Focusing on their own health and well-being is one of the most important attributes that women should cultivate to foster change in society as well as the environment, Apollo Hospitals Group Vice Chairperson Preetha Reddy said here on Tuesday.
She was in conversation with Meenakshi Ramesh, Executive Director and CEO of United Way Chennai at the annual session of FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) Chennai chapter. The conversation was titled ‘Women In Leadership: Fostering Change in a Covid World.’
“There is a large looming problem that we don’t really know to look after our health. The growing disease burden is huge because the economic aspect of it is something that can make or break a nation,” Reddy said.
She said that Indian women want to look after their family and all others before taking care of their own health needs, but the problem is when they get sick, the whole family is shattered.
“For instance, by self-examination or early prognosis, if women can catch breast cancer in the early onset, it can save lives, save the economy, save costs and most importantly, save the family from the mental trauma,” Reddy added.
Leadership lessons
On leadership lessons that men can take from women, Reddy said, men can learn to be more supportive and be a good partner to women in all their endeavours.
Noting that government and civil societies also have a bigger role in recognising women, Reddy said, “The government has a large role to play even today. Policies and laws need to be changed. While they talk about reservation, I think it has to be equal opportunities for men and women, which doesn’t seem to be happening to the extent it should be.”
Expressing her admiration for both men and women in the healthcare sector, she said people, not just from the healthcare sector but also from other industries have turned themselves as Covid warriors.
“85 per cent of our workforce are women. They literally dropped everything they were doing. They haven’t seen their children or their husbands for days. Food really did not matter at all,” Reddy said, adding, “On the other hand, men were handling things which were typically considered to be women’s jobs. That’s how the whole priority got shifted.”
In her opening remarks, Rinku Mecheri, Chairperson, FLO Chennai said, the Chapter’s mentorship programmes, and incubation cells steered the way for boot camp mentoring and accelerated programmes that turned around businesses for some members while preparing many enterprising women to revive themselves.