Encouraging Women into Engineering and Science

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Encouraging Women into Engineering and Science
World Federation of Engineering Organizations
International Colloquium on Women in
Engineering Tunisia 6th-7th June, 2007

• Lula Mohanty
• Industry Leader Electronics,
• IBM India, Bangalore

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Point of View

• The ability in women to make good careers in
  Engineering is a function of the social fabric
  around them, access to relevant infrastructure,
  economic status and guidance
• Efforts on creating any guidance need to be based
  on the conditions surrounding the target group

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Contents

• Education background in Developing Countries
• Societal Background
• Comparative Analysis
• Challenges for the Woman in Engineering
• Opportunities
• Case Study _at_ IBM

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Women Education Social Background in Indian
Subcontinent

• Education system robust, planned and provides
  equal opportunities for men and women
• However, economic conditions prevent education of
  the girl child into high school
• Social fabric treats woman education as a sunk
  investment
• Trends - the gender gap in literacy has been
  decreasing since 1981
• Yet, Low female literacy rates over 300 million
  illiterate women in India today
• Govt and Private enterprises creating special
  priviledges for women

The education system provides equal opportunities
in arts and science for men and women, the
environmental conditions determine the extent to
which societies leverage these
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Indian Women Studying Science and Engineering
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Highlights -

• Secondary school level enrolments suggests that
  the percentage of women enrolling in college is
  comparable to the percentage of women enrolling
  in secondary schools
• Interestingly in India contrasted to developed
  countries, there is an absence of attrition in
  womens percentage as we move from graduation to
  post graduation in Science
• Contrary to general perception that most women
  cluster around biological sciences in India like
  in other developed countries, the enrolment of
  women in Physics is highest
• Curriculum at large in secondary education is
  mostly geared around theoretical information,
  laboratory and diagnostics infrastructure desires
  lot to be improved
• Yet employment statistics show when it comes to
  picking up jobs, there is a significant drop in
  percentage of women going into Engineering and
  related services this is the concern

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Interestingly -

• Education and Employment in the Indian
  subcontinent is associated with esteem, brand and
  priviledge
• Women in the sub continent seek employment as a
  means of economic sustenance while maintaining a
  status in society
• Engineering jobs are amongst the lucrative job
  families widely perceived as intense on
  intellect and versatile with gender
• Women in engg sometimes tend to be typecast as
  non conforming and social recluses

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The Challenges

• Awareness
• Aptitude
• Ability to scale
• Infrastructure and Policies
• Mindset
• Economic Influences

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Encouraging Women into Engineering
Personal
Community
Institutional
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Enroll Early Create Awareness
Personal
Keep the Girl Child Informed so that she makes
an aware decision Assist in mentoring and
Networks Access to technology and
infrastructure Assistance in imparting basic
education, scholarships, commute and
communication Opportunities in Placement
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Mentoring - Provide Relevant Networks
Community
Engineering specially needs mentor handholding to
drive away the myths Diverse nature of this
branch is served better through focus groups and
communities The roadmap in Engineering normally
spans out carrer counselling for women is
extremely pivotal to make relevant
choices Mentoring should include enabling
technically
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Organizational Policies
Institutional

• Maintaining the fine balance between raw inputs
  and retaining them as potential assets
• Flexible working hours and Part time
• Policies to handle sexual harassment and Gender
  Bias
• Easy opportunities for Spouse and transfers
• Facilities like day care, Creche, medical leaves,
  paternity leaves
• Inclusion in policy making
• Transparency in selection and career level
  decisions
• Empathetic recruitment policies regarding age and
  career breaks

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Roles that Institutions, private and Public
sector organizations and Voluntary and Non profit
making Organizations have to play cannot be
overstated
IBM Case Study
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http//w3-6.ibm.com/hr/ap/in/yourlife/en-us/dai00-
diversityatibm.html
India Diversity Website
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Advancement of Women - Initiatives

• Indian Womens Leadership Council Initiatives
• Attract - Women Job Fairs, Women only Colleges,
  Partnership with Placement Agencies
• Develop - Taking the Stage, I Connect Programs,
  Mentoring, Winspiration Conference
• Retain - (all available for men also) Flexible
  Work Options, Global Work Life Fund Projects, etc.

• Women in Technology Initiatives
• Appointment of WIT Chapter Leader
• Building the pipeline (K-12, EX.I.T.E. camps)
• For current technical women (networking,
  visibility in conferences as speakers
  participants, eMentoring)
• Special Events
• International Womans Day, Mothers Day, etc.
• CII Women Leadership Conference AIMA Women
  Leadership Conference
• Building an Inclusive Work Culture
• Mindset Learning Lab for Advancement of women
• Range of programs to build inclusive leaders at
  IBM

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WorkForce Flexibility Balance

• Flexible Work Options Relationships
  built on Trust and personal responsibility
• Individualized Work Schedule
• Leave of Absence
• Part-time Reduced Work Schedule
• Mobile / Telecommuter
• Work at Home
• Global Work Life Fund Projects
• India Child Care Centre
• India In Home Care Pilot
• India Resource Library
• India Holiday Camps
• Work Life Essentials Website and Locator
  Services
• Parenting Workshops
• KidSmart Project

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Cultural Awareness Education

• Commitment
• Look for ways to respect differences
• Accentuate the positive impact of different
  approaches to business issues
• Engage employees in making accommodations for
  each other

• Tolerance
• Understand the difference that exist between
  people in your team
• Create a work environment accommodating diversity
  of employers and customers
• Make appropriate accommodations for employees
• Coach employees in dealing with their feelings

• Business Leverage
• Achieve business outcomes
• Successful customer engagements
• Contribution from team members
• Moving from the moral imperative to the strategic
  imperative

• Compliance
• Understand Corporate Policy on Diversity
• Comply with Business Conduct Guidelines
• Comply with Equal Opportunity Policy
• Comply with expectations on Sexual Harrasment

Be the Change Agents to move the organisation
from Compliance/Tolerance to Commitment and
Business Leverage
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Perceived Global Barriers to the Advancement of
Women
1997
2005
1998
2000
2002
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Acknowledgements

• IBM
• WFEO for the opportunity to present in this
  august audience
• Global marathon event Organized by Verizon
• India Research Inc.