The annual Parliamentary International Women’s Day debate was held last week under the theme “Break the Bias”.
The debate hosted by Lord and Lady Popat is now in its fifth year and aims to give non-Parliamentarians an exclusive platform to have their voices heard on gender equality. The debate usually held in Parliament was held virtually due to pending restrictions. Over 1000 people logged on to the debate from across the world.
The debate featured 12 outstanding speakers including Bina Mehta (UK Chair of KPMG), Nathan Bostock (CEO of Santander), Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE (former President of the Supreme Court), Simi Lindgren (Founder & CEO, Yuty), Amanda Blanc (Group CEO, Aviva), Soma Sara (Founder, Everyone’s Invited), Harini PN Rana (Indian Broadcast Journalist), Dr Shahzadi Harper (Menopause & Perimenopause Doctor, The Harper Clinic), Anjula Acharia (CEO, A-Series Management & Investment), Alice Hendy (CEO & Founder R;pple Suicide Prevention), Angela Ghayour (Founder, Herat School) and Olena Malynska (Ukrainian Political Leader).
Opening the debate, Lord Popat mentioned the disproportionate impact that the pandemic had on women, “Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic, like all emergencies, has affected women and girls disproportionately. Women have faced pressures in balancing work with homeschooling and childcare. Domestic abuse cases have spiralled—up by 83%. Women have also suffered adversely from job losses. The Taliban’s take over in Afghanistan has also been a devasting blow to gender equality in the region.”
This year’s debate also included a Ukrainian speaker who spoke of her first-hand experiences of the recent conflict. Olena Malynska is a CEO at Women Political Leaders, a global network of women politicians whose mission is to increase the number and influence of women in political leadership positions.
Olena remarked, “Both the OSCE and NATO have clear evidence that peace negotiations, which include women at the table, get better long-lasting results. Peace negotiations with women at the table achieve agreements that are better accepted. And still, only 6% of peace negotiators are women. Isn’t it shocking?”
Speakers also included Bina Mehta, UK Chair of KPMG. Bina spoke of her experiences of breaking the glass ceiling, “Biases are so ingrained in our society, that too often they’re not even questioned. I almost didn’t get the chance to go to India to help establish our KPMG office, as my manager at the time thought that as an unmarried Asian woman, my family wouldn’t let me go. He didn’t even ask me! Anyone joining our firm today, 30 years on, will see that over one in four of our partners are female. And if they look broader – they’ll see that 38% of FTSE board positions are held by women. But there are only 18 female CEOs. While this is progress, the pace of change isn’t good enough.”
One of the most moving highlights of the debate featured Alice Hendy, Founder of Ripple Suicide Prevention who spoke of her experiences following her brother who committed suicide, “There were 5,224 suicides in England and Wales in 2020, three-quarters of which were men. When talking about the online environment, Semrush reported that searches for suicide methods have increased by 50% in the last two years. But, these aren’t just statistics. They are not just charts or numbers; each one is a person with a name, a story and a devastated family attached.”
The debate included a wide range of topics including climate change, educational bias, menopause, investment in female founders and sexual violence.
The debate even featured an Afghan activist who bravely spoke out publicly for the first time on the devasting impact of the Taliban takeover last summer. Angela Ghayour said, “I’ve seen the dismay of Afghan young girls in hundreds of messages I have received from them, telling me how they feel betrayed, by everyone: their politicians, the international community, their own society. Everyone failed them.”
After the debate, the organisers of the debate Rupal Sachdev Kantaria and Rupa Popat were congratulated for curating the discussion and securing a wide range of speakers.
Speaker after, Rupa and Rupal said, “We deliberately included a diverse set of voices this year from grassroots changemakers to established business leaders speaking across a range of topics; finance, menopause, sexual violence, education in Afghanistan, the war in Ukraine artificial intelligence, career bias, gender bias in investment, and suicide prevention.”
