News18 SheShakti 2025: Capability, not gender, defines command

At Lions International presents News18 SheShakti 2025 Delhi edition, India’s leading platform celebrating women who are reshaping the nation, the focus turned to leadership in governance and defence. Under the theme, “From Breaking Barriers to Building Bharat,” women at the highest levels of decision-making shared how they are redefining authority, not as a privilege, but as a responsibility to create lasting impact.

Smriti Irani, Founder of The Alliance for Global Good & Actor, reminded the audience that women must go beyond token representation in governance. She stressed the importance of gaining control over capital, networks, and confidence; arguing that true nation building requires women not only to participate in systems of power, but to shape them. Her words laid the foundation for a larger conversation on how leadership itself is being redefined.

Picking up on that idea of redefining leadership, Arti Sarin, Surgeon Vice Admiral, AVSM, VSM and Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services, spoke of inclusion within defence. She highlighted how empathy and efficiency must co-exist in moments of high-stakes decision-making, underlining that capability, not gender, defines command. Her journey showed how the military, once seen as an impenetrable domain for women, is now a space where they lead as equals.

That same sense of balance carried into governance, as Nidhi Khare, Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA), Government of India, and Mugdha Sinha, Managing Director of ITDC, shared their perspective from the field of public policy. They pointed out that effective governance is not only about rules and regulations, but about designing systems that are people-friendly, transparent, and inclusive, demonstrating how women bring both accountability and sensitivity to the heart of policymaking.

Extending the discussion on discipline, trust, and responsibility, Priyanka Singh, Colonel in the Indian Army, spoke about leading troops with courage and conviction. She reinforced that leadership in uniform is never defined by gender, but by competence and commitment. Her story echoed the larger SheShakti theme, that women in defence are not just participants in history, but authors of it.

Together, these voices revealed a central truth: women in governance and defence are not merely entering spaces once closed to them; they are transforming the very nature of leadership in Bharat, bringing empathy, resilience, and vision to its highest institutions. News18 SheShakti 2025 made it clear that when women lead, Bharat advances with strength and purpose. To discover more stories of women breaking barriers and building New Bharat, visit https://www.news18features.com/she-shakti-2025/