Posted by : The Caspian Debt Team International Women’s Day 2020 at Caspian
About a third (and growing!) of the Caspian workforce is women. Women also hold key managerial positions across functions. It is, thus, with immense joy that we celebrate – and contemplate over the real meaning of – the International Women’s Day every year. With a view to raising the bar of walking the talk, “EachforEqual” was chosen as this year’s theme.
Equality ruled the roost for us, starting with a customised IWD2020 table standee for every employee (yes, the men too!), to both men and women being voluntarily vocal about what the day meant to them. As we gathered in the afternoon to spend our focused energies together, Shalini walked us through her journey with the NGO Timeless Lifeskills Foundation, what drove her to engage with them, and how she has successfully married her expertise in technology with the simmering desire to drive change in the rural hinterlands through education. We know what she is doing at Caspian – this day, we saw what keeps her going. And we witnessed how fulfilling it feels to grow together!
Nishanth jumped in to ask us to reflect on a couple of pointed questions – One, ‘what does feminism (conventionally understood to cover an equal platform for women at the social, economic and political levels) mean to me?’, and two, ‘Is this understanding derived through my experience or a general conditioning?’ His view was that if we spend time ruminating thus, we shall know where we stand on the #EachForEqual theme, and what our trajectory should be. What depth coming from one of the youngest members of the Caspian family!
Prema and Sachin were pulled out from their reverie by a zealous Parminder to share their thoughts after participating in the Diversity & Inclusion Summit 2020 held at the ISB campus earlier in the day. The theme this year focused on women in technology, and it was a proud moment of realisation for them as they acknowledged the large strides Caspian had already taken in promoting‘inclusion’ in the real sense within the organisation – which many are still talking and canvassing for – and at the same time, the need to keep the socio-cultural context firmly in place while ‘spreading’ equal rights outside our doorsteps. A tight-rope walk this is, and we at Caspian are still learning!
As Parminder rounded up the day for us, her reminiscence over the all-pervasive presence of her father in her growing years, shattering gender stereotypes,brought us face to face with the still evolving road that each of us individually has to walk. Does equality remain just a hashtag for me to engage my social media in, or is there scope for uncovering deeper layers for myself? We allowed this question to digest, with the fun game that followed bringing the cherry plunk into the centre of the IWD cake! Men ran the guessing game,digging into the (inadequate) knowledge of their female colleagues, and the chief guests of the evening – the Caspian women – sat back, relaxed… letting the day’s thoughts sink into the very air we breathe. Cheers to more seminal days to come!
