WOMEN SPECIAL.. WOMEN WITH A MISSION (4)

WOMEN WITH A MISSION (4)

The Crusade of Oz

Harinder Sidhu Australian High Commissioner

Reached India: February 2016

Credentials: A career officer with the department of foreign affairs and trade

What she loves in India: Visiting Hauz Khas Village in Delhi, where shopping, food and monuments mingle

India is among Austral ia's largest missions and Harinder Sidhu chose the Delhi posting because she felt the bilateral ties were at a high point. “The relationship has accelerated quite dramatically and spans strategic, economic, cultural and people-to -people ties,“ she says. Sidhu is the second Indian-origin Australian ambassador in Delhi after Peter Varghese. Sidhu, whose parents are from Punjab, says: “I never visited India when I was growing up, so now I have a great opportunity to explore my heritage and history in Punjab.“

She is also part of the Australian foreign ministry's Women in Leadership initiative. “It became evident to us a few years back that women were not moving up the ranks as much as we would like. When I joined the foreign service 30 years ago, exactly 50% of my batch were women, but when we looked at statistics a couple of years ago we found that only 27% of ambassadors were women.“ She knows it is not easy. She herself returned to Canberra from a foreign posting when her child was six. Now, when her daughter has graduated, Sidhu felt liberated again to take up an overseas posting. Australia has put in place workplace flexibility. It is making efforts to tackle cultural and other unconscious biases and trying to find out why women don't put up their hands to take up leadership positions.

Efforts are also on to support spouses of diplomats. “Traditionally, the diplomat was a man supported by his wife to help in entertaining and other social duties. Now we help spouses who want to work and encourage them to travel and continue with their careers,“ she says. A lot of Sidhu's activities in India involve engaging with women leaders and running economic empowerment and leadership programmes for women.

Ishani Duttagupta

ETM5MAR17