CNBC-TV18 to host 'Future. Female. Forward – The Women’s Collective' summit on March 14

CNBC TV-18, India's leading business news channel, will host a mega summit on March 14 in New Delhi to discuss and hold dialogue around the subject of gender parity at the workplace and equal economic opportunities for women.

Among the key guests in attendance will be Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani, G20 Sherpa of India Amitabh Kant and Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar, along with global ambassadors and business stalwarts, the channel said in a release.

The event, titled 'Future. Female. Forward – The Women’s Collective Mega Summit', is India's largest summit so far around the topic of gender parity, it stated. The summit is in continuation of the initiative launched by CNBC TV-18 on gender parity in November last year.

At the summit, the findings of an "exclusive FICCI and CNBC-TV18 survey on women in the workforce" will be released, the channel noted. The report would provide insights into the state of women's representation across the formal private sector in India.

According to Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18, the channel has been "actively mainstreaming" the discussion about establishing equal opportunity workplaces for over a decade. "We have unified this long-standing support into an impactful initiative and endeavour to make this an active dialogue and exchange of ideas."

"With our summit, we intend to further accelerate the conversation on gender parity and bring actionable changes and solutions to the table," she added.

Hitendra Dave, CEO of HSBC India, which is presenting the CNBC-TV18 initiative, said "providing equal opportunity" is one of the core values of the banking group. "We recognise the action needed in order to accelerate women's equality in the workforce and provide a level playing field. We are focused on building a diverse, connected and balanced workforce," he said.

Sharing her thoughts, Smriti Mehra, CEO, Business News, Network18, mentioned, "CNBC-TV18 has always been a purpose-driven brand. With the Future. Female. Forward mega summit, we aim to lead a shift in the overall mindset and create a positive difference that reaches every nook and cranny of the workforce. Prominent and powerful voices and policymakers from across sectors will be part of the summit and will highlight the importance of gender equality and equity in all systems."

Rahul Singh, the Chief Operating Officer (Corporate Functions) of HCLTech, which is the co-presenter of the initiative, said it aligns with the tech company's commitment to "bring a shift in mindset and further strengthening the mainstream diversity narrative".

"Celebrating, recruiting, hiring, promoting, and educating women in tech isn’t just an acknowledgement of the power and potential of women, it’s our strategic responsibility to improve our organisation, our industry and the world," Singh said.

Romal Shetty, the CEO Designate of Deloitte India, which is supporting CNBC TV-18's campaign as a Knowledge Partner, said India can only achieve its true potential when "women actively and equally participate in nation-building".

"At Deloitte, we believe that opportunities must go beyond mere empowerment and focus on nurturing an environment that’s devoid of biases and cultural maladaptation. To achieve a gender-equitable workforce, each of us has an equal role to play towards ensuring that the enabling mechanisms are real, reasonable, current, and actionable," he said.

Disclaimer: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.