WOMEN RALLY FOR A PINK CAUSE

Ladies-Only Drive To Lavasa Had 1000 Participants, Including Survivors, To Spread Awareness About Breast Cancer

 It was a first for many, others had quite a few rallies to their name. But the more than 1,000 women who lined up early Sunday morning sporting white T-shirts for the Lavasa Women's Drive, a car rally in aid of the Women's Cancer Initiative by Tata Memorial Hospital, were an excited lot.
    As most of the city slept, 250 cars with all-women riders participated in the 225 km-long rally that began at the Bandra Reclamation grounds at 7am and ended at Lavasa, a hill city, located on the backwaters of Warasgaon dam on the Western Ghats between Pune and Mumbai.
    As cars decorated with pink balloons, woman-power badges, flower bouquets and the pink ribbon symbolising the breast cancer awareness campaign dotted the entire route, Bollywood too made its presence felt in support of the cause. Flagging off participants at the Bandra Reclamation grounds were Ajay Devgan, Fardeen Khan and Mugdha Godse. Expressing his support to the rally, Devgan quipped, "I wouldn't have woken up at such an early hour had it not been for a great cause like this."
    Auto-cross and Himalyan rally driver Divya Miglani and her navigator, former Channel V VJ Teejay Sidhu, zipped past the starting point in the inaugural car.
    Since it was an only-women's rally, men watched as their wives drove, clapping for them in support. Many even followed the rallyists all the way to Lavasa, in separate cars.
    An especially heartening sight was the presence of Jaysinh Babla, who had come all the way to cheer the rallyists. Babla recently lost his wife to blood cancer.
    Shakuntala Merchant, who came back from the third stage of breast cancer, was excited. "Chemotherapy was harsh and so was radiation but see where I am today. I'm a survivor,'' beamed Merchant, who had to undergo mastectomy.
    Also standing out was Chembur resident and firsttime rallyist Kanchan Ahuja, who was participating with her mother-in-law, a veteran of three rallies. While they sported green bandanas, their car was decorated with leaves and save water messages.
    But cars sported stickers that read 'Go for the kill, bust cancer cells'.
    Each car had two participants: a driver and a navigator. At the starting point, navigators were handed Tulip Maps which gave details about road junctions and directions.
    All cars were carefully scrutinised by members of the Western India Automobile Association (WIAA), which has been organising rallies in the city for more than 75 years.
    "We've set strict rules and speed limits. Those who drive faster than the speed limits will lose points,'' explained Nitin Dossa, chairman WIAA.
    After halting at several check points, participants navigated their way through the long and winding roads over the Sahyadri mountains to finally reach Lavasa. Five hours was the average time taken by most participants to complete the route.
    At Lavasa, participants were treated to head and foot massages, probably what the women badly needed after the gruelling drive.
    Many found the speed limit a bit of a dampener, but nevertheless stuck to it. "We ensured that we maintained the speed limits, though at some points that made the rally very slow. We were tempted to speed but didn't,'' said Zia Hajeebhoy who had organised a boat rally for women a few weeks ago.

ALL FOR THE ROADIES: (Clockwise) Pink is the colour of the day; Actors Mugdha Godse, Ajay Devgan and Fardeen Khan flag off the Lavasa rally at Bandra Reclamation grounds on Sunday; Some participants felt that green was a good way to go too

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Feature: Girl Power: Educating Girls in the 21st Century

In a speech to his fellow Ghanaians in the early 1900s, the visionary educator, Dr. J.E. Kwegyir Aggrey, declared, "The surest way to keep a people down is to educate the men and neglect the women. If you educate a man you simply educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family."

The good news today is that girls have crowded into school in record numbers over recent decades.
They have shrunk the gender gap with boys, and won significant economic, social, and development gains for themselves and their communities, says a new Bank report.

Overall primary school enrollments for girls in poor countries jumped from 87 percent in 1990 to 94 percent in 2004, with also more girls than ever before now in secondary school, according to the report, Girls' Education in the 21st Century: Gender Equality, Empowerment, and Economic Growth.

Girls' education is key to lasting development. The business case for continuing to invest in girls' education is beyond question, even in the teeth of the global financial and jobless crisis, write Joy Phumaphi, World Bank vice president for human development and Danny Leipziger, World Bank vice president for poverty reduction, in the foreword of the report.

"Women's economic empowerment is essential for economic development, growth, and poverty reduction—not only because of the income it generates, but also because it helps to break the vicious cycle of poverty," they write.

