Vidya Shah

It is essential that we provide women with equal opportunities to make a living, develop a sense of self-worth, improve their financial and social standing, and assert their independence

Institutions working for women empowerment need to look beyond the simple measures, and into gaps of skilling, financing, and a social safety net for women in rural and semi-urban areas

Boosting women entrepreneurship cannot be achieved in silos. Individual players at the macro level in the ecosystem—the government, NGOs, financial institutions, policymakers and legal experts among others—must work in tandem

Most semi-urban and rural Indian women who want to run their own micro-companies are either unaware of welfare schemes they can avail for financial support or they are too hesitant to apply

The government has mentorship programs, but greater changes including readily available toolkits for training, and economic rebates for sectors that largely have women functionaries are the need of the hour for women's complete assimilation into the digital economy

Female entrepreneurship can generate transformational employment in India—of 150–170 million jobs—which is more than 25 percent of the new jobs required for the entire working-age population, from now until 2030

There are many deep-rooted structural challenges that are holding women back, and they need to be acknowledged and addressed effectively for more women to emerge as leaders