Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Smriti Zubin Irani has emphasised that building a gender-equity ecosystem is essential for empowering women, making them self-reliant, and preparing them for the future. She underlined the importance of placing women at the core of development policies to ensure inclusive and sustainable growth.
Irani made these remarks while addressing the We4Her Foundation's flagship event held on Saturday, where she launched two significant reports focusing on gendered urban planning and the contributions of women-led green startups. “To future-proof us, we need to put women at the centre,” Irani said during her keynote. “Make them independent enough to lead voices, shape gender narratives—and don’t just amplify a voice, build it, believe in it, back it.”
The event, organised in partnership with advisory firm Primus Partners, brought together a diverse set of participants including policymakers, corporate representatives, NGOs, and grassroots leaders. According to an official statement, the discussions revolved around strategies to make Indian cities safer, more inclusive, and more supportive of women's participation in the workforce.
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Key topics included women’s workforce participation, gender-sensitive infrastructure, financial inclusion, and the broader need for urban environments that respond to women’s specific needs. The two reports released at the event presented insights from field studies conducted in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bhopal. The first report explored how access to public transit and perceptions of safety directly affect women's employment opportunities in urban areas. The second, under the UnPollute 2024 initiative, profiled successful women-led sustainable businesses that are contributing to environmental resilience.
Findings from the studies revealed that traditional, gender-neutral approaches to urban planning often ignore the distinct needs of women, inadvertently creating barriers to their economic and social participation. The statement noted, “The report found that the lack of safe and reliable public transportation, inadequate sanitation facilities, and poor street lighting significantly restrict women’s mobility and access to work.”
In light of these findings, the study recommended the integration of gender-sensitive principles in urban design and planning. It called for prioritising safety, accessibility, and inclusivity to ensure that cities support the active participation of women in all spheres of life. The event concluded with a collective call to action for stakeholders across sectors to champion a more equitable and supportive urban future for women.
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