Boardrooms to Playgrounds, Women Should Be Treated As Equals, Says Nita Ambani

Nita Ambani is a champion for women’s rights in India and is the founder of the country’s one of the largest philanthropy foundations, Reliance Foundation. She also plays a key role in organisations ranging from sports to arts. The 59-year-old is s also the wife of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s wealthiest man.

On ‘The CNBC Conversation’, Nita Ambani told CNBC’s Tanvir Gill, “The Reliance Foundation over the years has invested in many causes — education, child welfare, women empowerment and gender equality.”

She emphasised on why it is important for women to receive the same opportunities as their male counterparts.

“It’s time we treat our girls and boys equally, whether in boardrooms or on playgrounds,” Nita Ambai told CNBC, adding that empowering women is something “very, very dear to my heart”.

The foundation has helped 70 million people, focuses extensively on providing better health care to women, improving digital literacy, and educating them with skills to improve employability.

In August, Reliance Foundation partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to ensure that women in farm and non-farm jobs will receive an annual salary of at least $1,200 for the next three years.

“I think a nation’s development depends on women empowerment, and the well-being of its children and the transformation through sports… These three are key to a developed nation,” she said.

“Women empowerment has been a thread that continues in my life,” Ambani said. “India will have the highest population of women in the next decade so it needs such platforms and apps for women to know they have equal playing fields.”

Nita Ambai in 2021 also founded Her Circle, a digital app and social networking site that discusses a range of topics from lifestyle trends to women’s health, including promoting diversity of women’s appearances and body sizes.

Nita Ambani is also the co-owner of five-time Indian Premier League winner Mumbai Indians and the founder of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre.

“I’m a big believer in sports for girls and boys, and I feel children learn equally in playgrounds, as they do in classrooms,” she said.

“Sports transcends boundaries,” Ambani told CNBC. She is a member of the International Olympics Committee, the first Indian woman to be elected.

Early in October, India announced it will bid to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“India will leave no stone unturned in the preparation for the successful organisation of the Olympics in 2036 — this is the dream of the 140 crore (1.4 billion) Indians,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the opening ceremony of the International Olympic Committee session in Mumbai.

When asked if the country is ready to host the world’s largest sporting event, Ambani said: “We are absolutely ready … I am strongly rooting for it.”

“It’s a win-win for both… I hope in the near future, the youth of our country will be able to say proudly that we are hosting the Olympics in India,” she said.