Show of Women Power at 3rd Women Leadership Workshop

The 3rd Women Leadership Workshop (WLW) was held on April 5, 2023, at Hotel Aloft in Aerocity, New Delhi. The workshop brought together women from diverse backgrounds, industries, and career stages to engage in dynamic and interactive discussions around issues of women in leadership positions in society. Led by experienced professionals in the field of politics, bureaucracy, academia, etc, the workshop was full of diverse and engaging perspectives on women leadership

The inaugural session was about introducing the concept of the Women’s Leadership Workshop 2023 and discussing its essence. After the felicitation of dignitaries, Hansa Patel, Executive Advisor, AIILSG, addressed the gathering, followed by Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General, AIILSG. They welcomed the delegates and spoke about the Workshop’s history. It was a knowledge-sharing platform where the countries learned from each other; for instance, Ashok Kumar Byanju, President of UCLG ASPAC, said that there’s a law in Nepal for a mandatory 33 per cent reservation for women in the Parliament ensuring representation of women in politics. Dr Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, Secretary General, UCLG ASPAC, spoke about an important aspect of gender equality that we often forget: the inclusivity of men. Women empowerment can only be achieved with the support and understanding of men. Vijaya Rahatkar, former mayor of Aurangabad and former Chairperson of the State Women Commission of Maharashtra was the chief guest. She spoke about India’s age-old practice of taking the name of its goddesses first. She also highlighted India’s achievements in creating self-help groups, which are women collectives at the grassroot level.

Session 1: Women, Power, and Leadership

The first session of the Women Leadership Workshop saw an eminent panel of speakers. The session discussed importance of women in leadership roles and their day-to-day challenges. Rina Shah, former mayor of Bhavnagar, chaired the session. She said, “Women always try to balance work (professional life) and home (personal life), and try to manage both to their best. So, we can say that women are the best managers.”
Karuna Gopal, Founder and President of the Foundation for Futuristic Cities, highlighted that if world leaders focused more on women empowerment than other development goals, the world would have become a better place and achieved all the goals.
Kalanidhi Devkota, Executive Director of the Municipal Association of Nepal talked about how Nepal has succeeded in protecting the rights of the local governments and ensured that women get quota in all three tiers of government. “We now have 22 executive rights of local governments written in the constitution which is perhaps the biggest achievement in the whole South Asia […] At the local level we have secured 40 per cent women participation, from Mayors to ward councillors and Chairperson.”
Rosy Senanayake, Mayor of Colombo, Sri Lanka, stated that Sri Lanka has a 93-94 per cent female literacy rate. In terms of maternal mortality, because of a good primary healthcare system, Sri Lanka have secured 72nd position in terms of the achievement of SDGs. However, this is not the whole picture. Even though women’s contribution to the GDP is high, women are mostly engaged in low-paid labour-oriented jobs. “They are not engaged in the decision-making realm,” she said. Participation of women in politics is also low. In the national assembly, women participation hasn’t gone beyond six per cent while at the provincial level, it is two per cent. In 2015, it was made mandatory for the local councils to have 25 per cent women.
Dr Beena Phillip, mayor of Kozhikode, pointed out women are called ‘the second sex’ in everyday language perhaps because they have always been considered inferior to men. Giving examples from different religions of the world, she showed that this is an age-old belief. She said that both women and men both have to go beyond the barrier of gender in order to achieve gender equality. Women need to have trust in their own capabilities and not try to imitate men.
Sulochna Das, the Mayor of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation said that her city Bhubaneswar is on the path of development and climate resilience, since is it prone to disasters. And this has been made possible only because of including women in the development process. “No one wants to see a woman in power,” she said. One has to be from a reputed family, or have good education and connections for a woman to make it in politics. In the 115 ULBs in Orissa, there is 50 per cent reservation for women, but the participation of women is 80 per cent.

Session 2: Importance of Quota for Women in Politics

Session two discussed whether there should be quota for women in politics. Hemanthi Goonasekera, CEO of the Federation of Sri Lankan Local Govt Authorities (FSLGA), moderated the session and introduced the theme and described why it is pertinent. Male to Female Ratio in the world is 50-50, but only a limited number of women are heads of states or speakers in the Parliament. However, at the local level, the representation of women in politics is one-third. And that is because of the reservation of seats for women. Reservation in politics is vital because women prioritise issues differently than men. One gender cannot possibly represent our society’s different perspectives and opinions. For instance, in the Philippines, according to Stephany Uy- Tan, City Councillor, Catbalogan City, Philippines, most leaders prioritise infrastructure. But when she became the first female village mayor, she prioritised women’s empowerment and ensured the representation of women.
Whether the quota system has proved useful in bringing more women into politics, Prof Sneha Palnitkar said that because of the 74th amendment, many women entered politics. Political parties wouldn’t have voluntarily brought about this change. Since women don’t usually tend to aspire to politics, the quota system really helped the climb the ladder to leadership positions.

Session 3: Women Entrepreneurship and Wellness

This session was about the inspirational and successful entrepreneurial journey of women. The panellists were from various walks of life and spoke about the challenges of having an entrepreneurial life and their successful journey. The session was chaired by Preeti Singh Mundra, Deputy Director of NEREDCO. She emphasised having events of this kind to recognise the barriers and challenges women face and find ways to empower and uplift women in society.
The first speaker of the session, Dr Ananta Raghuvanshi, mentioned that entrepreneurial life is quite challenging, but this only allows women to have economic freedom, which is a way to live independently and not lead a boring life. “Normal is boring, right? Challenging is quite exciting and especially in the field of entrepreneurship and handling business.”
Challenges for the newer generation of entrepreneurs remain the same with very little improvement, said Aakriti Rawal, CEO of House of Chikankari. She also spoke about how millennials and Gen Z need purposeful entrepreneurial journeys and focus on building more prominent brands.
On the other hand, Madhulika Bajpai, Associate Professor, University of Delhi, highlighted the biases that women face in their everyday life and how women should take a stand against them. “A male boss can be boss, but a female boss can be bossy, which shows that we see the world through a gendered lens.”
Madeline Arlene, former Mayor of Iriga City, Philippines, stated that five per cent of her country’s budget goes to the gender and development and upliftment of women.
The last speaker Hina Shafi Bhat mentioned how the state of Jammu and Kashmir has developed over the years, and the new generations are working towards being financially independent by choosing the entrepreneurial life.