Men need to understand that women are their equals, says Cherie Blair at GES

There is a need to change the perception of society and especially young men towards working women and their careers, said Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation on Wednesday in Hyderabad at the 8th edition of Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES).

"If women got to do anything in this world, we have to do something about men. Men need to understand that they are their equals, Men need to understand that women face obstacles that they don't and men need to do their share as well," said Blair who is also the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Stressing that the mindset of society plays an important role, she said that young men need to change their thinking that a women's career is secondary to theirs.

Explaining the difficulties that women entrepreneurs face, she said even now also, many women were told about what they could not do, rather than what they could do.

Blair also expressed disappointment at India's dismal women workforce participation while emphasizing that it was a disadvantage for the economy and giving the necessary tools of information, technology and capital could help women surpass many barriers.

"More women being part of workforce will lead to stronger economies. Most of the research shows that, Mackenzie recently published a report which shows that the World GDP will increase by 28 trillion dollars if women are given access to opportunities that men have," Blair added.

Blair was speaking at the "Workforce Development and Skills Training" session moderated by K.T. Rama Rao, Minister for IT E&C, Telangana at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017.

The other panelists at the Session included Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Bank, Karen Quintos, Chief Customer Officer, Dell EMC and Ivanka Trump, Advisor to the President of the United States.

With the theme of "Women First, Prosperity for All," this is the first GES in which women are participating in majority with over 52.5 per cent of the participants.

-ANI