HYDERABAD: Only about 25% of women in India use digital devices as opposed to 41% of men– was a statistic that was highlighted at the CII-IWN leadership conclave held on Friday. More than 350 women, including those from top leadership positions in corporates and government bodies, made their presence at the event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry - Indian Women Network (CII-IWN). Telangana Leadership Conclave 2023 was the ninth edition with the theme, ‘UPLIFT: A Gender Equal DigitALL Future.’
The above figures were shared by Tanuja Abburi, Vice-Chairwoman, CII IWN Telangana & DEI Lead, Amazon, who, among other dignitaries vouched for greater gender equality in the digital sphere. The conclave began with an inaugural session, where Shobha Dixit, Immediate Past Chairwoman, of CII IWN Southern Region and Director, ALPLA and Sai D Prasad, Vice Chairman, of CII Telangana and Executive Director of Bharat Biotech International Limited gave special addresses. Joe Schulz, Vice President and Global Chief Information Officer, at Carrier Digital delivered a keynote address. The inaugural address was given by G Satheesh Reddy, Former Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and President of the Aeronautical Society of India.
The event was curated to incite discussions on a wide range of topics, including ‘women in design and innovation,’ ‘women-oriented schemes and digital offerings to corporates,’ ‘role of technology in advancing women’s participation in governance and policy-making,’ and much more.
Shobha Dixit mentioned in her speech, “Digitalisation supports life in more than one way. While citizens are being encouraged to take up digitalisation, more women need to learn how to operate digital devices and become as tech-savvy as they can. It is important for governments and corporates to work together to provide greater access to digital resources for women.” One such Cshe gave was to set up creche facilities as well as elder care units at specific industrial zones, for MSME women entrepreneurs.
Exemplifying the progress of digital technology, Sai D Prasad began with an invigorating speech, which he later revealed was written by AI. Adding some of his own salient points to the demand for a gender-equal digital future in all aspects of society, he focused on work-life balance and urged for a greater emphasis to be laid on small cities and towns. He highlighted the mitigation of gender disparity, equal access to digital tools and closing up of the digital, gender divide. He also called for gender-inclusive technological development and advised organisations to enhance diversity by allowing underrepresented gender groups to join.
G Satheesh Reddy, in his inaugural address, mentioned that the number of women joining the defence forces as well as defence research institutes has increased significantly over the years. “However, we still need to pick up in terms of more women CJIs, CAs and other non-technical backgrounds. India had precisely 458 start-ups in 2016. That number has increased to more than one lakh now, about 80% of which are owned by youngsters. This has been made possible with greater access to technological education through IITs and IISERs in every state. These education centres are connected with start-ups and incubation centres that are making remarkable strides in research and innovation. India now has around 10,000 start-ups in the defence and aerospace sector alone,” he explained.
However, this is only half the picture, he said. “There is a gap of around 327 million between men and women in terms of use of digital devices, worldwide. This difference is due to a lack of quality education and skill set, affordability, availability, awareness and necessity. The other half of this great venture of digitalisation involves supporting the disadvantaged section of society. Focus on that section and provide opportunities. Foster women entrepreneurship. Make gender-inclusive policies. Provide gender-neutral education. Make digital spaces safe and ensure data-driven decision-making among women,” he said.
Taking the event forward to a panel discussion focused on women in design and innovation, four women leaders discussed the strengths of a feminine perspective within an organisation and how it fosters problem-solving. Panelists highlighted their experiences, achievements, challenges and opportunities in various fields of digital innovation cutting across their domains of expertise.
The discussion was moderated by Srividya Reddy. Panellists included Karthi Subbaraman, Principal Group Design, Manager Microsoft; Dr Rashmi Pimpale, Chief Executive Officer - Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH), Government of Telangana; Shweta Kirkire, Sci/Engr- ‘SG’, Space Applications Centre (ISRO) and Chitra Sood, Product Operations & Strategy, Principal Google Cloud India.
While some of these women chose their careers, for others, their career chose them. Mentioning that various obstacles present themselves in the career path but one can only make way through the experience, the panellists focused on some core values: perseverance, hard work, dedication and most importantly, learning managerial skills as well as technical skills.
“India, as an emerging market in design, has taken a slingshot. When it comes to design, we try to solve problems in an order. We think of functionality first and aesthetics later. Also, a good design is expensive and deploys great engineering. We don’t invest a lot in getting deeper which would help us to invest more in design. We can incidentally make things better while designing a product because we are so good at jugaad,” said Karthi.
In terms of research and innovation, Telangana has made great strides, said Rashmi. “The state has more than 40 premier research and innovation institutes. We are the third largest ecosystem globally for start-ups. TS takes into account various stakeholders such as food and agriculture, sustainability, etc. With the coming up of various technical hubs, such as T-hub, WE-hub, TSIC, etc., there is an enormous focus and momentum in the state and country,” she said.
The discussion further focused on encouraging young girls to take up STEM education, preventing drop-outs by providing the right support at different stages and ensuring academic and industry connection right from day one of college.