Tapping the potential of women is necessary for any economy to succeed, Indra Nooyi

Former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has called for world economies to invest more in women as a new phase approaches. She said the next 20 years will be “the decades of women” and any economy that wants to succeed must tap into the potential of women.

Nooyi describes the coming years as a transformational point for women as global societies focus on recovering fully from the impacts of the pandemic, at the same time addressing demographic issues. She had called on countries and companies to join the wagon of change that is approaching.

“I don’t believe there’s any economy in the world that can be successful without tapping into the incredible potential of women going forward. I just don’t believe that’s possible,” Nooyi said at a virtual event organized by Procter & Gamble and United Nations Women #WeSeeEqual. She added that it was necessary for every economy in the world to involve women and children in its activities because soon enough the world would need a replacement.

“We ought to sit down and say to ourselves: ‘They need us.’ They need us for the economy, they need us to have kids, and we put in all the unpaid labor so far. So I look at the next couple decades and say ‘it’s our time.’”

Gender disparities have been a matter of contention in the United States for decades. Systemic gender disparity is one that has eaten deep into the economy and voices like Nooyi are continuously fighting to close that gender gap.

In a UN report last year, it was predicted that the COVID-19 pandemic was more likely to impact women than men.

The Indian-American businesswoman who is well celebrated for her role in transforming PepsiCo has urged companies and countries to actively engage in narrowing the gender gap by involving more women in their operations. This she broke down into three ways.

“First, every company and every government should insist on paid leave,” Nooyi said. This would include maternity, paternity, and family leaves.

“Secondly, thank God for COVID, now we have flexibility,” she added. Saying that flexibility has taken out strict and rigid work rules that require all employees to be present at the work location despite their challenges. Flexibility opens the door for more participation opportunities for women, especially stay-home mums.

“The third most important is childcare facilities,” she said.

Nooyi believes that when all these are in place, “it’s going to be a different world” and “there’s going to be a lot more equality than we saw before.”