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An Emerging Voice on Women’s Equality: Together we can bring change

Anando Sangbad Live: TRIBE cafe, located at Golpark area, is popular as a meeting point for artists and intellectuals and has always believed in human creativity. Keeping the spirit alive, TRIBE cafe organised a special interactive session on “Women’s equality: Not only a gender issue, also an economic issue”  in the esteemed presence of Ms. Shilpa Chakraborty, Mr. Sanjay Roy Chowdhury,  and Mr. Pinaki Ranjan Ghosh, the Co- Founders of TRIBE Cafe, along with a beautiful and empowered women panelists like Ms. Ruby Ray, Entrepreneur,  Ms. Janet Gasper Chowdhury, Entrepreneur, Education, Ms. Sonali Bhattacharya, Sr. Director, Cognizant, Ms. Chama Mookerjhi,  Advocate,   High Court, Ms. Ritusmita Biswas,  Media Entrepreneur and Ms. Jayashree Mohanka, Entrepreneur. The session contributed to changing the narrative on how women are seen and perceived

TRIBE invited women leaders from various walks of life to share their journey, achievements, challenges and some thoughts for the future generations.There were two panel discussions organised this time. In the first session, Ms.  Ruchismita Biswas – former journalist and media entrepreneur and Ms. Sonali Bhattacharya – IT professional took part. They talked about the importance of understanding and managing personal finance by women today.  In the second discussion, Ms. Ruby Ray – Entrepreneur and former marketing professional, Ms. Chama Mukherjee – Senior Advocate of Kolkata High Court and Supreme Court of India, Ms. Janet Gasper Chowdhury – Educationist & Ms. Jayashree Mohanka – Entrepreneur took part. They stressed on the importance of why a woman should invest time on self-development and health. Both the discussions were moderated by Tribe’s own Shilpa Chakraborty.

The session put light on issues that have been deep rooted in the minds of many i.e. various jobs in the economy are gender-stereotyped even today. It is not men and women that are stereotyped but also jobs.  Many such thoughts still prevails that for example, public relations, nursing, and teaching are considered “female-gendered” occupations, whereas law, marketing, stock trading, engineering, and construction are considered “male-gendered”. Such thoughts and mindset has to be diminished. An individual, be it a man or woman should be selected for the job based on the ability, skills and job requirements and should be based on what his or her gender is. It is true that yes ‘Gendered’ Jobs are on the decline, but still many stereotypes remain.  We, both men and women, have to put a united front on this.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Shilpa Chakraborty, Mr. Sanjay Roy Chowdhury & Mr. Pinaki Ranjan Ghosh, the Co- Founders of TRIBE Café said, “Many studies have proved that women’s equality is good for the economy and it cannot be disregarded if our country wants to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth. For far too long, gender inequalities have been limiting women’s economic opportunities and we all know that women’s equality is crucial for the entire economy. We feel honoured to share the platform at TRIBE, with some of the most talented and empowered women personalities from the city. ”

The session concluded on thoughts that remind us that all women should have the courage to speak up. While there is certainly progress in gender equality, we still have a long way to go and often having the courage to challenge may help others understand something they would have ordinarily overlooked. It is the collective duty to challenge the status quo, and we need greater “allyship” between men and women in order to achieve this, as real change cannot happen by the will or efforts of one group alone.

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