"There are many ways in which we can handle gender disparity. The gender situation in urban areas is starkly different from that in villages below the poverty line. In the urban space, there is now greater opportunity because youngsters are more upwardly mobile, aspirations have become different, and many families are forced to think differently as they have accepted that girls will take over the next generation.
We also have to understand that we cannot wave a magic wand and bring about change overnight. I am a firm believer in small steps.
The situation will change faster when there is greater government intervention, when employers recognize the value of women in the workforce, and when women get truly empowered—through micro-credit, through victories that give them their place in the panchayat, and when the girl child gets a little education when she earlier got none."