The highly anticipated ‘We Women Want Festival & Awards 2024’ kicked off today at the Taj Ambassador Hotel in New Delhi. The Editor-in-Chief of NewsX, Rishabh Gulati set the tone for the event by outlining the history of the “We Women Want” initiative, which has successfully hosted two conclaves in Delhi and one in Mumbai.
The editor-in-chief of News X Rishabh Gulati set the tone and tenor of the function by explaining the history of We Women Want which boasts of hosting 2 conclaves in Delhi and one in Bombay. This conclave aims to reflect the perspectives of women of different generations from different fields on what can be done for women-led development.
In this session, we were joined by an author and former UN Assistant Secretary-General who’s also the author of the book Swallowing the Sun, which was the nation’s bestseller and national critical acclaim for a debut novel. Laxmi Puri is the first woman to be Assistant UN secretary-general. She’s also the youngest IFS entrant where she topped her class.
As the ambassador Laxmi Puri started addressing the crowd, she expressed her delight to be at this momentous occasion. She also praised all the dignitaries who had spoken before and they believe that all of them are role models for both men and women. The author also believes that ‘both men and women need to be feminists for an equal society’.
Commentary on her Book Swallowing the Sun
This book is set against the independence backdrop. This book has feminist commentary, the Protagonist of the book Malti and her sister who push all the boundaries of patriarchy and societal norms to break the norms.
The author is pleased that her book has won so much love from both men and women. The heart of the novel is women’s empowerment, and the book also depicts the theme of an epic love story. It’s a historical fiction but at the same time very contemporary.
It is a reimagining of India now and an imagining of India then, from the larger concept of Bharatvarsh a free and ideal country. In the story, there is passion and commitment among the protagonists.
There was a civilizational reawakening in the society similar to the current scenario and a rebellious confidence at a time when they were under colonial rule.
The emergence of cultural effluence talks about the Marathi cultural renaissance. Today we look at reinventing India, taking it to the next level. This story exactly depicts the same where it is a coming-of-age story and family saga.
Themes and characters of the book
The title Swallowing the Son is drawn from the 13th-century Saint Mukhtabhai Abhang which talks about achieving the impossible, people breaking boundaries and doing extraordinary things. Women characters are powerful, women who dare, the ones who keep the faith and make miracles these characters keep alive the spirit of the book.
Many of the men characters are admired as they are women empowering, other characters are popular and try to break out of the patriarchal mindset.
The poem of Tilak is transliterated into the poem. ” The last stanza of this says am I not complete or auspicious? The purpose of god creation felicit us. I know my strength ur opinion doesn’t matter. I will know my strength and my dominion. That’s the anthem of our women today. ” says Laxmi Puri.
Laxmi Puri as Diplomat
Laxmi Puri has also served as IFS and UN Assistant Secretary General. She pondered upon the different challenges a woman has to face as a diplomat.
She says “The Unconscious bias shows itself. I was told to do softer jobs cultural-related work and you are denied to do hard jobs. Another aspect is you are hardwired to discriminate. UN is an equal opportunity employer that sense. We are told that women are being favoured, and other countries can be misogynistic in the way they deal with you. I have been a pioneer in breaking the glass walls. Within a certain profession, you can’t perform all the roles and I also broke glass ceilings.”
When she entered diplomacy, Economic diplomacy was newly introduced instead of getting involved in the traditional bilateral agreements. Here also she faced setbacks, but despite all the setbacks she made a comeback.
“A sense of marginalization was imposed on me. I fought back. People talk about Act East policy, during the initial days I was negotiating with ASEAN countries and the Indian Ocean Rim Association. Everybody looked down upon it because a woman was doing it and today when I see these policies playing a key role in shaping our international relations it gives me a lot of satisfaction” said the former IFS officer.
Sexist Approach By The Foreign Nations
President Zia came into power in Pakistan, when Indira Gandhi was our Prime Minister and Narasimha Rao was our Finance Minister. President Zia implemented many policies which restricted the rights of women. The Indian government decided to send a female diplomat to negotiate with Pakistan’s President.
Then she and the other Indian diplomats went to Nankhana Saheb to meet the Pakistani President. The former Indian diplomat explains her experience in Pakistan.
” I gatecrashed into General Zia’s meeting. When he came to greet everyone. He held himself back once, and then he looked at me a little disconcerted. I started taking notes on what they were saying, they were discussing a political issue. I was told Begum Zia was waiting on the other side to go and have tea. So the notion was men would do all the work and women would just sit mum” said the former Diplomat.
She explains how a woman has to face so many challenges as a diplomat, she faced a similar experience in Sri Lanka when she landed there for the negotiation, a campaign was launched against her where she was targeted with various sexist, and discriminatory remarks in the media.
Women in Indian Politics
In recent years, the central government has made several attempts to involve women in politics and decision-making as well. The situation of women in politics has improved drastically compared to 2009 when the voting rate of women was just 5% to a point now where in the year 2019 Women have surpassed men in voting. Still many political parties hestitate to provide ticket to the female candidates. She believes in Political parties and institutions inculcating themselves in involving more women in the realms of administration.
This change is reflected only at the ground level, but not at the administrative level where Men still dominate the office Ambassador Laxmi Puri said “You cannot have democracy until women’s voices, participation and leadership are equal “.
Announcement of Sequel of ‘Swallowing the Sun’
When asked if her book will culminate into an OTT web series. She responded ” Talks are going on, I am hoping that it will be turned into an epic saga. I have given a book to one of the producers here, and I am in talks with other producers as well. The book will be translated into some other Indian and foreign languages. This book will have a sequel as well and another book will be published on my UN stories too” said Ambassador Laxmi Puri.
Read More : From Facing Gender Discrimination To Winning Acolades, Experts At ‘We Women Want Festival & Awards 2024’
