1. 120 Woman’s Era ● April (First) 2014
The new conqueror. By Megha Jetley
“Women are leaders everywhere
you look – from the CEO who runs a
Fortune 500 company to the
housewife who raises her children
and heads her household. Our
country was built by strong women,
and we will continue to break down
walls and defy stereotypes.”
– Nancy Pelosi
O
n the occasion of Inter-
national Womenʼs Day,
the Indo-French Chamber
of Commerce & Industry in
collaboration with Alliance
Francaise de Delhi jointly
organised a seminar on
Women in India: The
Success Stories on 6th
March 2014.
Anjali Patil, head of BNP Paribas
India, moderated the discussion and
led it through different topics related
to women in the corporate world and
to the participantsʼ own success
stories. Here are a few topics which
were discussed in the event.
Is the journey for women similar
in every professional sector?
As a lawyer in Supreme Court,
Karuna Nundy has witnessed an
equal balance in the law schools
between men and women but things
change with career aspects. Women
in law schools are more likely to go to
law firms where they will find security.
There is actually a glass ceiling.
When it comes to real power, the
deconstruction of patriarchy becomes
very difficult.
The role of family support
For Renu Sethi, head of Corporate
Affairs, family support has played a
crucial role. It pushed her to become
independent, move forward in her
career and take up new challenges.
Anjali Patil admits, “We all grew
up with the privileges. These
privileges are not wealth. It is growing
up, knowing that you will get an
education and that you wonʼt have to
fight for it”.
How to change the dynamics on
a national level?
For Shalini Sarin, VP HR
schneider electric, there is a bilingual
language that women have to speak
in the office space. You will still hear
people saying that a woman is not
really committed to her work because
she keeps discussing family.
But you also see a lot of
programmes emerging to sensitise
men about womenʼs issues and show
them that it is okay to bring family
discussion to office because it is part
of life.
Women are used to deferring
and backing down. Is it something
women should still be doing?
Kalyani Chawla, VP M&C
Christian dior, remembers her
situation twenty years ago when she
used to work with someone who held
a better degree but who was
incapable of performing well. He was
earning more than her but there was
nothing she could do. She didnʼt want
to sound belligerent.
H. E. François Richier, spoke
about the tragic rape in Delhi on 16th
December 2012 and Indiaʼs image
following this incident. However, he
explained the situation is quite
serious in France as well since about
75 women were raped last year.
“Now, the priority in France is to
ensure equality between men and
women and control violence”. He
ended his speech with a quote by the
American psychologist, Timothy
Leary, “Women who seek to be equal
with men lack ambition”.
Sunand Sharma, President of
IFCCI also welcomed the gathering.
He highlighted the importance to
communicate gender issues to the
civil society which we are all a part of.
WOMEN IN INDIA
The Penallists of event discussing
ʻWomen leaders in corporate worldʼ.

2. “These are not issued that we should
talk about on this specific day only
but 365 days a year”, he explained.
Payal S. Kanwar, Regional
Director of IFCCI introduced the chief
guest, Indira Jaising, First Woman
Additional Solicitor General of India
who shared her personal experience
and journey. She represented some
of the most amazing women in India.
A recent case that she holds close to
her heart is that of Dr. Ujjwala and
her son Rohit who were also present
at the event. They fought to compel
Rohitʼs father to acknowledge the
paternity of his son. For Jaising, the
case was one of the most dramatic
and history-making cases in India.
Very few women may come out and
stand by their son in this situation
because of social stigma attached to
illegitimate children.
The panel discussion ended with a
Question and Answer session where
the audience asked for solutions to
safety, status, gender equality, acid
throwing, domestic violence stemming
out of dowry, rape, harassment and
an assortment of others.
Women themselves need to
encourage one another to go out and
explore their desire, destiny and to
let them be independent. And this is
not possible without the support from
their male counterparts.
In the question answer round the
panellists were asked a few
questions:
How can the problem of dowry
be tackled? Even girls with high
profile jobs and family background
are wedded with dowry today.
Shalini Sarin: Girls today are
aware and conscious but we need to
bring change in the mindset of the
parents of the boy. The boy needs to
join the movement of saying no to
dowry. Mother should teach their
boys to start to collaborate and treat
girls equally.
If we say that wealth and
education donʼt necessarily mean
“empowerment” for women, then
what does empowerment mean?
Renu Sethi: It means a woman is
able to make decisions, access the
culture and traditions must be ended.
There is a need for progressive and
healthy norms that can come to
power only through some new social
reforms.
We see many debates and
discussions about empowerment
and safety for women with no
results? What do you have to say
about it.
Renu Sethi: Nothing can be
changed in one day and of course
things have changed, Woman today
is contributing in corporate world and
in every sector. Women have learnt
to stand on their feet having their own
identity. We, as a working women,
have come a long way and much
ground is still to be covered.
Women reservation in
Parliament is much talked about?
Do you think it will really help in
empowering women?
Shalini Sarin: I am actually not in
favour of this whole quota system. I
am in favour of merit. It has been 100
years since we are working for
woman empowerment. We have this
quota system at the entry level in
education and then for government
job. We need to do something
different to have women in
Parliament, Else after 100 years we
will say that nothing happened.
Woman’s Era ● April (First) 2014 121
We
Chief guest Indira Jaising with H. E. Francois Richier.
The event was sponsored by
Accor Hotels, Avène (gift sponsor)
and Fratelli Wines with Womanʼs
Era as its media partner. This event
was an occasion to celebrate
women; their respective journeys
and rise in career. It was attended
by an audience of more than 60
people. H. E. Francois Richier,
Ambassador of France to India,
honoured the event with his
presence. The programme started
with a welcome speech by Mr Jean-
Philippe Bottin, Director of Alliance
Francaise de Delhi.
tools she needs, join a womenʼs
group, and take on leadership roles
and tackle shared problems in the
community.
She should remain healthy and
productive in her multiple roles.We
know that empowering women is not
only the right thing to do – itʼs the
smart thing to do.
What do you think about the
Khaap Panchayats which has
always been brutal towards
women?
Karuna Nundy: The Khap
Panchayats have been powerful due
to the intrinsic weakness. In many
villages because of no legal action
against them. Such evils of our