I wasn't quite sure where to share this, but thought the members of this community might be interested. I'm sitting in the IET's South Asia Communities Volunteer Conference in Mumbai, watching our first female President, Naomi Climer, take part in an inspiring panel discussion around women in engineering (don't get me started on why it's taken us 145 years to get our first female President - that's a discussion for another day!).
In the UK only 6% of girls take up engineering studies, in India over 30% of girls take up engineering studies. However, only a tiny proportion of these engineering graduates enter the workforce. On the one hand I'm inspired listening to the panel speak - a mix of young women and senior professionals. On the other hand I'm depressed to hear them discussing so many of the age old issues that hold women back. Female engineers in India don't enter the workforce (or leave again very quickly) because they lose ground when they go on maternity leave, or are perceived as being less reliable because they are the carers / the primary domestic leaders, and because they are not valued by organisations that are dominated by men.
The messages from the panel are positive though, looking for ways we can work together, 'liberate' male thinking around the capabilities of female engineers. Tata - the biggest employer in India is trying to tackle this in a very proactive way - insisting that 25% of engineers at every level (including the Board) are female. They obviously look for the best engineers to fill the 'quota' (a controversial system), and they are finding that by forcing this change into their organisations they are then seeing the balance become normal and the benefits for their organisation increase exponentially.
Some other very positive suggestions from the floor (largely male engineers as all the women are on the stage!) that employers and female engineers should be encouraged by paying less tax. Many fathers of daughters, and husbands of engineers challenging the perceptions of female dominated childcare, agreement that many of the skills that women have are exactly what is required in engineering, and lots of positive support. It seems that in this room at least there is an enlightened view, but this doesn't yet seem to be reflected in the wider engineering profession in India.
So, no real conclusions, but the most heartening thing for me is that this subject has the room gripped so much that we've overrun by 40 minutes!
