Rahala: Hyderabad

We reached Hyderabad on Jan 9th and stayed there till the 14th. The women conference that we attended at Dhruva college was one of the best once. There were six women leaders on the panel ranging from different professions and as well as age form 28 to 65 years old. I learned that one of the problem that women in India deal with is staying in the workforce and getting ahead. The solution to this is in their own homes, having peace at home will bring peace every where else. Also, asking their family for support, flexible hours, were some of the answers that the women gave. They also said that it’s not just the women who need to make changes; it has to come from men as well. Men need to be part of diversity programs.
Another issue creating problems for women are they themselves. The panelists talked about how women can be their own biggest enemy. The women need to learn that they are not superwomen and it is ok if she can’t accomplish everything. They need to satisfy themselves with out feeling guilty and know that they don’t need someone else’s approval. Some of the other topics that they discussed were power dressing, how to close gender gap, who has inspired them, definition of leadership, and to just spread awareness of laws and rules among the rural women.
The second day we did some shopping and sight seeing in the heart of the city. We went to the Char Minar area, there we saw many kids selling artificial pearl necklaces and so on. They followed us around and talk to us in English. I was so surprised and amazed as to how well they could speak to us in English. This is because they went to school during the day and did street side selling to make some money at night to add on to the family income. We visited some other colleges, business executives and also the famous film city.