India Today Woman Summit 2017: Women live in conflict, says Kalli Purie

Just by the virtue of having options, women now have the liberty to take decisions. Photo Courtesy: India Today

As women, we are constantly asking ourselves a lot of questions. What to wear that would make us look slim or what to eat that will not make us put on kilos? The questions hounding us are just endless.

And Kalli Purie, India Today Group Editorial Director for Broadcast and New Media, rightly pointed them out in her speech at the India Today Woman Summit 2017. Surprisingly, Purie admitted to having a few of her own.

"Should I eat the butter toast or not? Skinny or Happy weight? Should I go natural or glam? Working woman or social queen? Should I go to PTA or host an event? Kids or Career? Should I have a few extra hours of sleep or write my speech? My well being or the company's? Should I have a blow dry or do a con call? Looking good or being good?," she quoted a few.

Purie gave these examples to show that making micro decisions is a daily affair and said that women struggle with a persistent identity crisis.

And it's really endearing to see a woman, who has been listed as the fifth most powerful woman at the sixth edition of Impact magazine's prestigious awards, harbouring such thoughts. Also, it brings us to another one of her revelations--that women live in conflict.

"Is living in conflict bad? I thought about it a lot. But, doesn't conflict also mean choice? Choice to be who we want to be? These conflicts and the micro decisions women make also mean choices. We now have choice. It may sometimes be denied. But it's here on the table. It's on the agenda, which we must celebrate. It means things are changing," said Purie.

And rightly so. Just by the virtue of having more than one option at their disposal, women have the liberty to take decisions.

"Here is a big indicator that things are changing and coming to a full circle. Now men want to be more like women. They want to be seen as warm and caring. They want to cry openly. They want to be good dads, use beauty products. But you know what, men can never be like women," she continued.

It's no secret that talent has no gender. Women can do anything. They can go to space, build rockets, win medals, run countries, and earn more than men.

"There is nothing a woman cannot do that a man can and that there is a lot that men cannot do that women can. But, we will talk about equality the day men can have a living, breathing, kicking being inside themselves for nine months," she said.

"That doesn't mean all of us should choose to have babies. At the very basic level, nature designed women in a way that they are meant to do more and be more. We are Darwin's fittest," she continued.

Despite being no less than men, women are subjected to gender-based violence on a daily basis. And just like rest of the women in the world, it makes Purie very angry.

"I am done being angry and that it's time to get even. Women should be capable enough to protect themselves. Don't wait for men to fix the system," she said to an impressed crowd.

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