The surge in enrollments is the result of the cardinal importance that governments and donors have attached to girls' schooling over the last 20 years, says Mercy Tembon, country manager for Burundi, who is both a contributing author and the editor of the report.

It is also the result of the successful reach of scholarships, stipends, conditional cash transfers (CCTs), female teacher recruitment, free text books for girls, and other gender-related policies, she adds.

High School: New Gender Fault Line

While disparities are fading at primary school, fewer girls than boys are getting to high school. Secondary classrooms are the new gender fault-line where inequalities in both learning and earnings potential gather force and persist, the report says.

Especially hostage to under-achieving within the secondary system are girls in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, who live in small rural villages that are caught up in conflict, come from minority clans, or struggle with a disability.

"Here's the challenge—and it goes beyond getting girls into high school and making sure they show up every day with their homework done—it's all about helping them to master the life and job skills that will transform their lives," says Tembon. She urges greater use of scholarships and conditional cash transfers to drive both the supply and demand sides of female education.

Education in Conflict Areas

Approximately half the world's 70 million out-of-school children currently live in conflict-affected and fragile states.

The report offers insights into the challenges of educating children and teenagers in war-torn communities.

Professor Jackie Kirk, a gender specialist who was killed last year in Afghanistan, contributed a chapter on girls' education in the country. The report is dedicated in memory of Professor Kirk.

Governments, development agencies, NGOs, and others cannot afford to row back on educating girls and boys under these dangerous conditions, no matter how challenging and difficult the task proves, Tembon says.

Economic Growth

The quality of education (what students know), not educational attainment (how long students stay in school), determines the economic success of individuals and economies, according to Eric Hanushek of Stanford University, a contributor to the report. This quality affects the education and income

But raising education standards doesn't happen overnight. Tembon and the Bank's new Education Director, Beth King, point to the difficulties that OECD governments face in improving learning outcomes, let alone low-income governments that have to raise scarce education spending while managing volatile donor flows.

Benefits to Future Generations

Raising cognitive skills for girls and boys alike requires changes in schools that bear fruit over 20 to 30 years, according to the report. If reforms succeed, their economic impact is not generally felt until new graduates make up a significant share of the labor force.

The social benefits of women's schooling are also significant in developing countries. The report shows that a year of schooling for girls reduces infant mortality by 5 to 10 percent. Children of mothers with five years of primary education are 40 percent more likely to live beyond age 5.

When the proportion of women with secondary schooling doubles, the fertility rate is reduced from 5.3 to 3.9 children per woman. Providing girls with an extra year of schooling increases their wages by 10 to 20 percent. There is evidence of more productive farming methods attributable to increased female schooling, and a 43 percent decline in malnutrition.

Educating women has a greater impact on children's schooling than educating men. Young rural Ugandans with secondary schooling are three times less likely to be HIV positive. In India, women with formal schooling are more likely to resist violence. In Bangladesh educated women are three times more likely to participate in political meetings.


Source: The World Bank

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Commentary: 'Educate a woman, create a nation'

By Dina Habib Powell
Special to CNN

Editor's note: Dina Habib Powell, global head of corporate engagement at Goldman Sachs, served as U.S. assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs from 2005 to 2007.

Dina Habib Powell says there are encouraging signs the world is ready to invest in empowering women.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- As we mark International Women's Month in March, it is encouraging to see that the movement to recognize the vital role that women play in families, nations and economies has been building for more than a decade and that developments in the past few years have shown that real progress has begun to take hold.

On the heels of International Women's Day, President Obama said Monday, "we will not sow the seeds for a brighter future or reap the benefits of the change we need without the full and active participation of women around the world."

He also recently announced the creation of a new position, ambassador-at-large for global women's Issues, at the State Department.

To fill this critical role, the president nominated Melanne Verveer, a widely respected women's advocate and former top aide to then first lady Hillary Clinton.

Verveer was a founder of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an organization committed to empowering women and recently co-chaired by Secretary Clinton and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

There has also been very recent progress on Capitol Hill. Last month, the U.S. Senate created a Foreign Relations subcommittee that will focus on the global status of women, led by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California.

The efforts have been a bipartisan priority for our leaders. In 2008, then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice successfully led the effort in the U.N. Security Council to officially recognize rape as a weapon of war. And in 2001, Laura Bush used the first presidential radio address ever given by a first lady to focus international attention on the plight of women in Afghanistan and used her influence to protect and empower women around the world.

