Leading women academicians from across the country discussed the role of gender in the workplace and shared insights into how they had made it to the top of their professions with interesting vignettes drawn from their own careers, in a virtual conference series that was launched on Saturday.
Held in the run-up to International Women’s Day (March 8), and jointly organised by Mother Teresa Women’s University, Madurai Kamaraj University and Bharatidasan University, the online lecture series titled ‘Beyond the Boundary: Celebrating Women Leadership’, will take place every Saturday, until March 5.
Talking about her experience of making inroads into the male-dominated world of medical science, Sudha Seshayyan, former Vice-Chancellor, Dr. M.G.R Medical University (Chennai) said, “Women achievers will have to first come out of their shells of being women. The second step would be for them to be assured about their achievements and in their own values.”
She added that that women should be less hesitant to take bold steps in their career. “When it comes to time and achievement, my first suggestion would be to not try to be a superwoman. If you do not know some area, do not hesitate to say so, especially in time management and administration. When you want to ascend leadership roles, you will probably have to learn every day. Not all of us know everything all the time,” Dr. Sudha said.
Sharing advice on making a mark in the legal profession, V.S. Elizabeth, Vice-Chancellor, Tamil Nadu National Law University (Tiruchi), said, “I was told that if I never wore a sari, I would never be selected as the Vice-Chancellor. And because I don’t have a Masters in Law, I would never even be considered for the post. But here I am, heading the Tamil Nadu National Law University as its fourth Vice-Chancellor since it came into being. Women’s challenges are because of their gender roles. The difficulty of being a lawyer and a wife or mother is greater because women don’t have the privilege of time.”
The inaugural session was moderated by Vibhuti Patel, former Chairperson, School of Women’s Studies, TISS, Mumbai. Other panelists on the day included Mini Shaji Thomas, former Director, National Institute of Technology (Tiruchi); Mrunalini Fadnavis, Vice-Chancellor, Nagpur University; Thamarai Selvi, Vice-Chancellor, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore; Sonajharia Minz, Vice-Chancellor, Sido Kanhu Murmu University, Dumka, Jharkhand; and Malinee Goswami, former Vice-Chancellor, Assam Women’s University, Jorhat.
