The Nobel-winning economist Abhijit Banerjee said to me that it was ‘hard to overestimate how much damage this history of objectification and oppression has done to the self-esteem of women. Many women have no sense of their own possibility both because they have never had a chance and also because they bear the weight of so much cultural and physical intimidation. Education, media and affirmative action will probably all be key in trying to get them to feel that they can take on the challenges thrown at them by the economy and our very broken society’.
