Our obsession with cricket is not something that is new to us. But every four years we tune into something that is not cricket. Suddenly names that were once unheard of, becomes the topic of discussion at every household and media channel. We start praying for them to get the gold back home.

More than any topic, Women’s representation is something that is discussed widely whenever a girl gets us a medal or puts up a tough fight at the grand stage. PV Sindhu got us the silver in 2016 and suddenly every father enrolled their daughters in the badminton training academy. Mirabai Chanu got us silver this year and “netizens” went crazy. The Indian women’s Hockey Team performs so well that it got every Indian emotional and makes us forget about the ongoing test series in England. Women are winning just more than a medal, they are delivering an even more important message to our society in terms of bravery, perseverance, mental health, etc.

A recent trend that must be addressed here is that women win more medals or contribute equally to their male counterparts for their respective countries. Take the USA for instance. After the 1980s, Women started winning more and their contribution to the table became very important for the US to stay on the top of the table.

This doesn’t stop with the US alone. And this year in Tokyo, our Indian medal tally was opened by Mirabai Chanu with silver, last 7 of 9 olympic medals in India were won by our women going on to prove that women are becoming the backbone of a country’s Olympic success. Whether it’s a gold medal at the Olympics or running a multi-million dollar company, women face a set of similar hurdles.

It is safe to say that people who were glued to their televisions watching Shuttler P V Sindhu in 2016 or right now, will not continue to watch her other matches in other tournaments. People who follow Indira Nooyi know her as the CEO of PepsiCo but don’t make the effort or time to see what she did or is doing after that.

Right from Swami Vivekananda to Mahatma Gandhi ji, they believed that women were the backbone of the country and wanted them to be independent and break free of the shackles of the society. True to their vision, now more and more women are entering the workforce to be self-sufficient and are contributing to a major part of our economy. The number of women running Global 500 businesses is at an all-time high in 2021 from 14 to 23, which is a huge increase from 2020.

At this moment it is very important to note that India has more women-owned enterprises than many other countries with an estimated 13.5 million to 15.7 million MSMEs and agribusinesses, as per published sources. There is a growth from 14%- 20% over the past decade in women-owned enterprises as per published sources. This growth can be attributed to the national and state governments, banks, financial and educational institutions, and, most of all, the enterprising female workforce.

It would be a crime on our part if we don’t talk about the buzzing start-up, Nykaa that has grown to a level today where they are set to launch their first IPO. Nykaa was started by Falguni Nayar, who worked as an investment banker for 20 years. She is a classic example of “break the routine to follow your dream”. She started the company in 2012 with seed investment. The company is set to raise Rs.4000 crores via an Initial Public Offering.

A single start-up by a woman directly affects income, employment, and capital formation while indirectly benefitting household-level resource allocation. Supporting women entrepreneurs not only improves their livelihood but also creates jobs. Our estimates suggest that an ambitious yet realistic push can enable India to achieve a significant contribution from women through direct, indirect, and induced employment alone. Appreciating women should not happen only during the time of the Olympics. It should happen when Smriti Mandhana scores a century. It should happen when a young entrepreneur files an IPO worth 4000 crores. It should happen every day at our households.

Indian women starting at a micro level act as the backbone of each and every household and leading to the macro-level act as the backbone of the nation. Strengthening the country means providing the best facilities and opportunities for our women to succeed. Whether it’s for the Olympics or for our country’s growth, women are transforming India’s economy and society at the global arena.