Women Empowerment in Digital India

The word empowerment means to give power which means the right to take decision with own intellectual expertise. Women empowerment means to give powers to women to steer themselves to the challenging social, economical and corporate environment. Our government also recognise role of women while framing policies for improvement in modern day society. All the world economies countries also consider their role pivotal in the growth of various fields. In a nutshell, we can say that our countries cannot progress if we left our half world behind. ICT sector is a powerful tool for the women to recognise their identity before the world through participation in decision making, entrepreneurship, and various other activities. No doubt, women have less accessibility to technology. But there are numerous example which shows that when they are trained in this field, it tweak their social status to the remarkable extent. The soared to the staggering date provided in this article is a evidence of the immense growth of the women in this sphere.

The aim of this paper i.e. “women empowerment in digital india‖ is to cover the following objective. • Different way through which ICT sector benefitted women to get employment. • Employment profile of the women in ICT sector. • Benefits of the Digital technology for the working women. • Impact of the IT on rural employment.

• Canon, a leading digital imaging company in India aims to grow its women workforce to 20 percent from the current 12 percent over the next two years. Speaking about the significance of its women workforce, president and CEO of canon India have said that Canon policies and initiative are in line with our vision to create stronger workforce where women can be leader just like they lead their homes. Women today are superwomen in true sense. like to return to work after a break. • Hinduja global solution which has over 32 percent women in their organization has employed a childcare initiative wherein the company has tied up with various pre-schools. As part of the tie-up, employees, children, are provided with subsidized schemes and corporate discount. • On the same lines, online payment company PayPal has introduced a unique six-week pilot program called ―recharge‖ designed to empower women technologists to return to work after a personal career break. The program is developed to increase diversity in technology, while also giving individual who want to return to work an opportunity to expand their experience and network.

The IT sector in India has created employment opportunities in areas such as telecommunications, banking, shopping, education, health and business. In addition, the internet has also generated new jobs in areas like the design, maintenance and management and management of sites on the World Wide Web. There are real possibilities that women may be able to access opportunities they never had before. According to prediction by National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), by 2018 there will be one and a half million jobs in the IT enabled services. If 50% to 70% of these jobs were to go to women, the impact will be tremendous.

Information technology has catalyzed the process of women's empowerment by opening up avenues for women to freely articulate and share their experiences, concerns and knowledge created the possibility of their further enrichment. The use of IT has broadened the scope of their activities and enabled them to address issues previously beyond their capacity. Women have traditionally been excluded from the external opens up a direct window for women to the outside world. Information flows to them without any distortion and censoring. This leads to broadening of perspectives; greater understanding of their current situation. IT has played an important role in changing the concept of work and workplace. Due to IT, women have employment options as flexibility and work at home concept. Tele-Techlndia, a joint venture BPO Company between Tele-Tech and the Bharti group, gives its employees a choice of four-day weeks instead of normal five. There are incentives for housewives & other part time workers for 30 hour weeks. Mumbai-based Data matics Technologies, a BPO which processes data allows women to work from home, 20 hours a week. This facilities employment for married women, especially with small children.

In India, women comprise a large portion of the rural population and play a substantial role in the rural sector. These women engage in economics activities such as handicrafts and sewing or rolling cigarettes, weaving of baskets and fabrics, working in cities as vendors. They are in urgent need of following information for their further development:1. Educational opportunities outside the village. 2. Job opportunities in both formal and informal sector. 3. Government assistance programs career advancement within the restrictions of traditions. 4. Modern child care facilities. 5. Legal provisions to counter sexual harassment, domestic violence & social injustice. By providing above information, IT played a greater role for rural women empowerment.

The condition of women in India is more miserable than the rest of the world in almost every field of social life. In rural landscape, the women participation in labour force is on increase due to migration of male counterpart to cities for informal job. Women are kind of unpaid agriculture labourer in her field. In Societal enablers, they have no control of child decisions and in their mobility. They have to bear the burden of early pregnancy, childbirth which compounds their limitation of future growth. In Urban Economic space, Women is still on the less favourable condition. The lower gender percentage in higher education is manifested in higher jobs in urban corporations. Various labours laws limit their participation in manufacturing enterprises by imposing archaic time limits and shop floor conditions. Growing Urban violence further limits women‘s mobility in cities causing contraction in women participation. In all key endowments like education, health,

Stakeholders have role to play to leverage ICT tools to bridge this gap.

Women who have achieved commanding position in the industry will inspire more women to follow their footsteps. Managing Director of HP India, Neelam Dhawan has nationwide responsibility for business profit and ensuring the greatest influence from different services of HP. She ensured the company‘s overall business prospects and heading its strategy and corporate development pursuits to make HP the most respected company in India activities that entails overseas activities, BPO sector, software Engineering and Research and other IT Services, Chandra Prabhakar, Vice President-On Demand Solutions, Ramco Systems has a force multiplier in the areas related to mainframe, client server, and e-commerce. Kalyani Narayanan, CEO of Allfon Systems was able to independently manage large critical applications. She designed developed and deployed applications at the tender age of 22. Dr. M. Revathy Sriram, Director of M/s Tejas Brainware Systems (P) Ltd, has 40 years of IT experience. Mrs. Sumitra Seshan is COO of Fifth Generation Technologies India Ltd. Sudha Jagadish, COO of Dax Networks: She had excelled in service, purchase, credit control and HR, and the major departments of the organization. COO of Thales Group India, Pamela Ramalingam, has vast experience of working in leading US, UK and Indian companies. Sadhana Somasekhar, Joint M.D Future Focus InfoTech is the global head for the organization‘s business operations and also the founder chairman of Platinum Info systems. The founder of VP Delivery Gayatri Viswanathan, has vast experience of software development, project management and solutions delivery.

Breaking old traditional norms, women are showing their real potential and mental strength. They have infinite opportunities in this global arena. They share equal partnership in every business, government activities and jobs. Some age-old traditional barriers and societal attitudes must be removed for their upliftment. They have to demand for their rights and should be ready to take their fight of equity and honour to next level. As the industry is cognizant of women‘s role in ICT industry, there is a sea change to attract women employees. Balancing act of family and job related issues are making a dent in MMG and SMG level women in various companies. This can be a blessing in disguise as they can use their skill, knowledge and experience to become a successful Entrepreneur. Top level women employees are setting examples for younger generation. They have to walk a tightrope and make a fine balancing act to excel in their carrier in IT related fields. Above all they must get including family and colleagues.

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Assistant Professor in Commerce, Guru Nanak College, Ferozepur Cantt