Google launches Womenwill programme in Sri Lanka
The launch ceremony for Google’s global initiative, Womenwill, was carried out recently at the MAS Innovation Centre in Colombo.
Womenwill aims to provide equal opportunity to women around the world by giving them the skills and support to enhance digital literacy, entrepreneurship, inclusive workplace and leadership in women, with the ultimate goal of bridging gender gaps.
Womenwill has now been launched in over four continents with a growing community of over 5000 female professionals and entrepreneurs.
Despite the rise of female entrepreneurs, women remain greatly underrepresented in the ranks of top management even in the most developed markets around the world. Even in Sri Lanka, there was a dip of female participation in the workforce from 41 percent in 2010 to 36 percent in 2016 (World Bank Report, 2017) while the senior management roles occupied by women fell from 8 percent in 2009 to 4 percent in 2016 (salary.lk).
In the global context, women make up half the world’s population but contribute only 37 percent of global gross domestic product. Google’s aim is to support and develop programmes so women in every market can connect to the information they need and the tools to make the most of it – to help them learn, succeed and be heard. It does this by empowering women through proper skill training programmes, mentoring sessions and workshops conducted under Womenwill.
Google executes these programmes globally through its own technology and business communities. Google Business Groups (GBG) are Google’s global network of communities for business professionals and startups, reaching out to over 150,000 entrepreneurs from around the world with a presence in over 80 countries, carrying out various Google training programmes, workshops and events such as GDAYX, Google IO, Devfest, Google Developer Days and more.
The local Google Business Community chapter is GBG Colombo and the local deployment of Womenwill is conducted by the same.
The Womenwill launch event was attended by approximately 150 participants representing female entrepreneurs and working professionals from multiple industries such as information technology, fastmoving consumer goods, automobile, banking, tourism and hospitality, financial services, marketing agencies, retail institutions, healthcare and more, representing 63 companies, as well as a few final-year university students. The sessions, which ran from 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon, were conducted by a panel of prominent female speakers and industry experts.
The event was kicked off by Google GBG Community Manager Sajini Jayawardena with a session on ‘Be empowered and empower others – introduction to Womenwill’, followed by a session by Womenwill Lead Sri Lanka and GBG Co-manager Indu Nanayakkara on the themes and programme outline for Womenwill.
The keynote speech – ‘Leading in a connected world’ – was conducted by writer and PR and Social Media Consultant Ajita Kadirgamar. The following sessions ‘From dormant to buzzling’ and ‘Just a girl who went for it’ and ‘Think like an architect’ were conducted by Cosmetic Physician Dr. Shanika Arsecularatne, zmessenger Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Jayomi Lokuliyana, Favourite Group Brands Head Karin Wijeratne.
Next, Glitteray Founder and CEO Rayhana Jiffry and beauty blogger and Youtuber Roshani Kumarasinghe shared their own inspirational story of ‘Breaking the glass ceiling’ and ‘A Youtube journey to fame’, connecting with most of the female participants at the venue.