisible in economics? That question led him to publish three research papers under scholars from Oxford, Columbia, and Wesleyan College, including the landmark project NeoWave under President Meaghan Blight. The paper proposes a "fifth wave of feminism" focused on building systemic pathways for gender minorities to participate equitably in economic life. His multiple research paper have been published in SocArXiv, Curieux Academic Journal, American Journal of Student Research and more.

He brought these ideas to life by partnering with the Haryana State Rural Livelihoods Mission and Women & Child Development Department to develop state-accepted financial literacy and employability curricula. His training modules are now used to upskill thousands of women in 40+ tier 2/3 villages, including Anganwadi workers, SHG leaders, and Bank Sakhis. These cover everything from opening bank accounts and accessing schemes like PMJDY and Mahila Samman Yojana, to digital safety and fraud prevention. Shivansh’s model is deeply decentralized: trained women go on to teach others, creating a multiplier effect that ensures the change is both scalable and sustainable. For many of these women, the training has resulted in real economic agency—from opening their first savings accounts to launching homegrown micro-businesses.

His efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. In 2025, Shivansh was selected among the Top 50 finalists worldwide for the Chegg org Global Student Prize, recognized for his dual impact in gender and education. But his work doesn’t stop at the village level.

Shivansh is also the Founder of The Teen Debater, a government-registered NPO that’s democratizing public speaking and critical thinking for 10,000+ students across 250+ schools. Operating in 15+ countries, including the US, UK, Tanzania, China, and Indonesia, the organization runs with a decentralized leadership model, enabling teens to organize events, build international clubs, and create seven years’ worth of open-access resources. A 1M+ social media reach, 70+ events, and a community of 40+ monthly volunteers make it a globally recognized youth movement, especially for girls in underrepresented communities.

Academically, Shivansh is a Silver Medalist at the International Economics Olympiad with a perfect 100/100 in economics, and a two-time Team India debater selected from 4,000 students. He’s been crowned Champion or Finalist at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Georgetown, KCL, ICL, UofT, and more proof that ideas can be debated, but change must be implemented.

From publishing papers to rewriting lives in rural India, Shivansh Gupta isn’t just talking about gender equality, he’s building it. Brick by brick. Woman by woman.