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Since the time I started my first herbal clinic, 34 years ago, I have employed mainly women, from beauty therapists to clinic managers, teachers, administrators and marketing professionals, and I have never regretted it. In fact, I extended my clinic-chain by training women and offering them a Shahnaz Herbal franchise. When I became a career woman, I also dreamt of the day when my daughter Nelofar would be involved in the business. I groomed my daughter in a way that she would have no difficulty in stepping into the same career and join me in my work. Today, she is in the frontline of a business that has gone from strength to strength. I feel happy that I have been able to provide opportunities to women to add an important dimension to their personality and realise their own potential. Long ago, in an article on career women, I had written, "A woman was created to bloom and blossom, establishing her own identity, her own colour, quality and fragrance. The way an unwatered plant gets parched and dies a premature death, so does the personality of a woman who is struggling to break through the shackles of social conditioning, to achieve the recognition of being a separate individual with a separate identity. The change will be complete when society recognizes that it cannot benefit from preventing the emergence of the pearl from the oyster."

There is no doubt that the gender equation in all fields of professional life is a reflection of the gender equation in our society and social life. The incongruity is so apparent in the Indian context. We have female foeticide on the one hand and the new age woman on the other, who has made a mark in every field, including the corporate and business world. And, it is still a question of surmounting barriers to seek equality.

The basis of gender is not merely a sexual one. Gender is very much a part of human life. I believe that whether a woman is educated or not, she wants to be respected and treated equally. She has the right to establish her own identity and realize her own dreams and ambitions. Therefore, to me woman empowerment means equipping the woman to be an equal partner with man in all aspects of life and society. She must have equal decision making power, side by side with man. Man and woman are not rivals. They must work together, shoulder to shoulder, as equals and as partners.

I believe that financial independence is an important aspect of woman empowerment. Three decades ago, I started encouraging housewives to take up a beauty course and start beauty clinics in their own homes, so that they could take care of their home and family and also have a career. This has provided financial independence, confidence and strength. I saw how shy, submissive housewives blossomed into confident entrepreneurs. How they came to realize the importance of a professional qualification and an open mind.

A few decades ago, Indian women started stepping out of their homes, but mainly into careers which were supposed to be better suited to women, as secretaries, receptionists, teachers, beauticians. The barriers they had to surmount were both at home and in the workplace. At the personal level, the main issues were in trying to get husbands and families to accept their career ambitions and desire for financial independence. Issues like managing home and career were at the core of the problems and they still are. Indeed, the life of a career woman can be very demanding, made worse by guilt feelings of neglecting home and family. To me, the woman who manages home and family and is also a successful career woman, is nothing short of a phenomenon. She is a superwoman. She is certainly not "the weaker sex."

It may still be "a man's world," but today's woman should not try to be a man in a man's world. She should be a woman. Believe in yourself and your own abilities. Keep learning. Have the courage to say "I don't know this, but I can learn it". Men have to accept a woman colleague in what they have always perceived as a "man's world," while women have to learn how to accept challenges and learn to work side by side with male colleagues. Both men and women have to realize that the gender equation is not about establishing superiority, but equality. And, to balance the gender equation, we need to seek equality in society first and this is bound to reflect in all other fields.

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