Australian Chapter of ICAI celebrates International Women’s Day 2017

vanessaBy Vanessa Menezes

Secretary

Australian Chapter of ICAI

secretary@icai.org.au

The Australian Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India celebrated International Women’s Day on the 8th of March 2017. The theme of this event was Empowering women, empowering humanity.

Pallavi Sinha, Principal of Lawyers with Solutions spoke about the importance of International “Women’s” day, for both men and women. She noted that the World Economic Forum predicts that the gender gap won’t close entirely for about 169 years. According to a recent report by Diversity Council Australia and Deakin University, with the support of CPA Australia, for culturally diverse women, there is a ‘double jeopardy’: Only 2.5% of all 7,491 ASX directors were culturally diverse women. As an appointed Supporter of a joint Federal, State and Territory Government campaign to stop domestic violence, she spoke about domestic or family violence and the recent alleged murder of an Indian woman by her husband. She gave a powerful speech about what can be done to address Gender Inequity and the ongoing problem of violence against women, and how we can all play a part in tackling these issues.

As Pallavi mentioned, Women’s Day is a celebration for men and women. The event saw a good attendance of professionals in various fields including but not limited to, public practice, commerce and business owners.

vanessa1The Chief Mentor of the Chapter, CA Yateender Gupta presented his views:”Women from Sub-Continent need a brief on arrival that there are change in circumstance due to change in country and its laws. Husband and wife need to be equal participant in economic affairs so that in case of any emergencies, they can help each other. The Australian Chapter of ICAI should also facilitate and educate relevant stakeholders” .

The Chairman of the Chapter, CA Madan Jangra added that celebrating IWD is like “Building world a better place to live one day at a time”. He also recollected that among the most influential people in our lives, women hold a prominent place. Starting from our Mothers to Sisters, Teacher to Managers, Friends to Wife, they play a critical role in shaping our lives.

Mr Jangra also dedicated the new mobile app of the Chapter to women volunteers and thanked them for their contribution.

The Secretary of the Chapter, CA Vanessa Menezes was MC and lead organiser of the event. Vanessa strongly believes that women play a key part in social and economic wellbeing of the family and society at large. The Chapter provides a platform for women to nurture and showcase their skills.

CA Chandni Sinha, was elated that the Chapter successfully conducted Women’s Day event celebrating women’s achievements and calling for gender equality. Chandni strongly feels that women empowerment leads to the empowerment of the whole society, reduce poverty, decrease violence and corruption, thereby leading to the overall growth of economies. She also applauded the Chapter for playing an important role by enlightening the members and through them the society at large, the importance and need for women empowerment and gender equality.

CA Bindu Mathew,acknowledged that Pallavi touched upon various aspects of women empowerment and the challenges faced by women with special emphasis on domestic violence. Her speech ignited discussion among the audience on the subject. ICAI members shared their views on the problems faced by women and how family and friends can support women with issues of depression, isolation, and any other form of oppression.

CA Rajinder Luthra, a senior ICAI member said, “Thanks to ICAI for another solid presentation and platform on women empowerment, needless to say confidence has no competition, and I always firmly believe on ‘listen to your intuition and trust yourself. It was truly a presentation of women, by the women and for all of us”.

CA Jaidev Krishnamurthy congratulated the Chapter on organising a wonderful and successful event celebrating International Women’s Day. Jaidev expressed, “It was an enjoyable event and a celebration of free thought led by the guest speaker, Pallavi Sinha and the leadership team at the Australian Chapter of ICAI. This forum provided a platform for effortless exchange of ideas which, in my opinion, strengthens the cause for a world free from oppression and torment.”

As per senior ICAI member CA Naresh Kumar, “The international women’s day celebration session organised by ICAI Australian chapter has been one with eye opening experiences. The key note speaker Ms Pallavi Sinha was fabulous and she talked about many relevant topics and mostly around the protection and respect for women. These are quite contemporary issues and very important ones. In the audience, there were quite a few comments from an Indian perspective as to how the Indian society has changed since women have started to come at par with men specially in the service sector. I am really glad that I could attend and be part of the first ever such session conducted by the chapter. Would like more of these in the coming future and not just on the special occasions like these. Wishing all the women and the ICAI Chapter all the best in the future.”

CA Abhishek Choksi, a member visiting from India recited a deeply thought and a beautiful poem titled ‘Let her be’.

If we must celebrate a day for women, let us celebrate freedom from stereotypes, from expectations, from idolisation, from sacrifice…

Stop congratulating women for being the secret behind a successful man…  Start saluting them for being successful. 

Stop saying the mother is sacred for all the sacrifices she makes…  Try to reduce those sacrifices!

Stop telling women they are beautiful… Try telling them it’s not important to be beautiful!

Stop praising her roles as mother, wife, daughter, sister………Celebrate her as an individual, a person who is independent of relationships.

Stop justifying her necessity to multi task….  Give her a chance not to!

Stop these constructs which are aimed at making her strive for an impossible balance… Let her be inadequate… And happy!

Let her be imperfect, whimsical, irresponsible, boorish, lazy, fierce, opinionated, loud, flabby, ungroomed, adventurous, unpredictable, unprepared, impractical…. Let her be.

The event was covered by budding photographer Damini who uses the name Kalindhi photography.

The Australian Chapter of ICAI is in its 10th year of existence. Over the last 10 years, the Chapter has supported over 1000 members in NSW.The Chapter conducts bi-monthly CPD events. They also organise annual events like International Conference, Diwali Gala Night, Vivid Sydney cruise, new migrant sessions and workshops.

To know more, become a member or to provide feedback, visit www.icai.org.au or write to secretary@icai.org.au.

 

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