Millions of women worldwide are eager to work but face unique barriers. Tradeoff between job opportunities and traditional household roles often limits women’s access to employment. This gender gap in labor force participation, especially in low-income countries, restricts economic growth and limits women’s financial independence.
The summit will convene business leaders, researchers, policymakers, philanthropists, and nonprofit pioneers. Through shared insights and strategic partnerships, we aim to drive the future of women’s work across sectors.
The keynote talks will be delivered by Rohini Pande, Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of Economic Growth Center at Yale University, and Smriti Irani, former Minister of Women and Child Development of India.
Learn more about the Summit schedule here.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Rohini Pande is the Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center at Yale University. She is also the faculty director of Inclusion Economics at Yale. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an Econometric Society fellow, and a former co-editor of American Economic Review: Insights. Pande received the 2018 Carolyn Bell Shaw Award from the American Economic Association for promoting the success of women in the economics profession and the 2022 Infosys Prize in Social Sciences. Formerly, Pande was the Rafik Harriri Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School.
Smriti Irani is a prominent politician and a former TV star. She has been a Cabinet minister from 2014 to 2024, a three-time Member of Parliament and has held various posts in BJP. Mrs. Irani earlier represented Gujarat in the Upper House, Rajya Sabha (2011-2017), and was re-elected from Gujarat in 2017. Her past ministerial portfolios include Ministry of Women & Child Development (2019-24), Ministry of Minority Affairs (2022-24) – the first non-Muslim to hold the position – Ministry of Human Resource Development (2014-16), Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (2017-18), and Ministry of Textiles (2016-21). She was India’s youngest Cabinet Minister in Modi 1.0 & 2.0 and the first woman to hold office as Union Minister for HRD & Textiles.
FEATURED SPEAKERS
Suhani Jalota is an Economist with a PhD from Stanford and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was a Knight Hennessy Scholar. She is a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution and founder of the Myna Mahila Foundation, a research-driven social enterprise with the mission to increase women’s agency and decision-making power to make them more confident, financially independent, and healthy.
Steven J. Davis is the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Hoover Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). He was on the faculty at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business for more than 35 years, including service as deputy dean of the faculty.
