Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
If India is to improve women’s workforce participation, we need to facilitate better workspaces and clean toilets instead of focusing on giving leaves.
Do we need leaves during periods?
On one hand, we talk about gender and pay equality and on the other, we are looking for ‘excuses’ to stay off work.
Women need to be able to rest a bit in the office and have access to clean toilets and sanitary goods to be able to work long hours. Instead of providing clean and hygienic restrooms, good nutritious snacks or supplements, regular health advisory and support, we are talking about keeping women at home.
Two movies that come straight to mind that showcase the cause for providing toilets are Akshay Kumar led Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Hidden Figures, showcasing the life of African American women working at NASA.
The latter really watchable and totally relatable where providing facilities for women was just not in the workplace plan.
Period days are difficult, and some women do experience pain and discomfort, higher than usual. Such cases can be given off on medical grounds.
However, making it a policy for giving days off seems short-sighted with a poor understanding of addressing the actual needs. Instead, it is another example of populist agenda that politicians push for.
Instead of focusing on improving the efficiency of the large workforce government hires and pays salaries to keep public restrooms clean and functional, we are trying to just keep people away so that no one questions inefficiencies and free salaries.
No one is even talking about why our public toilets are in poor condition. This is because that is a large vote bank, paid for by public money, with no performance checks or controls. If done, it would lead to political hara-kiri.
Women politicians need to take up this case, pushing for a more sensible approach to address needs instead of falling in line with their party agendas. Can they? As for us, we could do well without one more jibe about being paid for doing nothing!
Image source: Aris Levon, via base image, free and edited on CanvaPro
Born in small town India to professional parents in an age when working women were a rarity. Grew up among the bright,liberal and educated minds, who valued education, freedom for women, character and values. read more...
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Children should be taught to aspire to be successful, but success doesn't have to mean an IIT admission only!
Imagine studying for 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 whole years for the JEE exam only to find out that there’s only a very, very slim chance of getting into an IIT. It is a fact widely acknowledged that the IIT-JEE is one of the toughest exams not just in India but in the whole world. Apart from IITs, the NITs and IIITs of India also accept the JEE scores for admission. There are said to be a total of 23 IITs, 31 NITs and 25 IIITs across the country.
Now, let’s first get a few facts about the IITs right. First, according to the NIRF rankings of 2023, only 17 IITs rank in the top 50 engineering colleges of India and only a few (around 5) IITs are in the list of the world’s top 100 engineering colleges. Second, the dropout rate of IIT-qualifying students stands at least at 20%, with reasons being cited ranging from academic pressure and unmanageable workload to caste discrimination and high levels of competition within the IIT.
So, it’s quite clear that the journey of making it through IIT is as challenging as the journey of getting into an IIT. Third and most important of all, the acceptance rate or the odds of getting into an IIT are below 3% which is a lot lower than the acceptance rate of highly and very highly ranked US universities. Four, getting into an IIT of one’s choice doesn’t mean one will also get into a branch of one’s preference at that IIT.
Dr Nalini Parthasarathi, 79, based in Puducherry has dedicated 30 years of her life caring for people suffering from hemophilia.
It is amazing when a person turns personal adversity into a calling, and extends empathy to make a significant impact in the lives of other people. This has been the life’s journey of Dr Nalini Parthasarathi.
April 17 is World Hemophilia Day. Dr Nalini Parthasarathi, 79, based in Puducherry has dedicated 30 years of her life caring for people suffering from hemophilia. She was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2023.
Hemophilia is a condition where one or more clotting factor is absent leading to bleeding. Severe cases can be life-threatening.
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