WomenInTech forum will work towards developing interventions to increase the participation of girls and women in science and technology education and careers in the state
Chennai, India – April 05, 2019 – Amazon India today facilitated the launch of the Tamil Nadu chapter of the WomenInTech (WiT) forum. The forum brings together technology companies, industry experts, NGOs, Government, and academia across Tamil Nadu to formulate interventions and programs aimed at encouraging participation of women in STEM education as well as careers in the fields of Engineering and Technology.
RBS India kick-started the WomenInTech forum in 2018 to make improvements and execute an industry-wide plan to encourage women to pursue education as well as careers in technology. Several reports suggest that in Tamil Nadu, STEM has already been a preferred career choice for students, with more than 1,300 (AICTE Approved) engineering colleges in the state and more than 40% of their student composition being women. However, to sustain and grow the participation of women workforce in engineering and technology jobs, it is important to have dedicated focus on building the right set of through continuous and long term engagement across different stages of their career. With this in mind, RBS and Amazon along with other organizations in the state are coming together to launch roll-out several projects under the WiT forum in Chennai.
Speaking about the initiave Deepti Varma, Country Head -HR, India, Amazon said, “Amazon has been focused on getting more women to drive and lead technology, as we strive to have an employee base that is representative of our customer base. Today, many Amazon affinity groups and support programs cater to nurturing women talent in Amazon. While we strengthen our ecosystem inside Amazon to provide the right support, there are several needle movers and opportunities to this problem statement that are external to Amazon. Our collaboration with WomenInTech is a step further for us in that direction and an opportunity for us to work together with our peers towards this cause.”
“The forum addresses the need to work collectively as an industry to ensure that workplaces not only promote more women to take up education and careers in technology, but also create a conducive environment for working women to aspire for senior level roles,& said Anuranjita Kumar, HR Head of International Hubs, RBS & Chairperson WiT.
Manikandan Thangarathnam, Director, Digital Apps and Games Services, Amazon India said, “We are delighted to host the WomenInTech forum’s launch in Chennai. It will pave way for collaboration among different stakeholders towards encouraging more participation from women in the technology sector across the region leading to long-term socio-economic impact.”
The vision for Tamil Nadu’s chapter is to be a channel for the industry’s effort to nurture women talent in technology throughout different stages of their career. To drive this vision, the chapter will contribute towards the following four levers:
| Work Streams | Target Segment | Focus Area |
| Early Engagement | Schools (C-4) | Technology awareness sessions with regular learning opportunities |
| Colleges (C-3) | Campus mentoring series with skill building sessions, internships and field visits | |
| Scholarship Program | Schools/Colleges (C-4) | Identify and support potential future women engineers through code challenges and fund their education |
| Mentor Network | Professionals (C+3) | Create a peer network of mentor support from senior tech leaders |
| Career Restarts | Professionals (C+3) | Exploration based engagement with mentor support for women who are restarting their careers |
(C-4) is Career minus 4 years, (C+3) is Career plus 3 years, Scale goals are goals that we would raise by 25% every time we reach 90% of the goal.
The Chennai chapter provides an opportunity to extend knowledge and insights from renowned members of WomenInTech to the community such as Alison Rose (Deputy CEO NatWest Markets), Senthil Kanthaswamy (Director of Products at FreshWorks), Anuranjitha Kumar (HR Leader for RBS), among many other leaders from different institutions.
The WomenInTech forum was conceived in association with corporates like Amazon, RBS, IBM, Sapient, Deloitte, Volvo, JC Penny, ANZ, Uber and TCS, academia like IIT and Ashoka University and NGOs like Literacy India, Avtar, Timeless Life Skills Foundation.
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