RAINBOW
Empowering Women Worldwide

News & Events

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4 Oct, 2022

Participation of educated women in the workforce in India: A teaser to begin with

Asked by a journalist if she would like to inspire women in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Sonia, a social humanoid robot developed by Hong Kong based company Hanson Robotics, said:

“Girls are one of the most valuable natural resources this planet has to offer being so full of potential, thinking brilliantly. And yet they are mistreated all over the world. There is definitely apartheid of gender.”

UNDP (United Nations Development Program) Human Development Report 2019 claims that there are some groups of people worldwide who are methodicallyunderprivileged in several ways and women are among the largestgroups. Further categories applied in this sense are ethnicity, caste, geographical location etc. The report highlights that gender inequalities are amongst the most deep-rooted types of inequalities worldwide. As it concernshalf the world’s population, gender inequalityis one of the paramountobstructions to humandevelopment.

Gender discrimination is multifaceted and complicated with divergent progress and regress from country to country and issue to issue.Taking India as core example of this article, there have been significant social and political interventions for creating awareness and diminishing disparity at all levels. But as mentioned the problem is deep rooted and had many socio- cultural facets, the journey is tiring and long and there are many miles to cover before full attention and understanding can be reached.

In India and around the world awareness about the ills of gender disparity has increased and the minimization of this gap has been put into the development focus of various countries. Through numerous initiatives worldwidegirls have been catching up on some of thebasics, such as the right to education through the enrolment to primary schools.But there is less to celebrate about the current progress. Beyond these changes connected to fundamentals, inequality remains a hot topic in socio-cultural development and further influences interactions and limits possibilities of growth and progress in the home environment, in the workplace, politics and beyond. At homewomen do more than three times as much unpaidcare work as men. And although in manycountries women and men vote equally in elections, there are differences in higher levels of political power as mere voting rights donot ensure full and active participation in decision making and leading from the front.

It is observed that a large number of women are leaving the workforce in India. There is a drop in the percentage of Indian women participating in the labour market by 10 %. This is the largest drop in the world, between the years 2015-16 to 2018-19 (ILO Report, 2018 ). Only 27% of the female population aged over 15 is working in India. This is the lowest rate of women’s participation in any workforce among the BRICS countries; the highest is in China at 64% (World Bank Report 2018). India is losing 48% of women already participating in the labour market (in the first 7-12 years of their career) during the transition from junior to senior positions (Gender Diversity Benchmark for Asia , 2019). Literature and government reports suggest that leaky pipeline at the time of motherhood is one of the biggest reasons for this.

Keeping this is mind, a group of 12 researchers, academicians and quality experts from India, Austria, Finland and Spain joined hands together and formed a consortium under European Union’s Erasmus+ Capacity Buildingin Higher Education program with focus to explore the reasons for low participation in the active workforce, of educated women who have full time enrolment in the university system. This consortium is working for the Project RAINBOW which aims at ‘realizing aspirations, interests and brilliance of young women’ currently enrolled or alumnus of these participating universities as well as every woman in general, within the ecosystem of these universities/HEIs.

Within the aforementioned project, the consortium/experts surveyed more than 700 female students/alumni and conducted focus group discussion with about 55 subject matter experts, to explore the hurdles that women face while entering the workforce and also during career growth and development. Upon exploring the reasons from the female alumni of three Indian universities/HEIs, geographically dispersed in Northern, central and Western part of India, non-participation in the workforce, non- flexible work and other life roles like that of a daughter, daughter in law, wife, or mother emerged as majorly significant factorsto withdraw from the labour market.

Further significant outcomes were:

  • 64% of respondents believe that the job opportunities available to them were not flexible enough and
  • 8% of the participants have chosen to give priority to other life roles like marriage, motherhood, caregiver etc. over their personal career growth.

A range of key drivers that had played important roles in the decision making of the representatives of the study to start a career and/or remain in the workforce are presented thereinafter. Generally, it can be said that the study itself was well received by the participants. The 10 key drivers discussed in the study design were; growth, learning, exposure, work life balance, flexible working conditions, job security, monetary benefits, additional perks andbenefits, autonomy and fun. Out of this range of 10 key drivers, learning has been considered the most important (score of 4,60 of 5) with Growth (4,56), Exposure (4,44)and Work life balance (4,41) also having been mentioned as important. Fun (2,75) was selected as the least relevant driver.

