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Cisco India launches women leadership forum
By Vimali Swamy
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Saturday, 19 July 2008, 01:15 IST
Bangalore: The Cisco Women's Action Network (WAN) India chapter today launched the 'Connected Women Leadership Forum' with the hope of providing a platform to connect women professionals - engineers, scientists, sociologists, teacher - across the ecosystem.
Talking on the occasion, Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, CEO, Zensar Technologies and Chairman, NASSCOM discussed the current scenario of women professionals in the top echelons of the various technology companies and the need to increase this ratio. "Currently women constitute 23 percent of the two million IT populace in India. Out of this only three percent women are in the top management positions," he said. "Though women have a natural flair for leadership, in professional lives they often face the 'glass ceiling'. Hence, through various initiatives, by 2020, Nasscom hopes to see women constitute about 50 percent of leadership positions."
The forum saw a participation of over 100 women professionals from various IT companies. The key objectives of the forum are to establish and develop a network of professional women; share perspectives on topics such as women as leaders in technology and as entrepreneurs; expand professional relationships by networking with colleagues and customers; and share common interests and collaborate with other women in business and technology.
Discussing on ways to improve women leadership in technology, Sharada Satrasala, Director, TI, said, "Today the definitions of leadership is undergoing a tremendous change and most organisations have given up the hierarchical system of management. Organizations, especially in IT, only consider an individual's capabilities and values that one brings to the system when selecting leaders rather than his/her gender, colour, race or other factors. Hence, it is now upto women to shed their inhibitions and voice their opinios to reach to the next level of leadership."
Other women leaders like Geetanjali Kirloskar, Chairperson of India-Japan Initiative; Nagamani Murthy, VP, Wipro; Sharada Satrasala, Director, TI; Vasantha Erraguntala, Head of Design Lab, Intel; Priya Chetty Rajagopal, VP, Stanton Chase International and Jessie Paul, CMO, Wipro also addressed the audience on career management, improving leadership skills and self branding. There were also workshops conducted on women entrepreneurship and they shaping the future workforce.
