The present study explores women’s pathways to the participation in social justice advocacy with special reference to Moolampilly agitation. The International Container Transshipment Terminal of Vallarpadam is the India's first global hub terminal, which made the great commercial city, Kochi, Kerala, world famous today. With the implementation of ICTT, Kochi became a key centre in the shipping world reducing India’s dependence on foreign ports to handle transshipment. How ever the displacement of 326 families for the ICTT road and rail connectivity has become a classic case of ‘development versus human rights'. Forced out of their land and homes to make way for the ICTT project at Kochi, the lives of most of the evictees at Moolampilly turned upside down. The hard-won rehabilitation package had remained just a promise on paper for more than three years. The present study is a case study of five women activists who protested against the unfair rehabilitation package of Kerala Government which finally brought success. It tries to throw some light on the factors leading women to enter into social justice advocacy and the major forces that support the development of a woman as an activist.

KEYWORDS: gender, activism, displacement, social justice, social movement.