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Focus on putting best systems in place for women to contribute to growth: Justice Prathiba M Singh, Judge, Delhi High Court
Aug 10, 2022
- Asian countries have always given respectful position to women due to cultural, religious background
NEW DELHI, 10 August 2022: Hon'ble Ms Justice Prathiba M Singh, Judge, Delhi High Court today said, "India has recognized the contribution of women in various sectors including the Mars mission and India will be prosperous if it respects its women. We (women) are lucky to be in a country like India where the country is much more progressive about women being in leadership roles especially at the middle and the higher level."
Speaking on the increase women participation in science, innovation and STEM field, Justice Prathiba Singh said that we must look at the amount of investment the system is making while we educate all our women in various educational institutes, 40-50 per cent women are educated in science. "It is not about women empowerment, but it is about putting the best systems in place to make sure that the systems are women friendly, flexible enough to allow women to use their educational qualifications and contribute to country's progress. We talk about the brain-drain, but the hidden brain-drain is in India because we have not allowed women to come out and contribute to the GDP," she added.
Justice Prathiba Singh further stated that women are very inventive, creative and it is quite intuitive for women to be inventive. "Mentally we (women) are very intuitive, creative and inventive but why is that we are not able to translate our capabilities into actual material inventions which can be commercialized. This will help women in making more progress in society and in their own business," she emphasized.
Enumerating on the schemes launched by the government in promoting greater women participation including the Vigyan Jyoti Scheme, GATI Scheme (Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions), Science and Engineering Research Board, Indo-US Fellowship for Women in STEM, etc., Justice Prathiba Singh emphasized that the schemes have helped to increase women participation in the society. "These schemes which are launched needs to be scaled up 200 times. We are on the right path," she added.
Highlighting the increase role of women participation in High Courts, Justice Prathiba Singh said that the Delhi High Court has 12 women judges and Madras High Court has around 14 women judges. "We are a big community of women judges and lawyers and we have created women forums where we have regular interactions and encourage older women to come into law. There is a huge opportunity in the field of innovation to do mentorship," she added.
Dr Vibha Dhawan, Director General, TERI said, "Focus is always given on how to raise our daughters, but we don't talk about on how to raise our sons. We have to teach them that both are equal. The entire society has to change if we need to excel, and the first change maker is women herself."
Ms Anandi Iyer, Chairperson, FICCI WISE Council, Member, FICCI ST&I Committee and Director, Fraunhofer India stated that we need to ensure that all levels the representation and the participation of women goes up. "We should have a play book that provides a level-playing field for any founder including women. We must look at providing more equality-based opportunity, bringing women to where they belong there by making the world a much more equitable proposition and ensuring in the process that organizations and society gets a value out of it," she added.
Ms Iyer also announced that on the occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, FICCI WISE Council will mentor and inspire 75,000 girl children to encourage them into STEM, in co-operation with DST, corporate players like Sterling, Emerson and Tech Mahindra and Academia like MBL University.
Mr Jagdish Mitra, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Growth, Tech Mahindra said any nation that has developed has given impetus to its diversity and equal opportunities to women leadership which has led to the growth.