Critical strides are also being made globally. In Rwanda, a country devastated by genocide, women have become a key part of the nation's rebirth. Under the leadership of President Paul Kagame, more than half of the parliament is made up of women. In Liberia, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf made history when she became the first female president on the African continent.

In the Middle East, Kuwait has emerged as a leader in women's suffrage and political participation. And in the United Arab Emirates, women such as Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, minister of foreign trade, have been trailblazers for progress throughout the region.

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This social change is being promoted at the United Nations, where Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently noted that the protection, education and empowerment of women and girls are among the most important ingredients to achieving all other Millennium Development Goals.

Such consensus should not be surprising as study after study has found that investing in the education of women improves lives.

Every extra year of girls' education can reduce infant mortality by 5 to 10 percent. In Africa, children of mothers who receive five years of primary education are 40 percent more likely to live beyond age 5. And multicountry data show educated mothers are about 50 percent more likely to immunize their children than uneducated mothers are.

But one of the most important developments of recent years has been the increasing amount of research that shows investments in women can offer not only social benefits, but also real economic growth. A growing body of evidence highlights the economic advantage of educating and empowering women.

The private sector has seized on this data. There is now broad consensus that investing in women is not only just good social policy, it is "smart economics," as Bob Zoellick, president of the World Bank, says.

Toward that end, the World Bank has convened a Private Sector Leaders Forum with companies committed to these issues, such as Standard Chartered, Cisco, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Carlson and Nike.

My own firm, Goldman Sachs, published two critical pieces of research, "Womenomics" and "Women Hold Up Half the Sky," which found that investments in women -- through increased education and labor force participation -- can lead to real economic growth in developed and developing countries.

Specifically, this research found that a 1 percentage point increase in female education raises the average level of gross domestic product by .37 and raises annual GDP growth rates by .2 on average.

Such findings led to the development of 10,000 Women, an initiative that is working with a global network of leading academic and nonprofit partners to provide women at home and abroad with quality management and entrepreneurial education.

This education is helping to create a greater number of female-owned small and medium enterprises, and a new generation of leaders poised to have exponential impact.

One recent graduate of the program, Tuokpe Esisi, a fashion designer from Nigeria, has already increased her revenues, and immediately invested a portion of her profits to provide tutors for the illiterate male tailors she employs. This not only positions her enterprise for greater growth, but is also a perfect demonstration of the multiplier effect of investing in women.

Organizations such as Women for Women International, Camfed and the International Center for Research on Women have long touted this multiplier effect and are supported by private-public partnerships dedicated to the promotion of women leaders.

For example, the State Department, with the help of Vital Voices, instituted a mentoring program for the past four years with Fortune's Most Powerful Women. The program pairs leading U.S. executives -- such as Ann Moore (Time Inc), Pat Woertz (ADM), Helene Gayle (Care) and Ann Mulcahy (Xerox) -- with rising female entrepreneurs in developing countries.

At the dawn of the 20th century, Egyptian poet Hafez Ibrahim said: "When you educate a woman, you create a nation."

Nearly a century later, the cause of women's empowerment has never been more important.

As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently put it, gender inequality is "the dominant moral challenge we face in the 21st century."

This challenge also presents an opportunity we cannot afford to squander. We should seize this moment and this momentum.

There is tremendous work to be done, but history has shown us that women will not let us down.

They will take up the challenge and build up their families, their villages and ultimately all our nations.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of Dina Habib Powell.

