- A fireside chat between Indian, and Norwegian diplomats at AED 2024 puts the spotlight on women
- Women power untapped in finance, economy, banking, boardrooms, labor force, and entrepreneurship: Indian diplomat
- International cooperation needed for improving a lot of women: Norwegian diplomat
PUNE: There are more women in politics and governance now than before but their representation in the corporate sector, especially in areas of finance, economy, banking, boardrooms, labor force and entrepreneurship, should be increased. Also, she said there has been a debate going on about increasing reservation of women from 33% to 50% in the Indian Parliament but it has not been realized. The views were expressed by Amb. Latha Reddy, former Deputy National Security Advisor of India, and former Ambassador of India to Portugal and Thailand.
She was speaking at the Fireside Chat with Anniken Huitfeldt, former Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the topic ‘Women and Geo-economics’ on day one of the three-day Asia Economic Dialogue (AED) being held in Pune from February 29 to March 2, 2024.
The AED is an annual international geo-economics conference organized jointly by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Pune International Centre (PIC). The theme this year is: ‘Geo-economics in an Era of Flux’
Reddy said it is a positive change that economic diplomacy has gained more importance than political diplomacy and more number of IFS women are presently serving the nation, with India having had three women foreign secretaries so far and 30-40% of diplomats currently being women, while the number was only around 10 percent when she was in service. This, she said, is a positive change.
On women as victims of domestic violence, she said as rural to urban transition is happening in India, there are adaptation issues in society but today’s women are challenging old perspectives. She said inequality comes from different perspectives of men and women, where women’s opinions are not valued as much as of men and women are seen to be not as tough as men in decision making and so are put in stereotypical roles like HR, CSR and client interaction and management. Therefore, the ecosystem should be conducive for the development of women in all sectors, she added.
Anniken Huitfeldt highlighted the problem of work-life balance faced by women. Drawing from her own experience of raising three children, she said there is no infrastructure to take care of children. She said women as refugees and in wartime need more help and support. She said international cooperation is required to improve the situation of women, and that they should be provided access to education for them to be decision-makers.
46 speakers from 11 countries are participating in AED 2024 in 12 sessions over three days. Day 2 (March 1) will have sessions on ‘Generative AI: Impact on Organisations and Society’; conversation on ‘India’s Role in Information Technology and Digital Diplomacy’; ‘The Third Globalisation’; ‘The Future Automobile and Future Fuels’; ‘Drones: Revolutionising the Future?’; and ‘India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC): A New Spice Route?’.
Day 3 will have sessions on ‘Reimagining and Revitalising the World Trade Organization’; ‘Critical and Emerging Technologies (CET): Securing our Future’; and ‘Expanding Regional Connectivity: Towards a More Integrated South Asia’. The Chief Guest at the Valedictory Session will be R K Singh, Minister for Power, New and Renewable Energy, GoI. It will be chaired by Dr. Vijay Kelkar, Vice President, PIC, and Chairman of the 13th Finance Commission.
