The seeds of International Women's Day were planted in 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York demanding shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. And the day as we know today, got formalized when wartime strike on 8 March 1917 was started by Russian women demanding "bread and peace"; forcing the tsar to abdicate and the provisional government granted women the right to vote.
Things were made official in 1975 when the United Nations started celebrating the day. But where do we stand now in 2022. Especially in India where 4 in 5 women in India even today feel that gender is a barrier to opportunity.
Indeed, while organizations have a big role to play in ensuring Diversity & Inclusion at workplaces, women too need to rise above the mind-set of underplaying their achievements and start self-promoting themselves at work. Then there are certain sectors and industries that are considered male purview such as civil engineering, fire fighting, mechanical and plumbing to name a few. Breaking the glass ceiling, the women professionals are now steadily making their presence felt in these sectors as well.
GENDER EQUALITY TODAY FOR A SUSTAINABLE TOMORROW
The theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March, 2022, “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, recognizes the contribution of women who are leading the charge on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and response, to build a more sustainable future for all.
While, women are increasingly being recognized as more vulnerable to climate change impacts than men as they are more dependent on the natural resources, at the same time women involved in sustainability initiatives around the world are proving to be highly effective change-makers for more effective climate action.
Realty+ identified some of the powerful women leaders of India that are talking about the new meaning of sustainability and are reimagining the role of women leadership.
BREAKING THE STEREOTYPES
Paving the path for the next generations to follow. Dr. Ananya Gandotra, is a woman leader in real estate with 27 years of experience across various asset class. Based in Mumbai, she is currently heading Design, Engineering and Sustainability at Birla Estates. She provides strategic design direction and helps deliver real estate projects successfully. She leads sustainability at Birla Estates with clear adoption of strategies with alignment of sustainability with business goals. Prior to Birla Estates, she has held positions such as Head of Technical Services at Taj Group, Add. Chief Architect at DLF and Head- Planning and Design at Indiabulls Real Estate.
Bengaluru based Neelam Manjunath, Principal Architect, Manasaram Architects started her private practice in 1991 and has designed and constructed numerous reputed projects in India and abroad. An architect, scientist, planner, activist and theoretician, Neelam Manjunath has done executive programme on” Media Architecture” and ‘Charrette Training’ from Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. Distinguishably known for the use of low energy material and technologies with a special emphasis
on bamboo in her numerous reputed projects in India and abroad, her buildings are an epitome of simple and direct solutions to problems concerning the general function of the building, immediate environment, statement of the building forms, local and green building materials, etc.
THE TRENDSETTERS
Koyeli Dutt is the Managing Director- Technico (India) Pvt Ltd, Kolkata and is the National Chairperson, Surakshit Naari Program at Fire & Security Association Of India (FSAI). Koyeli Dutt leads one of the oldest fire protection companies in Eastern India. She is a Fire Protection Engineering graduate from the University of Maryland and has been an active member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, USA. She was also a member of Salamander, the student honor society of the Department of Fire Protection Engineering of University of Maryland, College Park. She continues to remain a member of the FSAI core committee of the Kolkata Chapter from its inception and is an active member of FSAI.
Manjula Thavarekere, Managing Director - Adithi MEP Consultants Pvt Ltd is an experienced Principal Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the MEP consultancy firm and skilled in Plumbing and Fire fighting designs. She graduated from RV school of Engineering and IIM Bengaluru and set up a micro enterprise in the year 2015 in Bengaluru to provide value added and reliable technical consultancy services in the field of Public Health Engineering (PHE) & Fire Fighting (FF) for various types of projects. Her team efficiently works together to update their skill set as per the latest technology evolvement and provide innovative and practical design solutions to deliver high performance buildings.
Social Entrepreneur from Mumbai, Rupali Kelshikar, Co- Founder, Head of Commerce, Woloo is a globally experienced Fashion Apparel Retail Buying and Merchandising professional, Rupali has catered to brands like Armani, Miss Sixty, Guess, Marlboro Clothing, Diesel. Rupali Co-Founded DSGN Inc & heads the business development and operations of Woloo a revolutionary app that increases women’s access to safe public toilets. Woloo is India’s first and only loo discovery platform that helps women to locate the nearest washroom, whenever they are away from their home or office. The app has been recognized and supported by International Association of Plumbing & Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) India. With Woloo, she hopes to ensure that sanitation facilities that are safe and hygienic are easily accessible for all women.