Another question was asking about what a career means for them and the reason why professional goals fulfil them. The results indicate that many highly educated Indian women do not seek a career because of financial necessities, or to reach a higher status in society. The participating women chose financial independence (4,59 of 5) as being the most relevant for following a career, with a sense of accomplishment being rated nearly as high (4,55 of 5). Economic necessity or improved status ranked much lower.

Further, the survey tried to explore the aspirations the participating women have with regard to themselves and their own development excluding social roles and commitments such as being a daughter/mother/wife etc. While answering this question, women rated the desire to establish an identity of their own (4,6 of 5) highest, women wanted more economic freedom (4,39) and aspired to utilize their education in a better way (4,30) and want to travel and see places (4,30).

It is believed that women careers´ at times get affected by the lack of support from other members of the family.Through the implementation of study, it was identified that the most crucial social support to follow a personal career, needs to come from parents(4,68 of 5), followed by the partners of the participants (4,42 of 5). Therefore, it can be stated that the close social environment is a crucial and influential factor for the careers of women. It is followed by the peripheral social environment and societal support.

During the focus group discussion with subject matter experts performed in the frame of the Erasmus+ project RAINBOW showed that the biggest influential factor to follow a personal career for women is the work-family relationship. This factor is not only highly relevant in India but in many other societies worldwide.It is predominantly expected that women follow the traditional gender role that puts women into the role as a family care taker. This involves caring activities for children and other family members who are in need for additional care. This fact leads to the societal perception that a woman’s value in the society is defined through the family life and (unpaid) care responsibilities. This kind of gender role leads to stereotyping which puts pressure on working women to manage family life and career. As a result, women easily opt out from their careers and take over the expected societal role as a care taker. Finding affordable childcare for example creates a lot of mental stress for women, which may cause unsatisfactory job performance and, in some cases, also leaving the workplace.

In India, work and career is affected by gender stereotypes not only at the time of women´s participation in the workforce but also at an earlier stage, namely during the selection process of their field of education.

One of the participants in the survey confirmed this reality. She expressed that,

“Parents in the middle-class families of India including mine have a key role to play in choosing a career for their daughters. Mostly daughters are forced to choose a career their parents want. If the daughters want to pursue a career, not in line with parents’ choice, they have to put a lot of efforts into convincing and persuading. This is what I personally faced and I think this should change. One must have the freedom to choose one’s career.”

Research has also highlighted a unique interference in the career choice decisions of Indian females. Indian girls start thinking about their work life balance after marriage, long before they are actually married. During their college days only, they make or are culturally prepared and influenced to make career choice decisions that do support their life after marriage.

One respondent said that,
“Before taking any decision relating to my career, my parents made me think about the question that weather my future parents in law will let me continue this after the marriage. They forced me to do Chartered Accountancy as this can be done while sitting at home also after marriage. But later, they supported me in perusing MBA.”

Another woman responded that,
“It becomes difficult to find a partner for matrimonial purpose if a lady is highly qualified (like pursuing Phd etc.) as they already assume that she will not be able to carry out the daily household course in a better way.”

Further, also the division of household chores and care responsibility have gendered approach in India. Work might hold same meaning for men and women in India and in many countries of world but parenthood is different. It brings forward completely different situations and work-family adjustment related challenges for women not only in India but also in other parts of world. Motherhood is seen as an agent of discrimination in career growth.

India has recently promised third highest maternity leaves (time in weeks) in the world to the working women who choose to be mothers. Canada and Norway are ahead of India by 50 weeks and 44 weeks paid leave respectively for absence from work during motherhood. Following the enactment of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 (“Maternity Amendment Act”) on March 27, 2017, the law (a) extends maternity benefits to commissioning and adopting mothers, (b) mandates employers to provide crèche facilities at the establishment, (c) allows women to work from home in certain cases and (d) requires employers to inform female employees at the time of their joining on maternity benefits available to them.

