Lemondrop

Forget "speaking softly" -- women in India, outraged over police corruption and unprosecuted abuse, are skipping right to the part about carrying big sticks.

Former government worker and mother of five Sanpat Pal leads the Gulabi Gang, a pink-clad all-female vigilante group in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Known as the pink-sari gang, the women have banded together to fight a system of law enforcement that they believe favors men and the wealthy. Armed with traditional stick weapons called lathi, they've beaten abusive husbands, marched against underage marriage and stormed a police station.

The gang is comprised of several hundred women, mostly from the caste of "untouchables," all trained in combat by Sanpat. Though they've been charged with multiple counts of criminal activity, they've also successfully pressured local government to intervene in cases of police corruption, and have steadily been gaining traction as a surprising force to be reckoned with.