Sania sermon to moneybags on womens day

Mumbai: Had it not been for Sania Mirza, Women’s Day this year would be the same as last. Or Women’s Day as observed by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

At the CII women’s conference held today at a suburban hotel in Mumbai, women achievers from the corporate world congregated for the second consecutive year.

But since they are limited in number and tend to get recycled every Woman’s Day on the same platforms, Sania, who has climbed to world rank 77 following the Dubai Open, made a difference.

While in previous years, women leaders have held forth on education, employment and empowerment, they had to listen to Sania this time about the necessity of corporate sponsors coming out to fund sports the real way so that more girls like her, or fresh talent like shooter Rajyavardhan Rathore, could come up.

“The right kind of support and training is essential and it is only when companies come forward that we will see more tennis players, more cricket players and more Rathores in the making,” she said.

Sania said she has been “plain lucky” to be sponsored at 13 when she was a non-entity. “Today, there are more companies coming forward to sponsor, not necessarily because they are interested in the sport but more for the mileage they would earn out of it,” she added.

Now the fear is that things won’t change and Sania will make the same speech next year.

For women who usually don’t get to speak at CII events there was hope from an unlikely corner. Central Railway, acting on a suggestion from an NGO, agreed to instal more lights at stations to ensure women’s safety.

The eve of Women’s Day was a day off from work for some women from the red-light areas in south Mumbai, who went on a picnic with an NGO.

But for most others, the day will probably be the same.

J.W. Marriott is again the venue for an event that will draw a pool of women achievers from showbiz.

The same who’s who from the entertainment world — Diya Mirza, Zeenat Aman, Mahima Chaudhuri, Yukta Mookhey and Smriti Irani — will grace the party.