India, Dec. 3 -- Gender equality and women's empowerment is the organising idea for our brighter todays and our transformed tomorrows. In this age of acceleration, we cannot afford to wait another century to achieve gender parity. The cardinal concept of nari shakti (women's power) and of women as devis (goddesses), which is India's civilisational gift to the world, must now move from symbolic reverence to practical power and take our virasat (tradition) of respect for women into a vikas (development) pathway of women-led sustainable development. When the freedoms and life chances of half of humanity expand, societies are rewired. Gender equality is an ideal in its own right and also a powerful force multiplier of social, economic, politica...