Avtar Group, a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Solutions firm, hosted the 16th Edition of SEGUE Sessions – a half-day event designed to empower Indian Women Professionals to navigate their professional landscape with clarity and purpose under the theme #PowerTheShift.
Segue Sessions is one of the most impactful and successful confluences for women professionals, hosted by Avtar Group. Segue Sessions is aimed at enabling women professionals to build sustainable and successful career paths irrespective of interruptions and challenges in their careers. In the sixteenth edition of Segue Sessions hosted in the month of International Women’s Day Celebrations, several women leaders and senior industry practitioners rendered their expertise at the keynote address, panel discussion, and workshop as part of the conference. Over 150 delegates from across industries participated in this conclave held in Chennai.
Speaking at the Conference, Geetha Ramamoorthi, Managing Director, KBR India, “Be bold to provide opportunities to women with potential and passion, instead of judging them based on prior experience. Especially in the manufacturing industry, we must modernize the workplaces and make tweaks in the infrastructure and policies to make the organizations and shopfloor women-friendly. While I say that, we also need to sensitize men in manufacturing to the need for including more women in the workplace.”
Addressing the audience at the SEGUE Sessions, Dr. Saundarya Rajesh, Founder-President, Avtar Group announced the pre-order of her next book, Conversations with Career Doctor, a solution-centric powerful handbook for every Indian Woman Professional (IWP) to help her stay employed, achieve financial security to thrive and win at workplaces. "Conversations with the Career Doctor isn't about having a great career, it's about rewriting the narrative of what 'winning and thriving' in the Indian Woman Professional’s career graph means. Each of us has the potential to navigate the twists and turns of our careers. The book will equip women professionals with practical guidance on proactive steps that they must take to grow from strength to strength in their professional spaces. With relatable anecdotes the book will enable women professionals not only to excel, but to thrive on their terms, defining success from the inside out, and leaving an indelible mark on the world," said Dr Saundarya at SEGUE Sessions.
Data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS July 2022-June 2023) indicates that there has been a rise in women’s workforce participation which now stands at 37%. This is an encouraging rise from the 2021-2022 numbers which stood at 32.8% for women and 77.2% for men. However, to achieve India’s ambition to be a $5 trillion economy by 2025, the women’s workforce participation rate will have to climb drastically. Despite other economic advances, without achieving gender balance in the economic domain, India’s dream of becoming a $5 trillion economy cannot be realized. Several women drop out of the workforce after marriage or maternity and are unable to find their way back to the kind of jobs they want. This leaves them dissatisfied and their organizations bereft of such potential talent. Furthermore, the women who maintain their career continuum often do not climb to the top due to various reasons – systemic issues, self-limiting biases, lack of career mentors, guilt trips, and so on.
“At SEGUE we provide the IWPs tools and strategies towards sustainable solutions for problems/challenges faced by them in workplaces. This year, we have transcended career-centricity by delving into the multifaceted dimensions of the Indian Woman Professional’s experiences at workplaces”, added Dr Saundarya.
With a focus on the unique obstacles and unique experiences faced by women professionals, SEGUE Sessions delivered a compelling and empowering narrative on Navigating Risks, overcoming the double-bind paradox, and success stories of women professionals powering through by inspiring inclusion. The conclave also witnessed teams presenting solutions for challenges towards increasing women’s workforce participation in an exclusive segment HackEquity – that cracked the Inclusion Code.
