Empowering Nation's Women

My country India still remains a mystery, a country that promises so much yet delivers so little. In the absence of visible leadership recently, the country is plagued with myriad of problems like corruption, policy paralysis etc. Apart from these, another vital issue which is lingering on from quite long but remains on the sidelines is the gender inequality. 

India is although compared with the emerging economies of the world, but the picture is way far from being rosy. There are still many pockets in this country where girl child is not treated at par with the boy child and where we have to consistently promote slogans like "Save the Girl Child", "Equal Rights for the Girl Child" & "Education for the girl child". In-spite of various agreements testifying women's rights, women are still much more likely than men to be poor and illiterate. Every other day, there is news of female foeticide and rapes happening in different regions of this nation. It is shameful that even after 66 years of democratic India and with a Right to Speech, women in this country do not feel safe while going alone on the roads even in the daylight.

Even in business organizations, women are not treated at par with men. There are many instances we come across and ignore in our offices daily, where women have to suffer in their hiring, firing, compensation, promotions, career growth, assignments etc. owing to gender politics. Despite there has been huge emphasis on gender based diversity in recent years, barriers to equality still exists in corporate world. The whole idea and mentality behind it has to change if India wants to grow as a successful nation.  

In the fast evolving era of 21st century, efforts must be laid on integrating and promoting gender equality in organization. Nowadays, there are host of examples of women who have accepted challenging leading roles in organizations and have been quite successful. Women like Chanda Kochhar (CEO & MD, ICICI Bank), Indra Nooyi (CEO, PepsiCo), Shikha Sharma (MD & CEO, Axis Bank), Anita Prasad (General Manager at Microsoft, Treasury Capital Management) etc. have made our nation proud by winning many leadership awards and accolades at the global platform. We must now learn from these past examples and start supporting women in choosing their own career paths. Wherever possible, we have to join hands to uplift women to decision making positions by showering full faith in their abilities and without holding any discriminating views. Women can contribute effectively in nations growth by playing a pivotal role in the development process and by raising productivity levels.

Many social institutions in the world are already fighting for equal women rights. One of the Millennium Development Goals for 2015 laid by United Nation Development Program is "Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women". It is to be fairly understood that that there isn't a magic wand or any formula that exists which will empower nations' women in a fraction of second. The process is gradual and it will take its own sweet time to show results but what is more important at this juncture is that we have to implement pro-women empowerment policies without any delay. The golden key here lies in taking the first step to witness a better future. 

Abishek Mittal

NMP XXVI - Class of 2014

MDI, Gurgaon