The amendment protects employment of women and grants 26 weeks of paid leaves (for the first two children) as compared to 12 weeks in the past. It is expected that this amendment will benefit around 1.8 million working mothers, as it applies to both the private and the public sector. But is this quantitative gain enough to ensure inclusive workplaces in India? Will it be a change agent in improving gender parity at Indian workplaces? What Indianeeds is a change in the mind set towards working mothers, which is not easy in a patriarchal society. While some progressive companies are consciously designing gender sensitive policies, a vast majority of workplaces are yet to catch up on providing such benefits to their women employees.

Looking at women’s employment from the labour market point of view alone is not enough. We need to look at this phenomenon with the intentions of introducing a transactional as well as transformational intervention at socio- cultural, political and economic levels. Understanding differences among women is critical to crafting policy and making public investments that meet their needs and expand their choices and opportunities. Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 is a step towards this but it needs more in-depth understanding of the socio-cultural, historical, physiological and economic aspects of motherhood to fully contribute towards an innovative and sustainable workplace for future. The country’s law makers, academicians, researchers and other stakeholders have a huge task ahead of them which can only be accomplished with the combined efforts of experts who are ready for change to convince the general public.

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12 Jul, 2022

RAINBOW Consortium Meeting on July 12-13, 2022 at SPSU

The RAINBOW Consortium Meeting was held at Sir Padampat Singhania University, Udaipur on July 12-13, 2022. SPSU ERASMUS + European Union funded multilateral project RAINBOW (Realizing Aspirations, Interests and Brilliance of Young Women) that focuses on gender mainstreaming, empowering of women and establishing of Rainbow Career Counselling center at the University. The partner Universities FH JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences (AUSTRIA), University of Jyväskylä (FINLAND), INCOMA (SPAIN), Birla Institute of Management Technology (INDIA), NIRMA University (INDIA) participated in the Meeting. The Management team of SPSU – Professor (Dr.) Padmakali Banerjee, the honourable Vice-Chancellor (President) Professor (Dr.) Sadananda Prusty (Dean -School of Management) and Professor (Dr.) Sanjay Mishra (Registrar) welcomed the dignitaries and put forth their ideas and concept on sustainability of the Rainbow Counselling Centres. Professor Banerjee in her interaction with the august gathering emphasized on initiating the immersion programmes with the industry and partner Universities, organizing International Conferences, taking up with Energy conservation projects and projects connecting with the society through various public welfare ventures. The honourable Vice Chancellor SPSU Professor (Dr.) Padmakali Banerjee in also announced the Second International Rainbow Conference – 2023. The members presented their ideas regarding various collaborations at the international and national level to promote and empower the Rainbow Career Counselling Centers and provide them with more opportunities for growth and capacity building. The EU project was carried out very successfully at all the partner Universities and to take it to the next level symposiums, inter-regional meetings and social outreach programmes were suggested. To understand the actual functioning of the NGO, a field visit was organised by SPSU. The team visited Namrata Primary Women Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited was organised by SPSU on July 13, 2022. The visit provided a hands-on experience and gave an understanding about the empowerment of the rural women and their contribution to the society.

