The IIFA Awards are a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Bollywood , including the actors and actresses who have seemingly attained a ‘god-like’ status among millions of fans. Some of the most popular actresses are: The peerless Aishwarya Rai , the much-decorated Sonakshi Sinha and rising star Sonam Kapoor. It might also be a good time, however, to celebrate a couple of other Indian women who are arguably doing even more for the greater good of the society.
Born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in 1955, Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi is today the CEO of PepsiCo, and was rated by Fortune Magazine, each year between 2006 and 2010, as the most powerful business woman in the World. Serving as Pepsi’s CFO since 2001, Nooyi has garnered extensive accolades for her part in Pepsi’s dramatic rise in revenue and profit during the same period. She has been praised for her dynamic leadership, decisiveness and ability to rally her organization to a cause.
That a little girl born and raised in Chennai has grown up to become the most powerful business woman in the world is a stirring testament to the power of her dreams, the foundation provided by her family, and the nation that shaped her. I like the story of Indra Nooyi, for it is a reminder – powerful, tangible and inspiring – of the enduring promise of the daughters of India.
Just as little girls in India today may be inspired to play tennis because of Sania Mirza, or to become an astronaut because of Kalpana Chawla, they may also dream of reaching the top of the business world, because of Indra Nooyi.
Growing up in Chennai, Nooyi developed in an environment that would lay the groundwork for her future success, though she probably busted through a few more glass ceilings than anyone thought she would. A Hindu, she attended a Catholic school. She played cricket, and even started her own rock band in high school. She was allowed to express herself, with numerous interests outside the classroom.
The story of Indra Nooyi seems all the more poignant to me after reading recent articles detailing with the growing number of female fetuses being aborted in India. Easy access to ultrasound has become a tool for evil, and combined with the pressure to have a son, has resulted in a form of “gendercide”. The long term consequences to the country could be dire, as such a dramatic shortage of girls will inevitably lead to increasing social problems among a restless young male population. The tragedy is not that most little girls in India may not reach the same heights as Indra Nooyi, but rather, that so many will never even have the chance, their lives cruelly snuffed out simply because of their gender.
The need for collective honesty and effort when it comes to women’s issues is one reason why I support an initiative that might be distasteful to many traditional Indians.
Recently, a young Delhi based woman named Umang Sabarwal launched on Facebook a plan for ‘SlutWalk New Delhi’. The idea originated in my home city, Toronto. A local police officer said that women should avoid dressing like ‘sluts’ to prevent being raped, and in so doing paid homage to the great lie – perverse, self serving and chauvinistic – that how a woman dresses somehow excuses verbal and physical sexual harassment. The successful ‘SlutWalk’ in Toronto ended up spawning similar events in a number of other North American cities.
Sabarwal, 19, says she is concerned about women’s safety in her home city, and about the shameless ‘eve teasing’ carried out with seeming impunity by men in public. Predictably, much of the feedback directed at Sabarwal and her initiative has been decidedly negative. But Sabarwal says she will press ahead. ‘SlutWalk New Delhi’ is scheduled for some time near the end of July. The great problems of a society – and all societies have them – are not solved, or lessened, or made less bearable, by a quiet resignation, or by the pretense that they don’t exist. Societies and countries become better, more just and more fulfilled when the problems are first acknowledged, and then tackled with diligence and forethought. Umang Sabarwal understands this, and has demonstrated a courage that belies her years.
To reach the pinnacle of the business world. To insist on the right to walk the streets of Delhi dressed as one desires, without enduring verbal or physical harassment. Indra Nooyi and Umang Sabarwal, despite their significant differences, are both contributing to a brighter future for India’s daughters. Both, through example and action, are championing the complete emancipation of Indian women.
Check out ‘SlutWalk New Delhi’ on Facebook, and offer your support. And the next time you have a glass of wine with friends or family, raise a toast to these remarkable Indian women, whose extraordinary examples make their country proud, and indeed, make our world a better place.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Contributors> Indra Nooyi / by Jair Irwin / June 28th, 2013