Nari Shakti to Vikas: Focus Must Shift to Women-led Progress

Gender equality and women empowerment is the organising idea for our brighter today and our transformed tomorrow. In this age of acceleration, we cannot afford to wait another century to achieve gender parity. The cardinal concept of nari shakti (women's power) and of women as devis (goddesses), which is India's civilisational gift to the world, must now move from symbolic reverence to practical power and take our virasat (tradition) of respect for women into a vikas (development) pathway of women-led sustainable development.

When freedom and life chances of half of humanity expand, societies are rewired. Gender equality is an ideal in its own right and also a powerful force multiplier of social, economic, political, technological and environmental progress. The 2015 McKinsey Global Institute report, the 2024 analysis using National Family Health Survey data, and EY's India@100 work, together make a compelling economic case: Closing gender gaps can add 20 to 30% to GDP and is indispensable for India to become a $28-trillion economy by 2047.

India is living through a demographic moment. Our young population will yield a dividend only if it becomes a female dividend. Fertility is declining and the ambitions of girls and young women are rising; India now has near parity in higher education and around 43% of STEM students are women. After years in which women's work was pushed into informality and invisibility, female labour force participation has begun to climb again and must translate into better quality, formal and future-ready jobs.

A defining feature of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been targeted flagship programmes in which women are the principal labharthi (beneficiaries), combined with transversal programmes in infrastructure, health, education and social protection that are gender responsive. Scholarships, hostels and reserved seats have lifted women's presence in higher and technical education and opened pathways into the knowledge, health, green and care economies. Digital missions and rural programmes have trained tens of millions of women and put smartphones with affordable data and Jan Dhan accounts in their hands, giving direct access to information, markets and services.

Flagship schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, PM MUDRA, Swachh Bharat and PM Awas have put clean energy, access to credit, sanitation and secure housing in crores of women's names, while schemes such as the Sukanya Samriddhi and Lakhpati Didi have enabled direct benefit transfers into their bank accounts and rising incomes. The next level must move them decisively from labharthi to adhikar pati, from recipients of entitlements to full rights holders and decision makers in the economy and society. That is the essence of achieving SDG 5 on gender equality by 2030.

Intersectionality in India means that many women face multiple layers of disadvantage through poverty, caste, tribe, religion, disability or location. The abolition of instant triple talaq has strengthened Muslim women's rights in marriage. The election of Droupadi Murmu, a woman from an Adivasi background, as President of India embodies how far a marginalised woman can rise in a republic, deepening its commitment to gender and social justice. The tomorrow we must build is one in which such trajectories are systemic and widespread rather than exceptional.

Freedom from violence remains the non-negotiable foundation of a gender equal society. Ending violence against women and girls in all its forms, from domestic abuse and trafficking to work-place harassment and online hate, must stay at the top of the agenda, together with sustained investment in women's health and in sexual and reproductive rights that guarantee autonomy and dignity.

Political voice and leadership multiply the impact of every other intervention and give women the power to shape tomorrow's rules. At the grassroots, 33% to 50% reservations in panchayats and urban local bodies have created 1.5 million women leaders. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, reserving one third of seats in the Lok Sabha and all state assemblies for women, is a historic step towards real parity in lawmaking and governance. Women are reshaping electoral outcomes, as seen recently in Bihar, as conscious voters rewarding governments that deliver on safety, mobility, education, health and livelihoods.

Culture is an infrastructure of meaning through which societies understand themselves and imagine their future. For centuries it was built from a male vantage of patriarchy, even in civilisations that worshipped the feminine divine. Today, women across the creative industries, from media and literature to cinema, music, sport and digital content, are rewriting that script and reclaiming the Devi idea so that reverence is expressed as equal rights, equal respect and shared responsibility in the home, the economy and the public sphere.

The next level of transformation must now be led as much from offices, board rooms, laboratories and digital platforms as from parliaments. Every institution, from government departments and political parties to universities, research councils, startups and large corporations, must build gender parity into its DNA. This means gender equal education to jobs value chains, where girls move from classrooms into careers in science, technology and artificial intelligence across the wider Industry 4.0 ecosystem. It means corporate leaders and chief executives committing to parity in recruitment, retention, re-entry and promotion, and to many more women in senior management and on boards. It also means a research and innovation system and a start-up culture where women founders, scientists and creators can access credit, mentorship and markets on equal terms.

During its G20 presidency, India placed women-led development at the centre of the agenda, securing commitments on bridging the digital gender gap, raising women's labour force participation, and expanding women's entrepreneurship and leadership. Empowered women are the great transformers of our age. As transformed women who transform their families, communities, countries and the world, they unlock demographic advantage and enable women and girls to live lives of freedom, choice and dignity. If India sustains and amplifies this movement, its civilisational second coming as a leading power will be fast forwarded by a journey to Viksit Bharat (developed India) by 2047 that is lit and led by Nari Shakti. 

Lakshmi Puri

(The Author is a former assistant secretary general of the United Nations and a leading global advocate of gender equality and women-led development. The views expressed are personal)