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WOMEN BEYOND BOUNDARIES

Women's March

Compiled by Jasleen Kaur Gupta, Ruchika Vyas, Soumi Das

We celebrate this entire month with activities and fun events exclusively for women
Women's Treat, Sunday, March 22 Men from all walks of life can participate in this fun filled evening at BJN Banquets while their wives can kick back and relax. Chef Sanjeev Kapoor will be present to make sure the evening is all spicy, garnished and piping hot!
Women's Drive, Sunday, March 29 A car rally that will see women take on the wheels confidently from Bandra Kurla Complex to Lavasa. The Car Rally aims at raising funds and awareness for Women's Cancer. The initiative is being supported by the Women's Cancer Initiative—Tata Memorial Hospital. Women's Takeoff, Friday, March 20 Once in a lifetime opportunity for women to experience a ride on the Mumbai skies by Yash Air. Women can register via SMS 58888 and win invites for self and one more important woman in her life. Twenty lucky winners and their friends will get an opportunity to ride a private plane.
Women Set Sail, Saturday, March 21 Aquasail welcomes 20 lucky women and their lady friends to sail away for an hour, beginning from the Gateway of India. Women can register via SMS 58888 and win invites for self and one lady friend for a thrilling experience.
Tips on how women can deal with socio-economic hurdles Women must look after themselves without feeling guilty in any way–physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I strongly recommend all women to devote at least half-anhour of uninterrupted time for themselves. Reflecting and relaxing is extremely essential. You can choose to meditate, do yoga or exercise. You start connecting to yourself and find answers on your own to a large extent.
    If you are going through stress, depression or anxiety, firstly, recognise it and become aware, and don't hesitate to ask for help. If it's a mild problem then talk to friends, or take time off like short vacations to clear your mind. If it's very serious and bordering on something that is affecting your life, then there is no shame in seeking help, as most psychological problems are treatable.
    Do not go on guilt trips! Stand up for what you believe in and be assertive, don't fight or be aggressive. There may be areas you need to compromise in, but ensure not to make a big compromise; look at the broader picture. Most importantly, look after yourself and educate yourself. Don't give in to emotional pressures. If we have to bring about a change, it needs to start from us.

Naina Lal Kidwai, Group General Manager and Country Head, India, HSBC
From being a Harvard University business graduate to becoming the Country Head of HSBC, how has the journey been so far?
The journey has been eventful, challenging and exciting. I have learnt a great deal at every stage in my career—from my bosses, colleagues and juniors. And now, being a global citizen has no doubt shaped and reshaped my thoughts, perspectives and opinions. I have also been able to highlight India's successes on the global stage.
Did you face obstacles in rising up the corporate hierarchy because you were a woman?
No, I did not face any obstacles but I did believe that I had to be better than a male colleague to be considered for the same position. But once you prove your worth, gender ceases to be an issue. The board - room has now become more accepting of performance and quality of inputs, irrespective of gender, nationality and race.
Would you call today's woman 'a change agent' for society?
Women have always been change agents for society. The phrase 'Educate a man, educate a person, educate a woman, educate a family' could not have been more aptly put.
What, according to you, is still lacking from the social infrastructural aspect that is likely to prevent Indian women from dreaming big?
Better access to social infrastructure like education, health, security and knowledge of their rights as citizens, will help Indian women realise their dreams and in turn contribute to the country and its economy.
Where do you think Indian women appear in the global arena?
I believe urban middle-class Indian women are best placed to work and achieve, as we are among a few countries where home support system allow us to work for a career. It is no surprise that the number of talented women in the workforce is growing in leaps and bounds.

Pooja Shetty-Deora, Joint MD, Walkwater Media
A woman in a male-dominated field—what are the challenges you had to face?
People find it tough to accept women in a leadership role, and I had to deal with negative perceptions which were put to rest by sheer deliverables. I knew that for real respect I had to work twice as hard and I did not get distracted by gender debates.
How has your father, Manmohan Shetty, influenced you?
My father has always encouraged me to take decisions and move on. In case of a bad decision there was a lot to learn, but not taking a decision at all was like not growing. We were brought up in an environment where what we did as people mattered and that shaped my life drastically.
What were the biggest hurdles of your career?
I think leaving Adlabs in October 2007 was a huge challenge for me personally and professionally. The decision to get out eventually proved to be great, as it started our new fledgling company called Walkwater Media. We were also able to restart with a lean and focussed team and could start doing things as per our own vision, rather than being guided by the bureaucratic nature of large organisations.
What are the obstacles that prevent women from dreaming big?
I think that the problems women face in our country exist at many levels and there can be no simple solution for this subject. Our governments over the years have created several schemes to support an allround development of women, inspite of which we lack adequate schools, heath centres, hygiene facilities and many such basic necessities required for making women self sustainable. Serious efforts, in these areas are needed to see positive results.

Zeba Kohli, Managing Director, Fantasie Chocolates
You chose an unconventional career, what were the reactions you faced ?
I was a science student who took over the family business as there was no one else who could take over. Our business extends over cold storage and refrigeration, to running Sunville Banquet Halls. The chocolate business has brought out the passionate, fun and lively side of my nature.
Do you think your background has helped you to achieve beyond the conventional expectations?
I think achievement is relative. I have always set achievable milestones and moved on to the next stage without remorse. I think it is imperative for all women to empower themselves by listening and persevering rather than self pity. But obviously, coming from an educated background has helped me understand life and responsibilities better.

