Mumbai: Women make up half the global population, yet are a minority compared to men in the workplace. Women's inclusive sessions play a critical role in driving this change. By creating spaces that elevate, amplify, and empower women and non-binary voices, these sessions inspire attendees, offering hope for a future of true gender equity.

Indiantelevision.com presented the Wonder Women Awards in a glittering evening on 8 July. It aimed to celebrate some of the nation's top women professionals in business and creative arts, inspiring women across industries by their efforts and hard work.

The keynote address at the event was delivered by L'Oreal Paris AGM Charuta Ambardekar Saoji. She began her presentation, “We are trying to raise the ceiling not just by communicating – ‘I am worth it’, but also by supporting it with stories of women achievers.

About the freedom to make choices – this is what the local, Indian meaning of worth is -  living life on my own terms, making my own decisions even if those decisions are wrong as long as they are mine, the freedom to do and the freedom to be because no matter what choices I make in life, I’m worth it.”

She mentioned that L'Oreal partnered with women leaders across various industries. Women like Navya Nanda, who is UN’s Women’s Representative of India and is making a lot of moves in social work; Dr. Jaishree Sharad – a celebrity cosmetic dermatologist; Mithali Raj – the captain of the Indian Women’s Cricket Team; and Aditi Rao Hydari who is the brand spokes from entertainment. “We partnered with them so that they could reiterate their work stories and we then amplified these stories in media, in addition to the worth that comes across all our categories,” she pointed out.

She went on to say, “Worth is very critical to us because it raises the ceiling for women – we inspire women, and we motivate them to do better. But that’s not enough.  At ground level, there are still a lot of issues. The pace at which things are moving is very slow. Hence, in addition to worth, we have created a program called Stand Up, which is combating street harassment, and providing training to men and women to protect themselves and to protect those around them.

We all know about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. These are five levels of needs – it’s called the motivational hierarchy as well. At the bottommost level, we have physiological needs; then comes safety, and after that love, belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. So, while worth as our program sits in self-esteem and self-actualization, it’s really nothing if the base is not there. Women’s safety is a big issue, and sexual harassment outdoors is a big issue. As many as 80 per cent of women have faced sexual harassment in public places across the world, including developed countries. In India, I feel this number is 100. Each one of us even being the privileged and educated people from the families we come from has experienced at least one incident when we’re out. I have experienced it as well. But do I want my daughter to experience it? No. And for that, what do we need to do as a brand and as a society? We need to stand up for ourselves and for those around us.”

Saoji brought out that while 80 per cent of women have experienced some kind of harassment, only 25 per cent of the victims said that someone came and intervened. But when they did, it was a lot better. The situation improved, the perpetrator went away and they felt safe. “So, it’s very critical that we as a society, learn how to intervene for ourselves and for others, whenever we face such a situation.”

She emphasised, “In India, the context is even deeper. Firstly, street harassment holds back women. As a brand of worth, we want women to really venture out; street harassment is not allowing them to do that. Not just that, in India, the extent of street harassment and acceptance is like, ‘Yes, it’s like this only’, which means that you have to learn to deal with that – this is not healthy. We really need to change that.

And there is an additional layer of this in that the woman is not the victim, but she is the reason of whatever has happened to her – she asked for it, maybe she was wearing something inappropriate, and she called for attention. And this is exactly what needs to change. We need to change this mindset – while we do that, we also need to be prepared for how to deal with such situations.”

She spoke about the Stand Up initiative by the brand. “Stand Up is a worldwide program that we have developed with an NGO. We want to be a part of the solution while the problem is very clear, very defined, and massive in scale. And for that we have developed this 5D program.  What are these 5D’s? Distract (pretend​ to be friends, ask for the time, cause a distraction,​ be creative)​; Delegate (find someone​ who can help you and ask her/him​ to intervene); Document (watch and witness, write down or video the harassment, offer to report the harassment); Direct (Ask the harasser​ to stop, step in, defend the person, call for help - do not confront or put yourself in danger); and Delay (Comfort​ the harassed person after, acknowledge the behavior was wrong, be a friend).”

She concluded, “We are going to many colleges, along with our NGO partners to spread the word and to make this big. Our ambition is to train 1 million people by the end of this year. We are currently at a number of four lakhs, so there is still some way to go. But we know that it will scale up with the help of everyone. We all need to spread the word because we all want to be a part of the solution and stand for a safe place where women can be themselves and can be truly empowered.”