India, March 6 -- More than 150 years ago, Charles Dickens wrote about the period leading up to the French Revolution. In his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, he wrote: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." On this International Women's Day, I cannot help but feel the sting of truth in this statement. Women have undoubtedly made remarkable progress since the last several decades. Nonetheless, this progress sits uncomfortably alongside profound suffering, inequality and crimes against women worldwide.

One of the UN Sustainable Development Goals remains to achieve gender equality by 2030. It seems like women have come a long way since the last century. More and more women have attained education. The labour market participatio...