Gender Equality is the need of the hour

New Delhi:

We need to see women empowerment at the grass-root level where women are skilling themselves and are making the difference. There have been policy shifts that are helping women in this regard.  Gender equality is the need of the hour for Women Empowerment mentioned Ms. Nidhi Khare, Additional Secretary (CA), Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Government of India in a webinar organized by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry on “Entrepreneurship Development and Skilling for Empowered Women: Covid and Post Covid Landscape”. 

Ms. Khare shared that the government has been taking action on ease of doing business; ensuring that women have individual bank accounts leading to independence for many women. There have been many reforms relating to promoting startups to ensure that youth understands its responsibility towards creating wealth, job generation and starting new businesses. There has been emphasis given to women skilling and organisations which are helping small and large women run enterprises.  

Ms. Nidhi Khare mentioned that amidst the pandemic, there is a technology shift and change in the working system. We need to strengthen to home system to adapt to this change. We need to skill youngsters for the development of the nation and we need to ensure gender equality in the future. The country needs to prepare itself for different roles with the coming of AI, automation and other developments.  

Dr. Rajni Aggarwal, President, Federation of Indian Women Entrepreneurs (FIWE) while discussing the difficulties faced by women in society and home, discussed that skilling is happening at grassroots, home, and at business levels. There is a need to handhold women entrepreneurs which helps them grow and develop their business. 

Ms. Arpanaa Deb, Ambassador, Vestige while shared her views about direct marketing which has helped her to be empowered and independent. Direct marketing is a suitable form of a working model for women as its flexible, has a wider reach, and focuses on relationship development. Direct marketing companies are educating women to be entrepreneurs which are helping women in getting independent and become self-reliant. 

Dr. Alka Kaul, Director, Horizon Industries Products Pvt Ltd while sharing her journey as an entrepreneur mentioned that we don’t want to be better than me, we just want to have our space and acknowledgment in society. There is a need to educate gender equality in the school itself so that these societal stigmas and barriers can be removed in the future.  

Mr. Sanjay Aggarwal, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in his presidential address lauded the front-line warriors who are undauntedly working towards containing the spread of Covid and treating a large number of suffering people. PHD Chamber extends solidarity with the Government and the people fighting against this pandemic. He discussed the rise in women-owned enterprises in India which is providing process and employment opportunities to many people around the area. 

Mr. Aggarwal mentioned that with the constant rise in the working-age population in the country, there is a need for creating jobs, fuelling innovation, and furthering investment in health and education, entrepreneurship among women could transform India’s economy and society. Skilling is the key to raising women's participation in the workforce which can boost India's GDP. The use of technology, promotion of incubation space, and setting up of upskilling centers would equip and enable women to participate in the ongoing fourth industrial revolution.

Though this pandemic has created tough times for the industry, especially the MSMEs and hence the budding and thriving entrepreneurs have found it to be an uphill task to survive the economic slowdown. Yet we believe that the Indian people are very enterprising and they will surely overcome this crisis and will thrive again. The direct selling industry has been contributing significantly to women entrepreneurship and making it a reliable and consistent livelihood support esp. during these pandemic times and needs to be encouraged and pushed forward. It is time that we give it a formal shape and recognition as also make skilling a focused area for these budding entrepreneurs, said Mr. Sanjay Aggarwal. 

Mr. Pradeep Multani, Sr. Vice President, PHD Chamber of Commerce talked about the importance of women in society and the importance of women empowerment for the effective development of the country. He mentioned that it’s essential for women to be skilled to be able to better serve their families at home as well as professionally. Skill development not only creates employment opportunities but also empowers them.

Mr. Gautam Bali, Chair, Direct Marketing committee, PHD Chamber in his theme address shared that India has more women-owned enterprises than many other countries and this will grow in the years to come. Women entrepreneurship directly affects income, employment, and capital formation while indirectly benefitting household-level resource allocation. Supporting women entrepreneurs not only improves their livelihood but also creates jobs.

Mr. Jayant Krishna, Chair Skill, and Entrepreneurship Development Committee, PHD Chamber while discussing the economic growth of the nation, there is a need to creating equal job roles for the country especially in the area of entrepreneurship and direct selling and marketing. 

Mr. Ajay Khanna, Co-Chair, Skill, and Entrepreneurship Development Committee, PHD Chamber discussed the rise in women entrepreneurs and increase in direct selling industry among women which enable women flexible working and profitable returns. 

Mr. Atul P Anand, Director, Skill and Entrepreneurship Development Committee, PHD Chamber in his concluding remarks mentioned that there is a need to promote skilling in all sectors. 

Ms. Kadambari, Co-Chair, Skill, and Entrepreneurship Development Committee, PHD Chamber while proposing the formal vote of thanks to all the august delegates and audience, mentioned that there is a need for developing gender-responsive strategies for skill development for women – who are no less than men. Empowering women socially, economically, educationally, politically, and legally is important for socio-economic development. 

The webinar was moderated by Mr. Vivek Seigell, Assistant Secretary-General, PHD Chamber and was attended by Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary-General, PHD Chamber along with many industry stalwarts pan-India. 

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s webinar was supported by Vestige Marketing Pvt Lmt  along with DLF India; Multani Pharmaceuticals Ltd; JK Tyre & industries ltd; Marble City; Paramount Cables ltd; SMC Investments and Advisors Limited; Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic; DCM Shriram Industries ltd; Radico Khaitan ltd and Timberworkz.