#ConversationStarters: Women leaders on shattering gender stereotypes

Time and again, Twitter has facilitated women with an open, public space to raise their voice, leading to massive movements that have brought about ground-breaking changes in society, especially in the workplace. With movements like #MeToo, #GirlsWhoDrinkBeer and #LahuKaLagaan the service has brought forward various issues concerning women. Brands such as Uber India, Ariel, among others, have also addressed and championed women-focused causes through pioneering campaigns on the service.

To manoeuvre this dialogue further, Twitter Marketing India (@TwitterMktgIN) hosted another episode of #ConversationStarters with Guneet Monga (@guneetm), CEO of Sikhya Entertainment, and Sairee Chahal (@Sairee), Founder and CEO, SHEROES, about how women are rallying change and breaking barriers.

📢 Welcome to Episode 9 of #ConversationStarters

🎙️ We are with @Sairee, Founder and CEO, @sheroes, film maker @Guneetm and your host @MitaliLive, as we chat about gender roles, the challenges and how to overcome them.

Join the conversation 👇 https://t.co/djVTYnVTB8

— Twitter Marketing IN (@TwitterMktgIN) August 20, 2020

Sairee (@Sairee), who often shares recommendations of accounts to follow on Twitter, mentioned that her favourite  account is @WordWhispers and called it her happy Twitter place. “I follow tons of interesting people and Twitter is like my little oasis to find very, very interesting conversations.” she said.

Speaking about how the pandemic has impacted women, Sairee commented that having to manage workload with household chores and the effect of the slowing economy is taking a toll on women’s lives. However, she mentioned that digital consumption has increased considerably and this will have a huge impact on a lot of women-related issues such as mobility and income generation. Entrepreneurship among women is a real deal now.

For Guneet (@guneetm), Twitter is her medium of staying connected with the happenings of the world. “I consume news through Twitter. It allows me to filter a lot of rubbish that is thrown at us. So you can just follow people you love. I get my piece of dosage from them which is credible and which I know can be trusted. So it's almost like you have to dive into what you want rather than stuff that is just put out there for you.”

Guneet, who has been making waves in the global film space through women-centric stories, sounded positive and optimistic regarding the role of women in her industry. “For a long time, men have run the industry. I see a power shift, a narrative shift, an equation shift. It's now cool to be a part of women led stories. Films have now ramped up in putting women stories out there.  What we collectively need to do as an industry is amplify women voices as creators and not limit them to just telling women led stories.”

While both Sairee and Guneet agree that women have made significant strides in society as well as in work settings, they also believe that there is still a great distance to be covered for women to actualise their potential and resourcefulness. They feel digitisation, social mobility through internet access, and strong support systems from the government will catalyse this growth in the right direction. In line with this view, Twitter plays an integral role in bringing together women as a community, and allowing an open forum of discussion, debate, as well as a window into the changing dynamics of the world.