Mumbai: Celebrating the spirit of womanhood, footwear brand Bata India has announced the launch of over 25 all women-run stores on International Women’s Day. The launch of the all women-run stores is yet another endeavour by the over 128-year-old brand to empower and encourage women to fearlessly pursue their dreams and #BreakTheBias.

The women-run stores are operational in not only metros like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru & Chennai but also tier 1-3 towns like Pune, Nagpur, Udupi, Jamshedpur and Visakhapatnam, said the brand.

“Diversity and inclusion and empowering women to pursue their dreams has been a key part of the ethos at Bata India,” said Bata India MD and CEO Gunjan Shah, talking about the initiative. “Retail traditionally has been a male dominated space. By increasing the all women-run stores from 10 to over 25 now, we wanted to shatter the glass ceiling and encourage more women to become a part of the fashion retail industry. We have now 25 women-run stores across metros and smaller towns. I’m also heartened by the fact that we have now more women entrepreneurs who are coming up and partnering with us to open Bata franchise stores in smaller towns. At the grass-roots level, we continue to support girls’ school education under the Bata Children Program (BCP) initiative.”

Bata has always championed the cause of women empowerment and been consistent in its Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) commitment to foster and nurture an environment that is conducive for their growth, stated the brand.