Empowering Women in Technology: Challenges and Achievements in India
Women in Technology India
While India is moving closer to gender parity in tech, the sector still faces challenges. Srividya Kannan cites a highly competitive and demanding work environment, coupled with societal expectations as reasons why women drop out of senior management positions.
Lakshya Sivaramakrishnan works as a programme manager at Google and is passionate about empowering women in technology. She aims to build visibility, camaraderie, and skills in the Indian developer ecosystem.
Roshni Nadar
Roshni Nadar is an entrepreneur with a difference. The chairperson of HCL Corporation, the holding company for all the HCL group companies and also a Trustee of Shiv Nadar Foundation, she is passionate about women’s leadership and inclusive education. She is also a philanthropist, which enables her to create a strong pathway for a better world.
She has received many accolades, including being featured in Forbes ‘World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’ list in 2021, Lewis Institute Community Changemaker Award by Babson College and Indian Business Leader of the Year by Horasis, among others. In addition to her role at HCL, she has been instrumental in creating VidyaGyan Leadership Academy, a residential school for meritorious but economically underprivileged students from rural India.
The school aims to provide holistic development and enables students to make a positive impact on their communities, villages and the nation as a whole. Roshni holds a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, where she majored in Communication with a focus on Radio/Television/Film.
Nivruti Rai
As the country head of Intel India—the world’s largest R&D center outside the US—Nivruti Rai has been making a big difference. She focuses on technology development to drive product features and execution. She is a believer in the power of artificial intelligence and ML to create population-scale solutions.
The 49-year-old Rai, who is also a vice president of the company’s data center group, grew up wanting to be a fashion designer. A high-achiever, she is a self-confessed workaholic who is a great team leader and is an avid traveller.
Rai, who began her career with Intel in 1994 in the United States, has been with the company for 29 years. She is a recipient of the Nari Shakti Puraskar and is credited with helping Intel India transition from being PC-centric to a data-driven digital organisation. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematical and Operations Research from the University of Lucknow and a Master’s in Engineering from Oregon State University.
Lakshya Sivaramakrishnan
Lakshya Sivaramakrishnan is a tech evangelist who manages Google’s Women Techmakers program in India. She is a data science enthusiast building tech expertise in machine learning and Google Cloud. She enjoys nurturing communities and empowering women to join, thrive, and lead in the technology industry.
She is an advocate of leveraging technology to drive innovation and economic growth in the country. She believes that technology can help create new opportunities for women by breaking down gender stereotypes. She is also a former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Tamil Nadu.
As the Director of Intel’s Embedded Products Group in India, Nivruti Rai oversees the company’s product development activities in 5G (fifth-generation cellular network technology), autonomous systems for SoCs and system-on-a-chip, and artificial intelligence. She is one of the most influential female technologists in India and has been awarded for her work in the field of technology. She is a highly sought-after keynote speaker and has written extensively on the topic of digital transformation.
Shivani Batham
Women in tech leaders are influencing the way technology is created, delivered and used. Their accomplishments inspire other women to pursue careers in the field and overcome challenges. They are also empowering other women to become technology entrepreneurs and work for equality in the workplace.
Many companies have started to take gender inclusivity seriously. It’s not just a matter of corporate social responsibility or ethics, but a strategic imperative for business growth. Companies with diverse teams have higher ROI and are more profitable.
For instance, TCS has a program for mid-level female leaders who need to attend family responsibilities or care for elderly parents. They offer flexi-working and flexible schedules to help them stay in the workforce and support their children’s university applications. The company also provides transportation services to encourage them to come to work. TCS has a dedicated female mentorship program that promotes the advancement of women in the industry. The company aims to increase their representation at the senior leadership level.