Like Paulo Coelho said, “Not all storms come to disrupt your life. Some come to clear your path.” For qualified women, COVID came as an opportunity to face fears, says Dr Saji Gopinath, Vice-Chancellor, Kerala University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology.
It has been an opportunity for women to make the most of their potential. When it comes to the literacy of women, Kerala is far ahead compared to other Indian states. Statistics also show that Kerala women score high in higher education than men.
42% of women’s presence in technical education is the highest in the country. That means Kerala has the highest percentage of High Qualified Woman Workforce. The irony is that this is not visible in the participation of different types of work. According to a recent survey, the female participation rate is 23%. Despite the high level of education, female presence at the entry-level posts is only 27%. The relevant question is ‘where are these qualified women’. The prime reason is that women face many challenges. Only 5% of women manage to reach the top position. Others don’t make it not because they lack talent, but they have to face many challenges. Corporates opine that COVID has solved some of these obstacles.
Many companies were unsure about the quality of work during remote work. But six months later, the situation has changed. Many major companies have decided to continue remote working. Sundar Pichai has said that Google would extend remote work till September 2021. The main problem for our women had been that their potential workspaces were concentrated in certain locations. Mostly in Bengaluru, Chennai and Kochi.
To some extent, women turned out more productive than men in remote work. This period has shown us that many situations we believed possible only physically, could be done digitally. Education is a good example. We never thought classrooms would disappear. Or that classes could be convened remotely through online meetings. Many traditional approaches have gone digital. Employer, employee and workspace all converged to one location.
This materialized world has more to offer. More skill development is needed to claim those opportunities. No matter what type of work you do, you have to develop your technical skill. Also, in remote work, one should set a delivery time. “The independent work culture needs significant behavioural change,” added Saji Gopinath.
Channeliam.com organised ‘She Power Virtual Hackathon’ in collaboration with the US State Department, World Learning, Alumni TIEs, Kerala Startup Mission and Gender Park.