Priya Dutt, Member of Parliament
What are the pros and cons of being a woman in the field of politics?
I have never felt different from anyone in my field of work just because I'm a woman. I attribute that to the way my parents brought me up. The only time I felt I was not being taken seriously was because I was very young and inexperienced.
Did you have to compromise to achieve what you have today?
I don't believe in compromises, I work with priorities. The day I feel I have to compromise with either my work or my family, I will make a choice. Striking a balance is my greatest challenge, I want to be a good mother, a good wife and a good public representative.
How do you manage your hectic schedule as a responsible politician, wife and a mother?
I schedule my life a lot around my kids. I try and either drop my son to school or pick him up, sometimes he comes to office with me, my little one is just one-yearold. I know the time now will be tough though. Before elections, it always gets very busy, but I know I will manage.
    My husband has been my greatest support and without him I would not be able to do what I do. If I'm not around, my husband adjusts his schedule to be with the children.
What measures can be taken to aid underprivileged women to gain financial independence?
I think education is the key to empowerment of women. Also setting up vocational training and small-scale industries and encouraging selfhelp groups is important. I always give the example of the Lijjat Papad success story, and wonder why a model like that cannot be replicated. I focus a lot on vocational education in my district, where we impart free computer education and vocational classes for girls.

Reema Nanavaty, Chairperson, SEWA
How can we aid underprivileged women?
Organising rural poor women is the most essential to equip women in their fight against poverty. Along with organising—we found six states in India that work on asset creation—capacity building and access to social security lead to financial independence for these women. It's a process that leads these women out of poverty; it's their march to independence.
What were the challenges you faced?
It's amazing how cheerful these rural women are even when they don't have grains to cook and water to irrigate their fields! Challenges in my life are simple: one, to balance my work with my family; and two, to be optimistic when good work is pushed aside by greater forces.
What has inspired women across the globe to push themselves beyond the realms of conformity?
This is what we at SEWA call 'sisterhood'. When a war widow from Afghanistan, who is working with SEWA, meets a widow from Gujarat, both know the shared suffering and also provide the inspiration to go on and move out of poverty. Breaking conformity per-se is of limited value, but breaking conformity to fight poverty is of lasting value.

Devieka Bhojwani, Vice President of the Women's Cancer Initiative, Tata Memorial Hospital
From your association with the Women's Cancer Initiative—Tata Memorial Hospital, what do you think of the way society treats women with cancer in India?
Some years ago, when I developed breast cancer, I realised the lack of knowledge we have about the illness. I have realised that ignorance about the disease leads to patients in India being stigmatised. This is when I decided to set up my foundation with the primary aim of creating awareness.
Would you call today's woman 'a change agent' of society?
I believe that 'changing India' should be grateful to its women. They are the major buyers, meal-makers, and are the primary providers of nutrition to the future generation. They are juggling so many roles brilliantly.
Do you think the gap between rural and urban women remains unbridgeable?
We have to ensure that more women in India get educated as only that can bring positive changes. Women in rural India face cases of female infanticide, illiteracy, forced weddings and even dowry related harassment. While we talk about India entering the nuclear age, we must ensure that the Dark Age practice of sati does not take away another life.

Dr. Shamsah Sonawalla, Associate Director of Psychiatry Research Consultant, Jaslok Hospital

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Why should women be conservative in investment planning?

The 'Beauty' Of Money

Why should women be conservative in investment planning? ETIG explores the options at your end to make the most of the market

