Somewhat of a trailblazer for women journalists, former editor of 'Vanity Fair' and 'The New Yorker' Tina Brown says she decided to bring the popular 'Women In The World' summit to India as the country is engaging with gender issues like never before.
"We wanted to bring the summit here because India is having such an interesting moment in the gender conversation. You see women asserting themselves and reaching the top but at the same time there is this push and pull between tradition and modernity. There are forces that hold them back," Brown told PTI in an interview.
Among celebrities attending the WITW summit this year are Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett, 'Fire' team of Deepa Mehta, Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, actor Madhuri Dixit, corporate honcho Naina Lal Kidwai, Obiageli Ezekwesili and US diplomat Samantha Power.
After leaving her imprint in journalism, Brown, who became editor at the age of 25 of 'Tatler' and also the author of a bestselling biography of Princess Diana, said she realised women in emerging countries were fighting regressive forces to assert themselves but were absent in the mainstream media.
The summit is something of a passion project for her and while she struggled to get sponsors initially, she says she is happy to see it expanding from the US to UK and now India.
"I was on the board of an NGO Vital Voices and I kept hearing such inspiring stories of these feisty, fiery women from emerging countries but they were not present in the media. I wanted to bring those voices to the stage. The summit began as a small event but took off immediately. Hillary Clinton came and Meryl Streep was my co-host," she said.
Brown believes that while security is a major issue for women in India, gender violence is not country specific as the aggression against them is growing everywhere.
"Violence against women is a worldwide problem and not just in India. In daily life, there is this bubble of biases that people are not even aware of... People who think that they don't have prejudices can have those prejudices and it may condition their responses," the 61-year-old said.
When asked whether gender was ever an issue in her career,
Brown said she did not give it much thought at that time.
"I was too busy blazing ahead to kind of notice but when I look back I realise there were barriers that frustrated me on the way up. I am more aware of these issues, much more sensitized so that I can make it easier for my daughter."
The media doyenne thinks the battle against gender discrimination is ongoing.
"Forces of regression and repression keep surging up and we have learnt that the freedom that you think you have won, you necessarily haven't. You have to be constantly vigilant about it," she said.
The WINTW summit may be keeping her busy but Brown has been working on a book about her time in media.
"I haven't had much time but it will look back at the media and how much it has changed. Journalists are under tremendous stress today to be able to write the stories that they want to write," Brown said.
She said she finds former prime minister Indira Gandhi a fascinating character.
"I would certainly like to see another biography of Indira Gandhi. I have read two books on her but she is very fascinating and can be reevaluated. She is so complicated and so under-explored. I think she is a great topic for a book."
The WINTW summit was launched by Brown in 2010 in New York City and has since taken place all over the world.
