The Nehru Centre, London marked International Women’s Day 2021 with an exquisite panel of women along with it’s director Amish Tripathi to discuss ‘Women in leadership in today’s world’. The session was moderated by Raageshwari Loomba, Indian singer, actress, television personality, mindfulness speaker and Penguin Author.
In the opening address, HE Gaitri Issar Kumar said, “While this is an occasion where we pay tribute to women world over for their many gifts to the society, we must remember that in India, discourse on women’s empowerment started way before India became independent. Our vedas, our teachers, our religious icons, have always stressed the importance of respect to women. Our constitution further enshrines the principles of gender equality in our legal and our public policy. Women in India are recognised by law as holders of equal rights, equal partners and agents of change in the social, economic, cultural and political processes of our country. More than a million women in the rural era, far beyond the stipulated 32 percent have participated in panchayat raj in local self government, taking their roles very seriously, with great success and commendable outcomes. In challenging domains like the defence services, police and security forces, sports, academics, space research and innovation, taking up the cause of the vulnerable and the exploited, in community outreach and in mass healthcare, women are now indispensable for success.”
Quoting Indian PM Modi she said, “Today women have become an integral part of India’s security and defence architecture. The c outcome of this empowerment is to create an atmosphere where women feel free, safe to pursue any vocation, profession or take a road less taken.
Issar also said that the Indian High Commission in the UK has also established the distressed women’s cell in 2014. “In the last three years, we have received more than 200 requests for assistance and we’ve been able to help many of them financially,” Issar said.
Director of The Nehru Centre, Amish Tripathi, said, “Those of us who fight for equality between men and women are not in any way being less Indian. We are in fact more Indian. This is what our ancient culture actually preached. Expressing his thoughts on whether men take less responsibility than women of the house, Tripathi said, “Children don’t do what their parents teach them to do, they do what they see their parents doing, so if there’s a father telling his son, that you must respect women, but they see their father disrespecting their mother, they will learn that.”
“I’ve been slapped by my father only twice. Once I didn’t deserve it, once I did. I’m glad I was slapped because I’m a better person because of that,” he said as he explained that in his family his father meant, “If Ma (mother) has said no, that means I have said no,” he added.
Filmmaker Gurinder Chadha shared her sentiment and said, “We come from a culture of strong women. We only have to go to any mandirs or Gurudwaras and see the presence of murtis (idols) of women. Within my own faith, the Sikh - the gurus insisted on equality of men and women, I’ve grown up with that.For us, however we want to look at it, wherever you stand politically, the cover of Time magazine with all the Punjabi women in their salwar-kameezes, fighting with the farmers, that’s a dynamic image, I never thought I would see. I think it’s a testament to the strength of all Indian women, that if they have to get up and speak, they will.”
Sangeet Natak Akademi Yuva Puraskar awardee and Kuchipudi dancer Arunima Kumar shared her two cents and said, “Feminism for me is to just believe in who you are, to believe in yourself and believe in your skill. I have never felt like a lesser gender or a lesser person because of my choices and that makes me feel very empowered.”
Venture Capitalist Akshata Murty, shared her experience of feminism in her life and said, “I grew up in a family of very strong women. And women were the majority, men were minority, both in terms of making their voices heard. My mother has always worked and helped look after, “help” being the keyword to raise a family where my grandfather and father, both were involved in many different ways than my mother was. It wasn’t a woman’s job to have a work life balance, it was a family’s job.”
Indian Violinist Sunita Bhuyan said, “When normal people see successful women, they want to attribute it to something more than talent. I think that’s the barrier.” She was also told that Violinists are for elitists and they need to entertain and mostly put people to sleep with their tunes. Bhuyan never really got a 9 pm prime slot to play at events in her own state, Assam while the slots went to a major musician. She went on to break the myth of the violin and played folk music for small communities to prove that old is always new and went on to get better slots to play.
