Women Empowerment Companies? Why India needs a new brigade of

A nation grows by the collective efforts of both men and women. You can’t think of a developed economy without allowing half of its population to participate in the development process. A country’s growth is just like a relay race. You run to the best of your ability and pass the object to your partner, but if the partner doesn’t contribute, you lose. There’s a very similar situation India has been facing all these years. The mindset over the last 70 years has been that a male member of society should work and the female should look after the household chores.

The society has been very rigidly killing the dreams of the girl child through its senseless explanations. However, when I call the society as senseless, it has very much to do with the kind of education they have been imparted. A society is the result of its education. This is so interlinked. The country was looted by the Britishers. When they bag and all these fascinating things which she should have been an equal owner, were taken away from her. When she looked at things creatively and asked out of curiosity, the people around made her feel a fool and thus she stopped looking at things creatively and her curiosity died within. As she reached her teens, the family began looking for a groom and eventually got her married and the world around her changed immensely. Despite all these changes, most women never run away from their responsibilities. In most Indian houses we see a brigade of women who very honestly fulfill their duties towards their home. And this is where the potential lies.

If we can channelize their management skills in a way that more women gather the self-confidence to share their thoughts, to express their needs, the entire nation grows. Not sure how? Read this exam- left the nation, India was an extremely poor nation with a rift between religions, lack of resources, poor infrastructure, and complete uneducated society. Eventually, as things began improving, one thing which grew at a slower pace than others was ‘mindset’. This mindset still believed that boys are the assets for the family and girls as a liability. Thus, the education of girls was considered as the least priority stuff. A human without education will be so much underconfident to make decisions about life. Girls grew up seeing their brothers getting new books to read, a new pair of shoes for school, a new ple. 7 Gujrati women with Rs 80, started a venture called ‘Lijjat Papad’. Today the company employs 43000 women and has a worth of Rs 800 crore.

This is what happens when everyone gets a chance to contribute. India still lags behind when it comes to talking about sex education, women’s health, and female hygiene. These are still considered as a stigma, a taboo. Our conservative society needs a brigade of women who can step up and talk more about these. A start-up in the field of women’s well being is a need of an hour. At an individual level, we should begin to pro- mote the growth of women through social media platforms. At a societal level, we need to be courageous enough to challenge the fixed mindsets.

Women’s empowerment can bring in a muchneeded change in the perception of society. We need more of Neerja Bhanot a flight attendant who chose her passengers’ life instead of hers in a plane hijack. Mary Kom, who faced all the hardships from society and yet became a champion at boxing. Kalpana Chawla, who just defied all the stereotypes and went into the space making India a proud nation. There’s a lot to it. The message though is, there’s hidden talent in every Indian household. We must be proud of it and create more opportunities. As a father, brother, husband and in whatever role we can, we must at present and in the future always support the women in our house to be contributing factors to the nation. There’s a lot we can do as a nation when people unite and work together.

This is the time when we should all be tired of the stigma and difficulties faced by women around the nation and let them step out and learn a new skill, choose a career, innovate, experiment, try, fail, manufacture, sell, invent and do a lot more of these regularly. Such approaches will make companies grow stronger. A new brigade of women empowered companies will make for a more empowered nation.