KI R AN K ABT TA SOMVAN SH I ET I NTELLIGENCE GROU P

INVESTMENT traditionally has been a man's world. It's not that women are not permitted, but traditionally it has been like that. The entire system of markets and investment mechanisms has been developed by men; with women largely remaining at the periphery of these systems. While women do participate in investing, men far outweigh them in the number and volume of investments. Women make up roughly half of the
India's population but their presence among active investing population is negligible in the country.
    Financial planning is becoming imperative for women now as an increasing number of them especially in urban centres have regular jobs and careers. They now need to plan for critical life stages of education, work, marriage, maternity and retirement. For women, one of the major steps towards empowerment is achieving financial security and independence through gaining control on investing decisions.
    The financial world is gradually waking up to the reality that increasingly that the 'better half' now has money in her hands that is waiting to be invested. The recent bull market has helped in accelerating this change process. An unprecedented increase in women participants was seen in hey days of the rally. We saw working women, college girls and even housewives getting their first exposure to capital markets. While most restricted themselves to trading on small bets, some became involved in serious investing.
    While the conventional tools of investing prevail, marketers of financial products are now increasingly designing products targeted at the fairer sex. Be it insurance policies or saving bank accounts, financial companies are now creating women-centric products to tap a huge market, which has not yet been justifiably penetrated and serviced. For instance, LIC launched Jeevan Bharati, an insurance policy exclusively for women first in 2003. Last year, it launched Jeeven Bharati – I, an updated version of the earlier policy. Most banks today cater to women customers through specially designed
products like special bank accounts, saving schemes etc. Who knows we will soon have mutual funds especially designed for women just as we have funds targeted at senior citizens or children.
    A woman investor, most of the times invest in safe investments like gold jewellery, fixed deposits etc. Investments under mutual funds or ELSS schemes are done primarily with an objective of tax planning. Very few women would go ahead and try their hands at investing in exotic products like derivatives, interest rate swaps, arbitrage products etc.
    Interestingly, the styles of investing differ between the two genders. Tradition and science both have testified that women are more risk averse than men. They are more conservative and less likely to take business risks. Budgeting comes naturally to them by virtue of handling household expenditures. Investment decisions also differ between the two genders. Many times women know less of the various investment options available, and hence are less confident about the decisions they take about their investments.
    If you are a woman reading this, be prepared to get more involved in the investment decision-making process. Financial decisions are no longer a man's domain. Knowledge about various financial products is freely available - online as well as offline. Relationship managers, some of them being women, are more than happy to service women customers. Thanks to their discipline, women as a category of investors are better placed to make money in the current markets than their male counterparts.
    And there is no dearth of pampering on this count. Marketers of financial products are aggressively wooing the new generation woman. With increase in working and independent women, the marketers of investment products are coming around to address the changing gender roles in the world of investing. Many micro financial institutions cater to women's financial needs and offer special financial assistance. Customised products, women-specific tax concessions, communication and counseling are being rolled out.
    In the current difficult times of financial uncertainty, it is time for women to be ready to take the burden of any contingencies like job loss, pay cut etc. rather than be a helpless witness to the unfortunate turn of events. While she performs a balancing act between career, home and family, a woman today also has to add financial investing into her 'things to do' list. And women's day seems quite appropriate to make this promise to yourself to financially empower yourself, thereby empowering your family too.
INVESTMENT OPTIONS
Investment strategies differ between the two genders
Financial planning is no longer a man's domain
Most banks today cater to women customers through specially designed products like bank accounts, saving schemes etc.
Many micro financial institutions cater to women's financial needs and offer special financial assistance
Customised products, womenspecific tax concessions, communication and counselling are being rolled out

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Make Women’s Day 2009 meaningful

