By IANS
New Delhi : Nearly 450 women from 50 countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan will gather in Jaipur for six days beginning Thursday to discuss conflicts plaguing the world.
The summit, under the aegis of Global Peace Initiative for Women (GPIW), follows a formal start Wednesday here at the very spot where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in January 1948.
One of the reasons for choosing Rajasthan as the venue was to honour saint poet Meerabai, said Dena Merriam, a key organiser.
“I had been familiar with her couplets for years as a student of Hinduism,” Merriam told IANS. “Now that India is rising politically and economically, it should also take the lead spiritually.”
Also in Jaipur, Sufi and spiritual leaders of India and Pakistan will also get to interact with one another, she said.
Among the countries sending delegates are Iran, Israel, Palestine, Turkey, Nepal, China, Cambodia, Sudan, Japan and the US.
According to Merriam, women need to be given a greater share of public sphere, which should go beyond having a token women president or prime minister.
“Imagine a scenario when half of the corporate world were women. That would surely make a change. But if there were only woman here or there, then they are constrained,” she said.