STEMpowered: A talk with women leaders on how to eliminate gender disparity in engineering

They share their strengths, the challenges they faced and what steps need to be taken to ensure more equitable growth for women in stem-related professions

HYDERABAD: International Women in Engineering Day is celebrated on June 23 every year with the aim to empower and encourage women to take up careers in engineering.  Shrimansi Kaushik talks to women leaders about how to eliminate gender disparity and increase the representation of women in engineering. They share their strengths, the challenges they faced and what steps need to be taken to ensure more equitable growth for women in stem-related professions

Midhula Devabhaktuni, Chief Marketing Officer & Co-Founder, Mivi

I had decided in class 8 itself that I wanted to build a career in Computer Science. I was lucky to have parental support that ensured that I and my siblings were treated equally. I pursued my career in technology and also got a Master’s and an MBA from Florida State University. I started as a computer science engineer at Xerox and I was the only female in the team.

In my opinion, creating your own space, standing your ground and speaking for yourself are highly essential to overcome awkwardness and biases. I remember when I started my own business with my husband, people would enter a room and completely ignore my presence there. The perceptions people had were quite upsetting. Then I started speaking up and made sure that I put my point across. That made people realise that I bring substance.

This is something that needs to be inculcated in young girls from an early age and women as mothers and role models play an important role there. Even at Mivi, I came across a girl who ran away from home just to be able to study. Her father did not want her to study beyond class 12. She was working at Mivi just to be able to earn enough money to support her higher education. There is indeed an endless passion there but it should not come at a great cost. Women need to be encouraged and supported at every level.

Rituparna Mandal,GM & Director, Advanced CPU and Foundation IP technology, MediaTek

I have always been extremely driven in my educational and career pursuits, and my biggest strength in this journey has been my supportive and empowering family. My parents instilled in me the importance of hard work and determination and enabled me to pursue my ambitions to the best of my capabilities.

During the growth of my career, and in times of added responsibilities, my family has remained a rock, ensuring that I can offer my 100% to my workplace, even during challenging times like the pandemic. A major challenge in my career arose during the COVID period, when MediaTek, as an organization, was required to work remotely and meet tight deadlines in an evolving paradigm.

As the General Manager, it was my responsibility to ensure unhindered teamwork and collaboration from remote locations, while maintaining focus on the team’s safety and wellbeing. Managing the people and technology aspects of the job was a highly challenging yet rewarding task. As someone who has dedicated her entire career to the industry, I believe that the global STEM ecosystem must step up and provide women with innovative up-skilling opportunities and technology-based education if we are to encourage women to take up fulfilling careers in the field.

This change needs to start from the grassroots itself, as we strive towards a more gender-neutral workplace. Further, it is imperative that STEM organisations deploy a strategic and continuous approach to strengthen equality and equity and this can only be accomplished by fostering appropriate work ecosystems and policies focused on women empowerment.

Prasanna Anireddy, VP of Engineering, Product Development, Progress

I was lucky to have the privilege of sound technical education and excellent soft skills that remained my strength throughout my 35-year-long career. I started working for a start-up called Automation Technology in Silicon Valley. I got ample opportunities to grow personally and work for the development of the team as well. My company was later acquired by Progress Software and for the past 15 years, I have been working for them.

Even though I have experience working for only two organisations, I can say that it was the support of my leaders, team members and family that helped me persevere. There is a great gender disparity among top leaders in STEM and I have seen similar statistics in my organisation as well. A lot of women who join the workforce are not able to retain their careers to be able to take it to the top levels and we see a very limited number of female leaders. In order to see greater representation of women in top positions, interventions need to be made at the level of education.

More girls need to be encouraged to take up higher education in STEM courses. The recruiters need to ensure that they have a diverse interview panel and range of candidates. Then ensuring that women have a comfortable workspace with the right support and opportunities for personal growth so that they do not drop out of the workforce. Most important is to ensure equitable opportunities for all employees. For example both parents should get leave benefits when it comes to taking care of their children.

Article Credits: The New Indian Express