technology, we might say a good mentor help increase the
interest of young girls to enter STEM and at a corporate level,
creates a pathway for nurturing women with talent to achieve
greater goals, simultaneously achieving business strategy of
creating a resource pool of workforce.
Geetha Kanan has an experience of three decades in the IT
industry, with a career spanning Software development,
Organisation Transformation, HR and Diversity in organizations
like NIIT, Infosys and Wipro Systems Ltd. and Raymonds. She
has spent formative magnificent part of her career of 16+ years
at Infosys and have climbed the ranks and held several
leadership roles at Infosys, and ANZ bank.
A strong advocate for gender diversity and promoting
women entrepreneurship in India, at her current role, she
has been engaged for more than 17 years now with the
Govt.of India, industry associations and partners to
create equal representation and opportunities for
Women in Technology. Her company AnitaB.org is a
non-profit organization that focuses on growing the
careers of Women in Technology. Since 2013, she has
been instrumental in strategizing and implementing
several programs that AnitaB.org is offering Women in
Technology including professionals, students and
entrepreneurs in India.
The Grace Hopper Celebration India (GHCI) is a flagship
conference held annually, which is the world’s largest gathering
of women technologist with more than 20,000 attendees. It is the
largest technical conference for women in Asia focusing on their
professional, research and entrepreneurial interests. Her list of
achievements just keep on growing, under her leadership AnitaB.
org India partnered with the Department of Science and
Technology, Government of India in 2014 to sponsor an all-
expenses paid experiential learning program in Silicon Valley, for
10 Indian women entrepreneurs with Tech Start-ups.
Interventions are Need
of the Hour
The Technology sector plays an important role in empowering
women, Government interventions like Vigyan Jyoti, Atal
Tinkering Labs and encouraging girls to break the shackles and
pursue STEM education. They are also partnering with leading
technology companies, to impart hands on learning experience
and mentoring programs. An important part of these
interventions are to impact the mindset of all stakeholders in a
positive way-teachers, learners and all partners involved to share
their experiences and good practices to foster full participation in
this technological revolution. Leading organizations such as IBM,
Accenture and American Express have taken up the challenge to
address gender gaps in STEM education and careers.Evolution in technology, has ensured the need for gender
diversity and a radical shift in thinking. With collective efforts by
Government, education system and corporate, who encourage
not only women to be re-hired at work but also retain as well as
nurture them to climb up the ladder. With equal sharing
responsibility on the social front, we can look at women
contribute on a career front in an equally capable manner by
choice. While it is important for women to have a positive outlook
towards their technological careers; companies should also
rise and work on workplace inclusivity. A sector that is touted to
transform India’s economic landscape, women are making way
step by step, gaining the place they deserve in this technological
hurricane. The future looks good, when everyone will collaborate
to solve the crisis that the industry is facing to strengthen India’s
appetite for innovation.These powerful Tech Leaders have paved the way, that
our mindsets play an important role in supporting or
hindering our efforts, so block out perceptions of any
bias and “Make IT Happen” because Technology is the
best equalizer. Let us move from “Tech for Women” to
“Women in Tech” the choice is “OURS”.