Bibiana Ranee is from the matrilineal Khasi Indigenous community from Meghalaya, India, where the youngest daughters inherit the largest share of the family’s traditional lands. This practice empowers women to influence decisions regarding crops and livestock, save indigenous seed varieties, protect biodiversity, build a repository of medicinal herbs, and practice regenerative and organic agriculture. Strengthened by their matrilineal system, the women are spreading awareness about the connections between indigenous culture and food sovereignty, even in the face of the spread of rice monoculture, the industrial agriculture system and the political marginalization of Indigenous women. Photo credit: Rucha Chitnis