THE YOUNG GUNS
A young Bengaluru girl who has taken the road less travelled is Waterpreneur, Garvita Gulhati, Founder & CEO, Why Waste? She started out at the age of 15 with the #GlassHalfFullconcept which looked at water from a positive perspective. The place-cards at the restaurants told customers moving stories and restaurateurs were shown the monetary benefits. She finally won the support of National Restaurants Association of India by proving that this concept saves over 50 per cent of the water which was being wasted earlier and consequently is working closely with them to change key policies around water usage at restaurants. She now leads the youth organization and team of ‘waterpreneurs’ that have prevented over 10 million litres of water from being wasted and have impacted over 6 million lives.
Young and spirited Rinki Mahato from Arunachal Pradesh began her journey in 2019 at CV Raman Global University in Odisha where she got to know about the IndiaSkills Competitions being organised by Water Management & Plumbing Skill Council (WMPSC) and registered for the Competition in the Plumbing and Heating category. She cleared the district level test and participated at the IndiaSkills Regional Competition (North). Amongst 8 other competitors all male, against all odds, she stood first and gained a spot to compete at the National Level Skill Competition (IndiaSkills 2021). She became the first female to ever reach the Regional level competition for Plumbing & Heating competition and she proved her mettle & skills by winning the Regionals. Rinki has been vocal about the fact that she is a proud woman working in a male-dominated sector and as WMPSC Skill Ambassador she is and motivating more females to up take up Plumbing as a career.
“When starting my career, real estate was a male-dominated sector and a challenging field for a woman. There used to be a trust deficit towards women’s ability in this sector. Having said that, the industry is receptive to new ideas and suggestions and once you prove your capabilities and expertise, man or woman the industry accepts you and respects you.”Dr. Ananya Gandotra
“An architect is a catalyst of change in society. From large sale projects to executing projects with bamboo structure and material the journey was not without its challenges and apprehensions as I was named the Bamboo lady. As architects we need to challenge ourselves to achieve a balance between ‘Responsible creativity'’ and ‘Creative Responsibility’ in all our projects to arrive at holistic solutions.” Ar. Neelam Manjunath
“I have been in this industry for more than two decades and have seen a sea change over the years. In initial days of my career, women were associated with stereotypical profession of customer care, HR or client servicing. “Are you from a technical background” was a question I often faced. That has changed now. Women are now accepted as engineers and qualified technicians.” Koyeli Dutt
“It helps to be a woman when it comes to toilet business. Who else would know better than a woman about toilet hygiene? Despite the fact that our population includes approximately 48.1% women, there are no clean, safe, and hygienic toilets available for them in public places. Being a woman definitely helped launch this tech driven service to solve Indian women problems.” Rupali Kelshikar
“I come from a rural background and then choosing a career in civil engineering was a tough decision. Every day was a challenge. The turning point for me was the women entrepreneurship program with IIM Bengaluru that gave me the confidence to build my own organization. Today I proudly lead an experienced team comprising both men and women engineers.”
Manjula Thavarekere.
“My dream is to see a better world where everyone joins hands and does their bit to make a difference. I am trying to build a world where ecology and economy work in tandem. It's high time we realized that the environment is economy.” Garvita Gulhati
"If women can fly aeroplanes, why can't they work in plumbing? I aspire to become certified trainer with WMPSC and motivate more women to take up plumbing as a profession. I see plumbing as part of engineering. Though it’s a male led field, but the industry itself is very encouraging. It is for us young girls to change our mind set and explore new career paths.” Rinki Mahato
THE INSPIRING STORIES OF WOMEN HAVE SHOWN US THAT THE DAYS HAD BEEN HARD AND CHALLENGING. THE JOURNEY WAS AND IS TOUGH. THEY FALTERED ON THE WAY BUT KEPT FINDING THEIR BALANCE TO KEEP PUSHING AND BREAKING BIASES, INSPIRING US TO FOLLOW SUIT.
