Indian women parliamentarians like Dr. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Meenakshi Lekhi and others in a rare occasion came together on the first day of the Budget session to discuss and voice their consensus in favor of education and skills for Indian women.
The session highlighting the theme of 'Changing Lives - Women for Women: Shifting the conversation - From Empowerment to Equality', witnessed female and male Members of Parliament on the significant role that women MPs play in empowering women of the country, especially economically.
Meenakshi Lekhi said that women should be made technologically savvy. This will bring about equality for women. Besides skill training should be the baseline for women and these positive interventions at various levels would be effective in giving women a stronger economic background.
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that women empowerment and equality go hand-in-hand and education and innovation can decide the fate of women. She added that there was no need for reservation for women if goodwill prevailed in the society to promote women in various spheres of life.
Arpita Ghosh said that there was a need for change in the mindset of the people. She urged FICCI to take up skill development initiative in her far-flung constituency which misses out on the opportunity available to women in urban areas. She added that people in her constituency were highly cultured but needed support to shed their inhibitions.
In her welcome remarks, Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Immediate Past President FICCI, quoted a recent statement by a bench of Supreme Court judges that women are no longer passive recipients of welfare-enhancing help but are increasingly becoming active agents of change. She said that there is a close relationship between economic development and women's empowerment. Equality ensures empowerment, she pointed out.
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Akshay BD, Founding Member, Uber India Team, said, "We are excited to partner with FICCI FLO to create economic opportunities for women on the Uber platform. Our women driver partners prefer Uber due to the flexibility of being able schedule their work around their family commitments and this often becomes a key to creating sustainable economic opportunities for them. With this partnership, drivers will make up to Rs. 40,000 per month."
The MPs said that to give women equal rights, the country needed statesmen who had the ability to think long-term, keeping in mind the aspirations of the future generations. They agreed that education and skill development were critical for women empowerment and equality besides mentorship, internships and training programmes should be organized to teach women the nuances of running a business.