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Pragati, the ladies wing of Bengal National Chamber of Commerce & Industry held an interactive session on ‘Women’s Challenging Roles in Changing Mindsets’ on March 9, 2018, at the premises of Bengal National Chamber of Commerce & Industry, following the occasion of the International Women’s Day. Pramita Mallick, a famous Rabindrasangeet artist, Rita Bhimani, corporate public relations expert and Founder & CEO of Ritam Communications and Bani Roy Chowdhury, President, BNCCI and Former President, ‘Pragati’, touched the audience with their inspirational speeches.

The session was informative as the speakers shared their lifetime experiences. Swati Sen, the President of ‘Pragati’ stated in her welcome speech, “Nowadays, women are taking challenging roles in the fields previously perceived as unfit for them and are pursuing various job-roles that were traditionally seen as exclusive male spaces. This change has a wider connotation than modernisation and the challenges inherited in that change cannot be completely ignored. A change in mindsets of all of us in the society is urgently required for the women to take professions of their choice.”

Bani Roy Chowdhury said in her speech, “We, as women need to believe in ourselves, be a little bit more confident and disciplined to combat the challenges and to move forward.” Rita Bhimani insisted in her encouraging speech that women must come more forward to support their own issues instead of waiting for solutions. Pramita Mallick too addressed some pertinent social issues and shared some valuable experiences. She ended the session with some melodious lines of Tagore.