Select more women candidates for Lok Sabha elections

HOW will we as a nation mark International Women's Day? As in the past with political leaders of all hues paying homage to women, cultural events being held all over the country, foundation stones being laid for women's educational institutions and hostels, government announcing a host of new initiatives and so on.
    And then 'when the hurly-burly's done', it will be back to business as usual. Women will once again be relegated to the back-burner in our gender-insensitive society. That's how it has been for the past many years and there is no reason to expect this year to be any different.
    Unless we decide, yes we can! We can make it different this year. Along with the celebration, and there is much to celebrate, we must introspect on why is it that despite more than 60 years of independence and some of the most successful women leaders, the average Indian woman still ranks among the most deprived sections of society.
    This is no exaggeration. Much has been written about declining sex-ratios and the inexplicable worsening of this ratio in more prosperous regions of the country, violence against women, disparities in wages for male and female labour in rural areas and so on.
    But what is harder to accept is the appalling position of Indian women vis-à-vis their counterparts in South Asia in matters such as access to basic healthcare. Look no further than to the World Bank Report, Sparing Lives: Better Reproductive Health for Poor Women in South Asia released on the eve of this year's Women's Day for corroboration.
    It is a truly damning indictment of the status of women in India. Clearly for all the economic prosperity ushered in by close to 9% GDP growth during the past four years, the life of the average Indian woman is as disadvantaged as before.
    Worse, in many areas such as institutional delivery, coverage and equity in immunisation, Indian women are worse off than women in neighbouring countries; countries, that in terms of per capita income are not only poorer than India but also cannot boast of so many women at the helm of affairs: a woman president, a woman chief minister and a powerful woman political leader at the centre.
    Despite this, the facts read like something out of Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Thus while almost all births take place in institutions in Sri Lanka, in India this number is less than 40%. Again, while there is virtually no difference in the coverage of poor and rich women in Sri Lanka, there are substantial differences in India even when it comes to simple interventions such as tetanus immunisation of mothers. For all the tom-tomming we do of our achievements, the poorest women in Bangladesh have 72% the coverage of the richest; the comparable figure for Pakistan is 63%, but in India the number falls to 55% in urban India and just 37% in rural India.
    Yet it is not as though we cannot do better. Kerala and, more recently Tamil Nadu, show that better and more equitable reproductive health outcomes are possible. All it requires are leaders at the top who genuinely want better outcomes for women. Unfortunately, in a maledominated society like ours, women and their concerns are unlikely to ever be on the frontburner – our experience during the past 60 years is ample proof of that.
    Research suggests that having more women lawmakers does make a difference. Further that quota laws that reserve a certain number of seats in the legislature for women could be a solution in poor countries.
    Today, less than one in ten
legislators in parliament or
state assemblies in India is a
woman. According to PRS Legislative research, women accounted for less than 7% of the
total MLAs in 28 states and two union territories and little over 9% of the total number of MPs in the last Lok Sabha. However, given the opposition from male members of parliament, a quota for women in legislatures is unlikely to become a reality in India.
    But there is a way out. By a strange coincidence, International Women's Day this year coincides with the time of the year when political parties are selecting candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Parties that claim to back the quota bill can select 33% women candidates, something parties in countries like Britain and Germany do voluntarily. It is only then that we will have more to celebrate this day next year.
    mythili.bhusnurmath@timesgroup.com 

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Women promoters beat big daddies

WOMEN executives broke through India Inc's glass ceiling long ago, and it now appears that women promoters are leading the league tables in case of management performance too.
    According to a SundayET study, nine listed companies managed by prominent women promoters fared better than the top 30 firms listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange in yearon-year growth rates for the last five years. The study did not take into account unlisted firms, and companies managed by non-promoter women CEOs.
    The promoters that SundayET chose for this analysis have all made their mark in their respective industries: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon, Sangeeta Reddy of Apollo Hospitals, Shobha Kapoor of Balaji Telefilms, Meher Pudumjee of Thermax, Swati Piramal of Piramal Healthcare, Shobhana Bhartia of HT Media, Sulajja Firodia Motwani of Kinetic Engineering, Sminu Jindal of Jindal Saw and Rajshree Pathy of Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals. We took the annual results of these companies and stacked them up against the aggregate performance of the BSE 30 companies during the last five years.
    And here's the verdict: The nine companies during the last five years grew by a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 35% on the key parameter of income before tax as against a 21% CAGR for the BSE-30 firms.
    Their profits grew by around 56% in last five years, but rose even faster in the last three years at 64%. The BSE-30 companies posted a growth rate of 27% and 23% respectively during the same period. Only one of these nine companies, Kinetic Engg saw a negative annualised growth. It may just be by chance that the major constituents of the BSE-30 registered lower growth. However, the trend is interesting enough to warrant inclusion in this special Women@Work edition. Innovation's the watchword
FOR the BSE 30, the dampner was 13 firms posting a sub 20% CAGR in the last five years. For instance, companies like Tata Power, State Bank of India, Ranbaxy and Hindustan Unilever witnessed single digit growth of 7%, 9%, 6% and 6% respectively in terms of net income. Other heavyweights such as NTPC, ONGC, ITC posted sub 15% income growth.
    According to Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman & MD of Biocon, innovations the watchword for future. "My challenges have evolved along with the evolutionary growth of Biocon. There were a range of challenges starting from credibility issues such as my age, gender and a totally new business model," says she. Shaw says she aims to make Biocon a billion-dollar company in five years. Biocon has grown with a CAGR of 28.41% in the last five years. The company, which started with a capital of Rs 10,000, commands a market capitalisation of Rs 2,052 crore today.
    Meher Pudumjee, who took the chairmanship of Thermax in 2004, agrees that these are difficult times. "The world is going through a structural change. Going forward, our main focus will be on three things – waste minimisation, enhanced marketing and saving cash," says she. Since Pudumjee took over the mantle five years ago, Thermax has witnessed a CAGR of more than 50% in income as well as profit. The net worth has also gone up by more than 70%.
    Apollo Hospitals Enterprise and Piramal Healthcare witnessed a CAGR of around 25% and 21% respectively in the last five years in terms of net income. On the other hand, Balaji Telefilms and Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals grew at a CAGR of 13% and 9%, respectively in the last five years. Jindal Saw, however, registered a massive growth of 58% CAGR during the same period.

