CA. Prafulla Premsukh Chhajed, CCM & Chairman (Women Members Empowerment Committee) Women Members Empowerment Committee

Why Women Empowerment? Significant growth in no. of women in the Chartered Accountancy profession women Chartered Accountants as on date-22% of the total member base. 38% female students registered for the course. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has always played active role in professional development of women Chartered Accountants. Empowerment is the need of the hour-One of the main agenda of Govt. of India

About Women Members Empowerment Committee Women Members Empowerment Committee (WMEC) was constituted by ICAI in the year Main objective of WMEC is to empower women members by conducting various Programs, Seminars, Workshops, RRC’s, Faculty Development program, etc. on technical as well as women centric issues. ‘Portal for Women Members’ is also being maintained by WMEC. The Portal aims to provide a common platform to women members to update their knowledge and share their views and concerns. It also aims to provide an opportunity to search for flexi working job openings in their professional sphere.

Some of the main objectives of WMEC are- To conceive, formulate and implement plans, policies and programmes for development of Women Members and encourage girls to opt for CA course as their career. To interact with various stakeholders in various sectors, self- regulatory organizations and government on matters relating to growth & development of women members. To organize specialized training programmes for Women Members to prepare them for the role of women directors in companies. To visualize and enhance opportunities for Women Members who opt to work part time from their homes. To involve Women Members in various research and publication activities and particularly the Women Members who are not able to leave their homes. To encourage and develop the entrepreneurship skills in Women Members.

Initiatives of the Committee  The Committee conducted ‘South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) Women Empowerment Programme on 10 th Oct, 2014 on the theme “CA Women Marching Ahead”.  A Two Days Training Programme for Women Members was conducted at Delhi to enable them to benefit from the mandate of appointment of a Women Director on Company’s boards as per the provision of Companies Act,  A 10 CPE Hours “World CA Women Summit – 2 Days International Conference” was conducted from 14 th – 17 th January 2015 at Dubai, UAE.  Apart from above, the Committee successfully organized 18 Women Members Empowerment Programs all across India in the Council Year which received an overwhelming response of more than 2500 participants from Women Members.

Initiatives of the Committee  During the Council year so far, WMEC has successfully organized 4 Women Members Empowerment Programme at Bhopal, Visakhapatnam, Chennai & Ranchi.  An “Interactive meet with CA. Suresh Prabhu Ji, Hon’ble Minister of Railways” was organized at Rail Bhawan on 8 th April 2015 for the benefit of Chartered Accountant fraternity at large. The live webcast received overwhelming response of around 10,000 viewers.  An Introductory Training Programme about opportunities as Women Directors was conducted on 13 th April, 2015 at Mumbai.  Going ahead, Committee plans to organize many more RRC’s, faculty development programms, a Mega event at Mumbai and an International women empowerment conference.

WMEC GLIMPSES

First National Seminar for Women Chartered Accountants held on 14 th June 2014

SAFA Women Empowerment program held on 10 th October 2014

World CA Women Summit – 2 Days International Conference at Dubai, UAE

Interactive Meet with CA. Suresh ji Prabhu on 8 th April 2015

Thank You