Let us find a better world

World Trade Centre is aiming to directly impact 3,418,059,380 women around the globe through the Global Economic Summit 2017, focusing on Women Empowerment. It is not philanthropy. WTC Mumbai has taken up this initiative because one, they pay attention and two, because it has an economic motive.

In India, women are discriminated against even before they are born. Nearly 700 thousand girls are killed in the womb; and that is where an uphill struggle for girls starts. The opportunity keeps getting narrower for them. A large number of girls drop out of school at puberty, nearly 45% of girls get married in India before the age of 18 and 70% of the women are yet not a part of the workforce. These numbers paint a grim picture. This could have been anyone, even you the one reading this in the comfort of your couch, sipping at your cup of coffee. Yes, it could have been you, but you got lucky. Let me explain how.

First, you got lucky when you were born in a developed country. Second, you are educated enough to be reading this. But for these two lotteries, your story could have been similar to millions of women in India or in other developing countries. That is why we all owe a debt to the ones who are not as fortunate.

We stand at a very crucial time in history, when a crucial difference can be made simply by making others aware of this reality. India has the second largest number of women in the world. What kind of a country and what kind of a world do we want for ourselves? A world where women lag behind is not just an unequal world but an unjust and unfair world. We do not expect a world such as that, and yet how much effort are we putting in or willing to put in? India has a proud history, and a proud present if we take into account women leaders from several walks of life — from Indira Gandhi to Priyanka Chopra — and yet, they are but a handful. These women make us believe in a world of possibilities, a world where women have equal opportunities.

If the number of women who join the workforce in India, according to IMF, were to increase to the level of men, India’s GDP could grow by 27%. It is amply clear that empowering women means a stronger and better world.

- Prachal Joshie