Not happy with how women are treated across the world: Cherie Blair

Expressing concern over how women are treated globally and have become soft target of violence, Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said that not only men, but the society also needs to change its outlook towards women and count them as equal. She said only then will there be decrease in violence against women across the globe.

Cherie Blair was speaking during her visit to Dhrangadhra in Surendranagar district of Gujarat on Tuesday. She was here to see how a mobilephone-based  application developed with support of her foundation, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, was able to empower women in rural Gujarat to manage, market and sell farm produce cultivated by them.

The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women has funded Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) for development of the application for its agri-business project Rural Distribution Network India (RUDI).

"I am not happy with the way women are treated across the world. Further, in Asian societies widows are the worst affected and do not get their due respect," Blair told reporters when asked what she thought of situation of women in India an increase in violence against them.

A lawyer by profession and a firm believer of women’s empowerment Blair said, "Women are vulnerable and we need to do more for their empowerment. Men must learn to treat women as equals. Also, the society needs to treat men and women as equals."

She was of the opinion that women across the globe, not only in India, have to face number of challenges, and if given an opportunity to gain financial importance, she would work hard for a better life.

"I am excited by technology. It has power to make big business simple. Today, we have brought technology which big corporates use to the rural women. They may be doing it at small scale, but they are managing their own business. One must trust women, who if given opportunity, would work for the benefit of her family and society," Blair said, talking about success of the pilot project with SEWA's agri-business initiative.

Blair was hoping to take the success of the mobile-based application further and expand it to 14 states where SEWA was operational. "The application which the women can use to place orders, check stock and sell products through mobliephones, has changed the live of these women, increased their income and saved their time. I would love to see this project expand to other states," she said.

The mobile-based application developed by Blair's foundation in collaboration with Vodafone Foundation, is called the RUDI management information system (MIS) that helps women maintain real-time information on sales, available stock, receivables and payable. This enables the women to monitor better and subsequently plan better. As a pilot project 20 rural women from Surendranagar have been trained to use the application. Further it is planned to train 2,000 other women in the state of Gujarat.