KOZHIKODE: 27-year-old Anu Vasudevan of Kannur had a five-year-long high-flying IT career in Kochi. In 2018, she got married and became mother to a child the following year. But, when she tried to get a job somewhere near Kannur, Anu was hard-pressed.
"I have to be at home to look after my kid as my husband is abroad. But I couldn't find a job even in neighbouring districts. Finally, when I got a slot, the company was reluctant to consider my five years of experience. They said that I had a two-year break from work and hence I had lost touch," lamented the woman.
Career break is a big issue for women in the state and according to Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (K-DISC), there are five lakh such women in Kerala.
To reinduct them into the mainstream workforce, the state government is conducting a first-of-its-kind exclusive job fair. Kerala Knowledge Economy Mission (KKEM) under K-DISC will organise the job fair in Thiruvananthapuram on December 21, Kozhikode on January 10 and Kochi on January 16.
The aim is to offer a platform for women workforce, enabling them to work at their convenience -- work from home, work near home, freelance or part-time. The aim is to induct the five lakh women back into career in five years.
"We are making a move in this manner to know how it will work out. This is based on the budget speech made by the state finance minister in February to track down the whopping number of highly qualified women, who have hardly any presence in our employment sector," said P V Unnikrishnan, K-DISC member-secretary.
K-DISC estimates that though women dominate the higher education sector in the state, they constitute only 15.6 million of the 30 million employed in Kerala.
"Seventy per cent of our higher education sector, except engineering, are dominated by women. So, where do these women disappear into when it comes to employment sector? This is an alarming scenario. With the help of the job fair, the attempt is to address this and it's a continuous process," said Kerala
Startup Mission project director P M Riyas.
Grooming and skill upgrade sessions to instill confidence and adapt to the latest changes will be organised for career break women. The portal set up jointly by K-DISC and Kerala Digital University already has 33,000 registrations, which will be made use of for the job fair.
Discussions are on with prospective employers such as women's chapter of TiE Kerala, Technopark Women Collective group, women and child development department and Kerala Startup Mission among others for the fair.