Cherie Blair to Women Leaders: Be the Change
Key to bright
future is equal opportunity and financial freedom for women
To unleash women power in India, Cherie Blair
proposed four steps for those steering the course at the ET Women’s Forum held
in Mumbai on Friday. Each person should “be the change,” support other women,
think and act inclusively, and enlist male allies, said Blair, lawyer and
founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women.
Her organisation, which operates with a network of
mentors to promote entrepreneurship among women, has supported over 140,000
women so far, said Blair, a human rights campaigner and the wife of former UK
Prime Minister Tony Blair.
She traveled extensively during her years as the UK’s
First Lady. During this time, she became aware of legal and cultural barriers,
which prompted Blair to start her organisation.
“Whether they’re based in Kigali or Kanpur, these
women are strong, resilient and creative,” she said.
Global statistics on women’s economic standing are
bleak, and the disparity in India is even higher. “Progress on gender equality
is unacceptably slow the world over,” she said.
At the current rate of change, it will take women
nearly 217 years to get level with male counterparts. However, “I truly believe
that we are at a tipping point in women’s history—one where our voices are
becoming increasingly synchronised on the issues that unite us,” she said.
Nearly 65% of Indian women graduates are currently out of work, compared with
41% in Bangladesh and 25% in Indonesia. However, even as the numbers reflect
the deprived status of Indian women, Blair said the “ability, energy and
promise is there.” She termed this a “precious opportunity” that would uplift
India’s half a billion women. “That opportunity is the boundless potential of
Indian women--as business owners, job creators and leaders in their
communities.”
Drawing on her own childhood experience, she said her
mother and grandmother both became providers for the household, emphasising the
importance of women’s economic emancipation. “It’s not enough to just educate a
woman,” she said. “She also needs to have the opportunity to put that learning
into good use.”
Grameen America CEO Andrea Jung said things were
changing, albeit slowly, thanks to the women’s movement. “Women should seize
those opportunities now,” she said. Kristina Jullum Hagen, head of labour
market and social affairs at the Confederation of Norwegian Industries,
suggested that movement may be slow. “Someone suggested that a company with more
than 50 employees should have a crèche. Expensive requirements like that will
also be counterproductive.”
Jung agreed that empowering women to speak up against
injustice in the workplace could lead to a counterattack. “All this protection
could have a reverse backlash and that could affect hiring of women,” she said.
“In Hollywood, you can’t make a movie without a leading lady, but in sectors
like banking or corporate it could affect the number of women that are hired in
the first place.”
To that end, enlisting the partnership of men, who
are often the gatekeepers to power, must be part of the solution.
Deepali.Gupta
ET 19MAR18
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