An interaction with Ambassadors of Austria, Iceland & Italy On “Sharing Best Practices for Economic Empowerment of Women”

FLO organized an interactive session with the Ambassadors of Austria, Iceland & Italy on “Sharing Best Practices for Economic Empowerment of Women” on December 14, 2015 at FICCI.

The Speakers were –

• His Excellency Mr. Bernhard Wrabetz, Ambassador, Embassy of Austria
• His Excellency Mr. Thórir Ibsen, Ambassador, Embassy of Iceland
• His Excellency Mr. Lorenzo Angeloni, Ambassador, Embassy of Italy

  In her welcome address, FLO President Archana Garodia Gupta said, “FLO recognizes that women are the critical mass that will transform politics, improve governance, ensure inclusive and more socially sensitive development. Towards this, FLO organized this Conference to provide global perspectives on economic empowerment of women, with special reference to the role of women in the countries vis-à-vis the experience in India.”

The speakers shared their experience in context of their own countries, which provided a better perspective of the emerging role of women in these countries and underlined the role of Government in harnessing the strength of women. They also highlighted on the innovative schemes and best practices in these countries, facilitating economic empowerment of women.

His Excellency Mr. Bernhard Wrabetz, Ambassador of Austria to India highlighted that the three pillars of women empowerment in Austria are – Safety & Security, health and Labour Market. He said, “Advancing gender equality and empowering women are keys to poverty reduction, economic growth and social development. We have made huge positive strides in this direction. Issues like domestic violence, rapes, protection of women etc. are taken very seriously by the government. Health is a central issue to us in Austria and we are trying hard to bridge the gender gap for access to health facilities. Creating awareness and gender sensitisation are prerequisites while achieving our goals.”

He also added, “Women participation in the labour market and entrepreneurial arena is another crucial factor. With 70 % participation of women in the labour market, Austria is doing fairly well but we strive to achieve more in terms of the gender pay gap, as the pay for women is roughly 20 % lower for women. Maternity leave regulations in Austria are quite generous with 2 years of paid leave. We also focus on reintegration into work for the mothers who are back after a sabbatical for child care.”

His Excellency Mr. Thórir Ibsen, Ambassador of Iceland to India said that Iceland is the global leader in gender equality with the top position in Gender Gap Index. “Engaging women in politics and economy will lead to sustainable development. Enormous progress has been made but we have several challenges to overcome. Child care facilities and prejudices towards women are two main hindrances in the path of women empowerment.” He emphasized on 4 key solutions to overcome these challenges –
Adequate, accessible, public and open Education & health facilities
Lengthening of school days so that the mother can have better child care facilities
Enhanced political and economic engagement of women and
Equal participation of men in child care.
His Excellency Mr. Lorenzo Angeloni, Ambassador of Italy to India said that in Italy, for the first time exemplary gender equality is seen in the Cabinet if the new government with 8 men and 8 women. He said, “In the Italian parliament, women have a strength of 31 %, which is higher than the EU average which is 26.9 %.” He added, “Women are makers of better futures, both at work place and homes. It is important to recognize that women are wealth makers as well. Italy ranks 2nd in Europe in terms of women entrepreneurship. Women are foraying into non-traditional areas in Italy such as Police and armed forces, construction, sports like football, astronauts, diplomatic career, amongst others. We have come a long way and there is a long way to go.”

Speakers:

His Excellency Mr. Bernhard Wrabetz
Ambassador, Embassy of Austria
H.E. Bernhard Wrabetz is currently the Ambassador of Austria to India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. He is Mag.phil in History and French. He worked with the Military service in 1981-1982. He joined diplomatic academy in 1988-1990 in Vienna, Austria. He served in many countries such as Helsinki, Finland, London. He was also the First Secretary, Permanent Mission to the United Nations New York. He served as a diplomatic Adviser to the Federal Chancellor, Vienna from 2007-2009. Before coming to India, he was the Ambassador to Portugal and Lisbon.

His Excellency Mr. Thórir Ibsen
Ambassador, Embassy of Iceland
His Excellency Mr. Thórir Ibsen is the Ambassador of Iceland to India, with accreditation to Bangladesh, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Seychelles, South Africa and Sri Lanka.He is M.A. Political Science & International Relations, from York University, Canada. In March 2008 he was Appointed Ambassador. From 2009-2011 he served as an Ambassador of Iceland to France with accreditation to Italy, Spain and Andorra. From 2011 – 2014 he served as an Ambassador of Iceland to the European Union and to Belgium with accreditation to Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and San Marino.

His Excellency Mr. Lorenzo Angeloni
Ambassador, Embassy of Italy
His Excellency Mr. Lorenzo Angeloni is the Italian Ambassador to India and Nepal. Born in Perugia, he graduated in Law from the University of Perugia. He is a law graduate and joined Diplomatic career in 1985. Since then he has served as a diplomat in different countries of the world like Montevideo, Uruguay, Germany, Algeria, Sudan and Vietnam. He has many publications to his name.

Other Speakers on the dais:

• Archana Garodia Gupta, President FLO
• Vasvi Bharat Ram, Vice President, FLO
• Saloni Mehta, Day Chair & FLO member