Women In Indian IT

In what ways can the industry collaborate with the
government to increase the level of education, tech education in particular, in
India?

The industry should lay out the skill requirement in a
structured way, and the government should then introduce the curriculum
accordingly in the education system. Our education system right now, is not in
accordance with what the industry needs. We still rely heavily on theoretical
means of education, whereas the focus should be more on practical means. I
remember we read robotics during our engineering course, completely through
assuming! Now, in this electronic world, students have access for visualizing
the concepts they read. But the reach is not yet extended to the grassroots. The
government should incorporate the system in such a way that education becomes
interesting rather than a tiring exercise of writing exams. Secondly, for
enabling more women to go for higher education, the government should ease the
funding requirements through lower interest education loans, etc. At the same
time, the industry can hire such aspiring candidates and provide higher
education. Another challenge is awareness among women in smaller cities and
towns about options and variety of courses available for getting good jobs. The
industry, in conjunction with the government, should organize events in which
volunteers can teach courses which can give women better chances to get jobs.

Tripti Saraswat, business analyst, Headstrong

Education alone doesnt guarantee a more inclusive
society. As long as men dont share 50% of the home work, it will not be so. I
agree with most of the suggestions made by Tripti. I would just like to add the
following:

• The school syllabus should be more gender
  sensitiveespecially books and their illustrations. This might change the next
  generations thinking and make them more accepting toward women leaders.
• The syllabus in college is technically outdated from
  current industry standards. Summer workshops in small towns and villages can
  be conducted to help create awareness among women and youngsters with an
  industry-government partnership.
• Industry should allow internships for school/college
  students instead of just visits and projects. This should be across the board
  and could be sponsored by governments.
• Exams could be more interactive instead of muggingboth
  in schools and colleges.
• In both urban and rural areas, there should be contests
  at school and college levels where the student with the best science project,
  which could usually be a technical innovation (that is how the vegetable skin
  peeler came into being) or a new software. The prize may bethe industry
  bearing the cost of the students education for that year.
• Apart from volunteering, setting up of mentoring for
  girls/women is possible through NGOs, government schools, local organizations,
  women self-help groups, etc.

Personally, I think fiction, with more women protagonists
or heroes, would help popularize the concept of both women in IT, as well as
girl heroes and women leaders. It is tough getting publishers in India to accept
children fiction with these themes. I also think annual summer retreats for
women in IT would be good not just for social networking but also for
brainstorming. The most important thing is to start the dialog between the
government and the industry, so things can get going.

Deepa Kandaswamy, founder-moderator, IndianWISE e-group

I feel that education has a direct correlation but may not
be an absolute answer to the increasing number of women in decision making
roles. It is important for us to recognize and appreciate that our government
has done various things in the field of womens education. Some of them are:
reducing the cost of schooling for women; making schools more accessible, so
that girls do not have to go far to attend school; increasing the number of
women teachers; more flexible school schedules; mid-day meals; clean toilets;
making curriculum more relevant are a few among many others. For higher
education as well, now there are close to 800 women colleges and five women
universities in India, and some of them are highly recommended as well.

• Dedicated girls colleges is a debate all by itself. But
  some parents feel more comfortable sending their daughters there, so I feel it
  might make sense. All-girls schools and colleges help some section of women
  gain confidence and offer freedom of self-expression and also, may be, of
  higher participation in extra-curricular activities as well which does help at
  a certain level.
• Even at the higher education level, close to 34.5%
  women were enrolled in medicine and close to 41.5% in arts, 35.5% in sciences
  and 29% in commence. But mostly education stops at the graduation level, or
  may be way before, as most parents in India feel that money should be
  allocated to marriage of the girl child than education. Also, drop-outs are
  higher at the college level.
• The fact still remains that close to 65% of the women
  who are graduates from cities are not working outside homes as there are still
  prejudices against working women. Not that the government has not done enough
  to provide a safe work environment. You pick up the Shops and Establishments
  Act and you will know there are various provisions for women, but how many
  companies implement them is an important question to be asked.
• The issue of the girl childs education is not as much
  with the government policy, but more with the combination of things such as
  implementation of these policies at a large-scale, peoples mindset,
  socio-cultural barriers, stereotypes, prejudices, and classification of our
  gender roles.
• The answer does not just lie in increasing the level of
  education for a girl child, but more in creating and maintaining an inclusive
  education system for all children (girls and boys) where gender roles and
  stereotypes play a minimum role.
• The corporates can surely support/sponsor/endorse some
  of these programs and enable change in the education system in our society.
  But it is important for them to know what, how, and why they are doing so or
  else most of these programs start with a big bang and die their own death. I
  admire the way the Teach India program runs. So, may be, we can hope for
  something similar!
• But I also strongly feel that if companies can make
  their own workplace truly gender inclusive and lead by example, it will make a
  whole lot of difference and the change will definitely reflect in our society
  over a period of time.

Something which tickles me the most is that our media, our advertisements,
and our primary school books impact our thought process at a very young and
vulnerable age and build stereotypes and prejudices. Most of the times I wonder
how to explain to my daughter when she refuses to go for football classes as she
feels it is a boys game, with only two girls in a class of twelve, and most
other girls still playing with Barbie dolls and kitchen toys, I am tempted to
withdraw but as MK Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the
world." I hold my ground and keep reassuring her and myself that she should play
and learn, if she likes it!

* Some of the data is of early 2001-2 period.

Meenakshi Iyengar, diversity partner and founder, Synthesis

Atreyee Ganguly

atreyeeg@cybermedia.co.in