As part of the initiative by the Women Empowerment
Cell of Dhaanish Ahmed College of Engineering (DACE), Padappai, Chennai, they
have initiated a seminar with a representative from EWIT. Ms. Umasree Raghunath represented EWIT and
addressed the Women Students of the College.
Close to 150-200 students have attended this guest lecture session in
the mini-auditorium of the College on 26 September 2016. Tuesday at 11 am.
After initial greetings with Ms. Lalitha, Assistant
Professor, Uma met with Mr. Raja, Principal of the college and discussed on the
various topics that can be covered in the seminar.
In Uma’s words
I was greeted with the cheerful faces behind the
burkhas of the beautiful women on a bright sunny morning at DACE. I started my address, calling them my
friends and I could feel the connection at that moment. I made it clear to them that this is going
to be an interactive session where I expect them to come up with their point of
views and questions. And glad I made
that as a point for they proved interactive and interested as we dived deep
into various aspects of women empowerment.
I touched upon the various opportunities available to them in the IT
world threading the paths of technical growth or management and how they can
climb the corporate ladder.
I also kept my focus
on the women empowerment starting from families and how they can manage their
career along with abiding by the traditions of the communities they belong
to. Most of the children were from
Muslim community and many of the final year students are already engaged to be
married off just after they complete the graduation. However, my interactions proved that given a
chance they will make very good corporate citizens and great managers and
leaders. I gave them tips on how to make
themselves stronger and confident with great self-esteem, self-respect and
confidence to take decisions, follow the ethics of both their religions and
professional environment and dream big.
My message was to think big and dream big as Dr. Abdul Kalam always
motivated the students in this angle.
Many of them expressed their concern that they are studying
in various other domains like Petroleum, Manufacturing, Electrical and
Electronics and that many of the Campus selection only happens in the IT
industry. I had to tell them how
they can interlink careers with the
domain knowledge of their respective fields of engineering into the IT world
and how they can contribute provided they decide to take the career path in
IT. I also requested them to
confidently try their opportunities in the areas of their engineering like
Civil, Mechanical, petroleum, ECE etc as there is strong need for women leaders
in the industry as India is marching towards 2020 dream of making India a
developed Nation.
I also touch based on the innovation, cognitive era,
the importance of digital world and how to use it appropriately and divert
their energies towards innovation and contribution to the society at
large. There were many questions from
the students on how they can build careers around this area and also on how
best they can grow in the corporates.
After a close to 1 hour session and 30 mins of Q&A, I was happy that
few students reached out to be off the dais with the specific questions and to
interact with me. I felt glad that I
could make this possible to have a very lively session with the students. This not only gave a good opportunity to
introduce EWIT to the students but also to share our expertise motivating more
women to make their career choices with confidence and understanding.