Ritu Beri

Chanda Kochar

Ela Bhatt

Genelia D'Souza

Shahnaz Husain

Kiran M Shaw

Naina Lal Kidwai

Sheila Dikshit

Sudha Pillai

Sminu Jindal

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More options needed for empowerment

AS THEfirst woman President of India and as a person involved in public life since the 1960s, I have been witness to the struggle and the effort put in by women as they have taken steps towards their empowerment. I am aware of the constraints and the difficulties that they have encountered. I had also participated in the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women, where the many issues and concerns relating to women were discussed and a global action plan for the development and equality of women was adopted. It is against this background that I am penning down my views.
    I believe that participation of women in all spheres of activity is imperative if the human race is to realise its full potential. Just as a bird flies with two wings and a chariot moves on two wheels, a society needs to have men and women, who are equally strong and capable, for a balanced and sustained growth. If one of them is weak, the journey will never be complete. In India, the contribution of women to nation building has been praiseworthy and there are many success stories. Women have achieved even as they fulfil several demanding responsibilities in their lives. Their role in families and in society as well as their function in the economy often does not receive full appreciation. Many, may be, are unaware that in our agricultural sector more than 60 percent of the workforce comprises women. A full evaluation of their contribution is necessary as I feel that it is lacking, and thus there is some lack of appreciation of their immense contribution.
    An overwhelming majority of our women workforce is in the unorganised sector where the average wages and benefits are far lower than the organised sector. Seasonality of work and lack of alternative avenues add to their difficulties. A focus on these issues along with measures — like access to skill development, training and easy credit — that create more options for their economic empowerment is the way ahead.
    When women have been given opportunities, they have proved to be capable and competent. They are bankers, lawyers, engineers, doctors, researchers and archaeologists. Women have also entered into fields earlier considered to be the domain of men. They have scaled Mount Everest, flown into space, joined the police and the defence forces and have even become navigators in the flying units of the Air Force. In fact, there is hardly any field where women have not entered, but their representation remains inadequate.
    There are still many questions relating to working women. Do women face biases in one form or the other? Do they face pay differentials? Do they feel safe and secure in their work place? Do they face harassment and discrimination? Is there an invisible glass-ceiling that exists for women in many professions and careers? The answer, unfortunately, to all these questions is in the positive. Often it is during the child bearing and child rearing periods in her life, that a woman tends to be left behind in her work. Also, her concerns about child care need to be redressed. These are the many issues which constitute the agenda of women in work places. It is on these that society and employers need to focus on. Education, financial independence critical
WE NEED to make workplaces gender sensitive and adopt a gender sensitive approach in policy formulation as also in implementation. Flexi-work hours, crèches at work places, proper implementation of laws against discrimination and harassment are necessary. Fundamental also is the challenge to bring about social change, so that social biases against women and social evils do not find a place in our behaviour patterns. Agents and tools for change are necessary.
    Education, self-confidence and making women financially independent are critical tools to make women a stronger work force. Our work for empowering women must begin from an early stage of ensuring proper nutrition to the child, equal opportunities of education for the girl child, support schemes to avoid their drop-out from schools and facilities for the continuation of higher education. This will result in equipping them with education and skills to find employment or undertake income generating activities, for which credit facilities should be made available. Also the involvement of women in decision making can make workplaces more conducive to their participation and to establish mechanisms more responsive to their concerns. In India, the role of women representatives in Panchayati Raj institutions and women self-help groups have been promising steps forward. They need to be encouraged.
    Women have many special qualities which arise from their roles as home makers. It is these qualities of harmony and tolerance which makes women natural leaders for inclusive approaches and to build a team spirit to enhance performance. I am confident that with dedication and commitment we will achieve our goal of women empowerment.
    For me personally, working towards eradication of poverty and social evils and the empowerment of women by making them educated, self-reliant and confident partners in the growth and development process, is an important mission of my life.

P R ATI BHA DEVI S I NG H PATI L

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