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23 Jun, 2022

Interregional Meeting at Nirma University, Ahmedabad

Interregional Meeting at Nirma University, Ahmedabad
23-24 June, 2022
Day 1: 23rd June, 2022 (10:00 AM – 4:00 PM)
Nirma University organised an interregional meeting with the Indian partner Universities BIMTECH (Noida) and SPSU (Udaipur) and members of four NGOs on 23-24 June 2022. The RAINBOW Centre, Nirma University, Ahmedabad Interregional Meeting began with welcoming the RAINBOW partner University Members and members of the NGOs. The representatives of the invited NGOs – Tresna Foundation, Aasman Foundation, Centre for Environment Education and Mahila Money were briefed about the RAINBOW Project and RAINBOW Centre by Dr. Nina Muncherji. Dr. Subir Verma (Director, Institute of Management, Nirma University) Dr. Hrudanand Mishra, (Additional Director, Additional Director, Undergraduate Studies, Institute of Management, Nirma University) welcomed the guests and motivated everyone present to further the cause of the RAINBOW Centres. Dr. Anup Singh (Director General, Nirma University) took time out of his busy schedule and interacted with everyone present, promising support to the RAINBOW Centre in making it sustainable.
Then started Vichar Vimarsh: Round Table Discussion on Issues Faced by the Women in Rural Areas and Its Solution’. Ms. Rohini Chandra (Tresna Foundation), Dr. Janki Shah (Centre for Environment Education), Ms. Nida Sutariya (Aasman Foundation), Mr. Vaibhav Kathju (Mahila Money), Mr. Abhay Singh (Mahila Money) elaborated on theme of the round table discussion and Dr. Shweta Lalwani, Dr. Shubham Goswami, Dr. Shibani Banerjee from SPSU; Dr. Himanshi Tiwari, Ms. Madhavi Sharma, Ms. Sangeeta Safaya and Ms. Neha Sharma from BIMTECH University participated in the discussion and shared their inputs and insights on the topic and suggested effective ways to cope up with the challenges faced by rural women. Dr. Sapna Parashar and Dr. Poonam Channiwal were the moderators for the session.
This was followed by deliberations on the Collaborative Avenues which the NGOs could have with the RAINBOW Centres. The moderator for the session was Dr. Amola Bhatt. Finally there was an exchange of ideas on ‘Collaboration across RAINBOW Centres’ and how the NGOs brought in by the three partner universities could work together.
The day ended with Dr. Monita Shastri proposing a vote of thanks and giving Mementos to the members of the partner universities and the members of the participating NGOs.

Day 2: 24th June, 2022 (10:15 AM – 3:00 PM)
On Day 2, RAINBOW Centre Nirma University had organized a Workshop on ‘Women Empowerment Through Financial Independence’. The workshop was conducted by experts Mr Vaibhav Kathju, Ms. Siddhika Aggarwal and Mr Abhay Singh of Mahila Money an NGO. The session was extremely interactive and led to a brainstorming on ideas to make women self-sufficient by providing them opportunities to become financially independent.
The day ended with highly motivated and inspired RAINBOW Teams to continue working towards making RAINBOW Centres sustainable and the NGOs promising their support whole heartedly to the cause.

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21 Jun, 2022

Project RAINBOW Inter-Regional Meeting at BIMTECH

Project RAINBOW Inter-Regional Meeting at BIMTECH was held on 21st & 22nd June 2022 at Rainbow Centre, Vikramshila Leadership Centre, BIMTECH .
On 21 st June 2022 the meeting started with welcome of the team by BIMTECH Management. Director, Dr. Harivansh Chaturvedi, Deputy Director Dr. Anupam Varma, Dean Student Welfare and Support Services, Dr. Abhijeet Chattoraj graced the occasion with their presence. They discussed the expectations that the management have from the RAINBOW Centre at BIMTECH and the support that it wishes to provide for a sustainable and fruitful existence of the centre in the overall status of things in the Institute. At 11:30 Round Table Meeting on the theme ‘3 Rs of Women Careers: Redflags, Reactions and Resurgence’ started with active participation of dignitaries’ like Samyukta Subramanian: PRATHAM Education Foundation, New Delhi Advocate Amrita Srivastava: Supreme Court New Delhi Ms. Preeti Phogat: Vice Principal Savitri Bai Phule Balika Inter College Gr. NOIDA, Mr. Ashok Srivastava: Navratan Foundation, Noida UP, Ms. Deepshikha Varma: Govt. Accredited Artist, Relief & Lippan Art, Ms. Smita Bhatnagar: Senior Coordinator SEWA Foundation, Ms. Preeti Srivastava: Senior VP Reliance Industries Ltd., Founder DayaRani. The discussants comprising of all the partners and attendees played a very participative role. Moderator, Dr. Himanshi Tiwari, BIMTECH asked some really intriguing questions. Second half of the day was dedicated fully to understand the 3 Rs and Counselling Interventions by respective RAINBOW Centre. Day 2 on 22nd June 2022 offered a A Talk on ‘Entrepreneurial Infrastructure and Inclusion Efforts’, By: Dr. Abha Rishi, CEO, Atal Incubation Centre, Chairperson Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (CIED) at BIMTECH, Tour of ATAL INCUBATION CENTRE, BIMTECH. Inspirational Field Visit for a LIVE CASE STUDY of Ms. Manjula Mishra, Director: HOLOSAFE Security Labels Pvt. Ltd., Plot no Block, F-60 & E-87, Block A, UPSIDC Site B, Surajpur, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

