There is still a gender imbalance in the upper echelon of government committees and private institutions, but the younger generation of women is better at getting their voice heard, said Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), in a conversation with Vanitha Venugopal, FLO Chennai Skilling Head and Head of Incubation, Startup Tamil Nadu, on Saturday.
Addressing a gathering of women at an event organised by Raji Raju, chairperson of FICCI FLO, Ms. Swaminathan spoke about her family, policy advocacy, and her role in the World Health Organisation (WHO).
As women, it can be difficult to get a point across a room full of senior males, but Dr. Swaminathan said that persistence was important. When she was appointed as the Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, she advocated for a vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is one of the primary reasons for cervical cancer in women, amid resistance. “The government finally rolled out one this year,” she said.
‘Champion of gender’
Ms. Swaminathan said her father, the late M.S. Swaminathan, was a champion of gender equality. When he was the vice chair of the planning commission in 1980, a chapter on environment and gender was included.
Recounting the lives of the women in her family, Dr. Swaminathan said her grandmother, Madhuram, was a self-taught woman who wrote books in English and Tamil for children and on art, architecture, and spirituality despite her hearing inability.
“She addressed gender and sexuality in the 1960s in a Brahmin household at a time when it was considered taboo,” she said. Mina Swaminathan, her mother, she added, was an equally accomplished professional and had a huge role to play in bringing gender into the agricultural curriculum.
About future ventures, she said efforts will be made to try to get India to be healthier by focusing on addressing nutrient deficiency through agriculture and the omnipresence of chemicals in air, water, and food. “Food is the best vaccine for a number of diseases,” she said.
