Seminar
Women at
Profession/
Home and Art
Dr. Maha Gingrich,
Vice-President
Central Piedmont
Community College,
North Carolina,
motivating the
alumnae.
The role of
women in our
society has
changed dramatically in
the last 3-4 decades. It
will be erroneous on our
part to accept the
traditional role of
women in this modern
world; women are now
playing a diversified role in the
socio-economic context of our
society. They have emerged as a
powerful influence group. The
change in the educational, social
and cultural set up has given a new
dimension to our social structure
and mindset.
Several movements fighting for
female's rights have been born
and through their hard work, the
political equality of women has
been secured. With time, the
situation of women began to evolve
into a more promising one. Just like during
every change, the adjustment process
from the old to the new was painful and
full of obstacles. Although women's lives
began to be more advanced, they realized
that their life was several times less happy
and definitely more difficult, juggling
between house tasks and
long hours at work.
Even today motherhood,
the crowning glory of
women's lives, prevents
females from getting fully
involved professionally,
thus not being able to hold
high positions in the
business world. There are
some scholars who declared that it is
impossible for a female to become man's
equal in both physical and mental health,
that women are bound by their
emotional disturbances and sensitivity.
It was a time of partial freedom, but
having received even the smallest
amount of it prevented women from
turning back.
Women have shown that, although
motherhood is the woman's crowning
glory, in their lifetime they are capable
of doing so much more than just being
mothers, just like men are expected to
be more than just parent figures.
The change in women's position within
the last 100 years has been a great one.
Either content with that or not, the
society needs to concentrate on her as a
human being, which proves that women are more than baby bearing machines
and are fellow, equal, and valuable
members of our society.
The problem of 'women and work', and
of the women's role in the society, has
completely changed its complexion
during the last few decades. It is no
longer a question of what women are
physically and mentally capable of
doing. For, experience has settled the
long controversy about feminine
abilities and has proved that women
are fit for a much wider range of
activities than merely those compatible
with the commonly accepted idea of
the 'weaker sex'.
The emphasis has now shifted from the
discussion of: 'What can women do?' to
one of: 'What should women do?'
Implicit in this question is an interest both
in women's individual well-being and in
the welfare of society.
INCAS, Hyderabad Chapter, organized
a seminar, 'Women at Profession/Home
and Art', exclusively for the benefit of its
alumnae on December 27, 2008.
Dr. Maha Gingrich, Vice-President,
Central Piedmont Community College,
North Carolina was the speaker on the
occasion. She was glad about the
changes and developments that
occurred in women's lives along the ages.
But at the same time, she cautioned that
because of the double harness situation
which women are facing both at the
workplace and at home, they are prone
to stress and tension in the day-to-day
activities. Maha suggested that these
obstacles and difficulties can be
overcome with a lot of endurance and
surveillance. Then only, Maha says, we
can enjoy the fruits of our progress.
The alumnae enthusiastically participated
in the event and keenly interacted with
the speaker who clarified their doubts on
various women issues. They were all
praise for INCAS for conducting such
women-oriented seminars and expressed
their hope of INCAS organizing more such events in the future. The seminar ended
with a dinner.
Career Visioning
Workshop
Career Visioning is the life-long
process a person goes
through to learn about
himself (his purpose, personality,
interests, skills and talents) develop a
self-concept, learn about careers, and
work situations and then make a
career choice based on the
information gathered while
developing social skills. It also includes
the skills a person employs in finding
and keeping the job that is right for
him or her. The major focus of Career
Visioning should be on matching
personal goals and opportunities that
are realistically available. Young
people can acquire life skills and
employment skills as well as a focus
on career development that provides
the foundation for life-long economic
opportunity.
Individual career plans must be
matched with organizational career
management systems in order to
address issues ranging from retention
to employee satisfaction and
performance management. The
succession planning system must be
integrated with the organizational
career management system to ensure
that second line employees can move
into higher roles. This would
contribute to satisfying their career
aspirations while fulfilling
organizational talent requirements.
INCAS Mumbai Chapter, with a view
to effectively preparing their alumni
for the 21st century economy, organized a seminar-cum-workshop
on Career Visioning on December 23,
2008 at INC ASIM Mira Road,
Mumbai.
Susheel Yadav, General Manager, ING
Vysya Insurance, was the speaker on
the occasion. Yadav has vast
experience in the corporate sector. He
gave an elaborate speech on the
present-day market situation and
warned the alumni to view the present
economic situation carefully and
advised them to take the correct
decision at the right time. Yadav related
his own experience as to how hard he
worked to climb the corporate ladder.
He also contemplated on the issue of
striking a balance between work and
leisure. He expressed his concern
about the present-day youth who are
so much after salary packages that they
are giving less importance to their
careers. He opined that frequent job
changes may adversely affect their
careers. So he recommends that
temptations of higher pay packages
should be carefully weighed and a right
decision must be taken at the
appropriate moment.
Prof. Bhaskara Rao, Dean, Academics,
actively participated in the seminar
and rendered his advice to the alumni.
A total of seven alumni, 18 INCAS
Relationship Officers and 6 staff
members from INCAS Headquarters
attended the seminar. The
participants were made to interact,
express and discuss various key
issues. Yadav clarified various doubts
expressed by the alumni regarding
career planning and growth. The
alumni shared their current job
profiles and experiences with their
fellow alumni and ardently hoped that
this seminar would be of immense
help to build their careers.