Monday, 18 March, 2013

Dr Melodena Stephens Balakrishnan was invited by the Dubai Indian Consulate to feature as a panelist on the popular Suno FM 102.4 radio show ‘India Matters’, on the occasion of International Women’s Day.The show was hosted by RJ Alba and the other panelist included Dr Sreelatha C. G, Specialist Gynecologist at the Amber Clinic and Ms Uma Ghosh Deshpande, Television Personality, Fashion Designer and Entrepreneur. During the discussions, each of the women expressed strong feelings that the so called ‘glass ceiling’ often began with women themselves, who put limits on what they could achieve. They felt society had a role to play to support women and highlighted families as some of the strongest supporters of women, followed by the community.Mentorship was another significant area of discussion. The panelists noted the importance to the region of programs like those introduced by the Tata Group, including ‘The Tata Second Career Internship Programme for Women’, that allowed women who took a career break to rejoin the workforce. The participants felt education was critical as it provided women with choices and furthermore, it was considered that an educated mother meant educated sons and daughters. Research has demonstrated the impact this has had on society, income levels and even on the quality of decision making. To hear more of the discussions, listen at http://www.cgidubai.com/category/news-media/radio-show/