Bhubaneswar: Women's rights activist and author Manasi Pradhan will speak at the prestigious Oxford Union as a guest speaker.

Pradhan will follow in the footsteps of Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Malcolm X, US presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, Mother Teresa, Michael Jackson, Diego Maradona, and Morgan Freeman as a speaker at the event.

Pradhan has been invited as the "Leading Global Women's Rights Icon" to share a global vision for addressing gender inequalities and crimes against women that remain a major challenge across the world. She address the union on June 6 and speak on a range of topics, including the various problems that women are dealing with in India especially Odisha.

"I will touch upon issues of the tribal communities during the talk," she said. "I will also raise other critical issues against the backdrop of a historic moment when the world is celebrating the first centenary of the suffragette movement," she added.

Founded in 1823 and considered the most prestigious podium to speak from, the Oxford Union has hosted world leaders in every field, the most recent being British prime ministers Theresa May and her predecessor David Cameroon. The speech at the Oxford Union is televised and covered by all major international broadcasting houses and publications.

Widely regarded as a spirited fighter for women's rights, Pradhan is the founder of Honour for Women National Campaign, a nationwide movement to end violence against women in India.

Pradhan was conferred with the Rani Lakhsmibai Stree Shakti Puraskar in 2014 by the President of India.

Born in October 1962 to a poor family in a remote Odisha village, Pradhan fought against superstitions about educating women, walked 15km daily amid hilly terrains and swamps to the only high school in the entire region to emerge as the first woman matriculate of her village and the first woman law graduate from her region.