Institution news
IMechE India has celebrated women in engineering with two events held in as many months.
As a part of an IMechE initiative, the IMechE India Pune Panel - with the support and help of Prabal Sarma, principal regional advisor, Alisha Fernandes, international administrator, and members of the IMechE UK team - organised an event for women engineers, on International Women's day on 8 March 2016, in Pune, India.
A key panel discussion on ‘Challenges for women in industries’ was conducted by an all-women panel from diverse industries covering the automotive (Tata Motors), I.T. (Infosys), manufacturing (Nichrome), and the hospitality (Sodexo) sectors.
Discussion points included the constraints faced by women engineers in the armed forces to the hotel industry, the varied nature of functions in domain industries, sexual harassment and gender bias.
Chartered Member of the IMechE Siddartha Khastgir said: “The India Branch committee is focusing on the theme on women in engineering to encourage more women to take up engineering as a career.”
Khastgir added that he was incredibly impressed with how well planned the event was by the Western India Panel, who had just two days to organise it after the India AGM, where the new branch committee was appointed.
The event was also attended by Sam Perera CEng FIMechE, Southern Asia Region Chairman, who was visiting India.
Manasi Mone and Mrunal Hatwalne, both Pune/Western India panel IMechE members, gave a presentation titled “The Balancing Act” at the SWE event in April
IMechE India also co-sponsored an event run by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), held in Pune on 7-8 April. The inaugural WE India Conference was modelled after the SWE Annual Conference in the United States, that attracts more than 8,000 women engineers and 350 corporate partners.
IMechE members Mrunal Hatwalne and Manasi Mone spoke at the event on the topic ‘The Balancing Act’, which touched upon the challenges faced by women as engineers.
Mone said: “We shared our personal experiences along with the journey of a girl to get introduced to the engineering field right from choosing her toys to choosing her career.”
Over the two-day event attendees were able to take advantage of professional development and networking opportunities for women of all career stages working in all fields of engineering and technology across India.
Building on the theme of the US conference – Reach Out to Reach Up – attendees were encouraged to interact between peers and mentors, students and professionals, and novices and experts.
More than 300 female engineers visited the event, during which attendees emphasised the need for equality, an established code of conduct, and support in sharing household work.
More information about local events in India can be found by visiting the India NearYou pages of this site.