Women at work: A look at the future

Ask someone and they will tell you that the future of work is all about digitisation, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence among other technological interventions that will change the way employees work. Many will also stress upon the how flexi working models is set to replace 9 to 5 jobs. But, Sheroes, a platform that helps women with their careers, has opened up an entirely new discussion on the future of work debate.

“The future of work is a lot about technology but also about empathy. Women need more empathy at workplaces,” according to Sairee Chahal CEO and Founder, SHEROES.

Chahal went on to say that women missed out on the first industrial revolution and emphasized that “we should not miss out now.”

A room full of women from all over the country, both working and non-working, gathered in New Delhi for a day long session to discuss ways to make the workplace more supportive for women with a focus on creating access to new age opportunities.

There were TED style talks by women who tried to persuade their peers to grow not only professionally but also personally. Cindy Gallop, Founder, MakeLoveNotPorn, a user-generated, crowdsourced and video-sharing platform would put it, “If nobody speaks up, nothing changes.”

Gallop said: “The way to change a workplace for the future is to have gender equal leadership. We need to get the number of women at workplaces up as soon as possible to ensure a 50-50 ratio of men and women.”

Real time issues including sexual harassment at workplaces and the need to have day care centres for new mothers were among the many topics that the Sheroes community brainstormed on.