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26 Apr, 2022

Rainbow Project Consortium meeting organized at Seville, Spain

April 26 – 27, 2022 INCOMA hosted the second-to-last RAINBOW meeting in Seville.
The three Indian universities (Nirma University, SPSU and BIMTECH) travelled to Spain together with the coordinators, the FHJ, from Austria.
It was a face-to-face meeting after these years of the pandemic, as well as a meeting to finalise details to conclude the project. It was very fruitful and comforting. The next steps were written, and the Interregional Meetings were coordinated to be held in future.

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4 Apr, 2022

Expert Lecture organised by Rainbow Centre, NIRMA

The RAINBOW Centre, at the Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad organized an online expert lecture by Ms. Praggatti Rao on ‘ Breaking Stereotypes and Adopting Diversity at Workplace.’on 4th April, 2022. Ms. Rao talked about various levels of stereotypes, alpha-beta bias, the stereotype content model, and its consequences. She concluded the session with notes on how to manage stereotypes and ways to adopt diversity.

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11 Mar, 2022

Visit at SPSU-Rainbow Centre

SPSU Rainbow centre was visited by Prof. Meera Mathur from MLS University, Udaipur, India and Prof. Sheenu Jain from Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR), Jaipur on 11th March,2022. Details of activities organized at the Rainbow are shared and possibilities of future collaboration for training and counseling for the centre is discussed.

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9 Mar, 2022

Activity organised by the RAINBOW Centre, SPSU

On the occasion of International Women’ s Day the Rainbow Centre SPSU organized a Collage Making Activity on Wednesday 9 March, 2022 3:45 pm at the RAINBOW Centre. The main concept for the collage was preserved as the International Women’s Day 2022 theme of “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.” Women as National Pride, Woman of Today- Paving a Path for Herself, and Successful Women’s Journey were among the sub themes. Mr. VDV Singh, Head Operations, encouraged the students to weave their creativity around the theme. He praised the students’ efforts and encouraged them to get involved in future activities. The event drew a total of 53 students and instilled values such as unity, compassion, teamwork, and the belief that “sharing is caring.” The Centre commended the contribution of women in all the domains of life and inspired them to be affirmative in the course of life.

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23 Feb, 2022

Counselling Session on ‘Career goals- Challenges and attaining work-life balance’

The RAINBOW Centre of Sir Padampat Singhania University, Udaipur organised an online Counselling Session on ‘Career goals- Challenges and attaining work-life balance’ on February 23, 2022. Psychologist and psychometrician Dr. Aditi Banerjee, Head L&D department of Adpushup India Pvt Ltd, Delhi and Ms. Surbhi Goyal, Senior Manager Recruitment at AdPushup conducted the session. Dr. Banerjee briefed the students about the long term and short term goals. She stressed on the key performance indicators, managing stress, time management and P21 skill set required to stay updated and sustain at the professional front.Ms. Surbhi highlighted the real life situations before and after getting into a job. Dr. Shibani Banerjee and Dr. Shweta Lalwani were the moderators for the session.

They too shared their career journey and emphasized the need to be passionate about setting career goals and pursuing them earnestly. The interactive discussion also focused at facing and solving the problems and moving towards self-realization and self-empowerment. The students participated actively by responding and asking questions that were well answered by the forum.

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14 Dec, 2021

Interregional meeting at SPSU

SPSU organised an interregional meeting with the Indian partner Universities BIMTECH (Noida) and NIRMA University (Ahmedabad) on 14-15 December 2021.The RAINBOW Center SPSU conducted a Round Table Discussion Manthan: ‘Challenges for Young Women: ‘Role of Career counselling in Shaping their Future’ on 14 December 2021. Dr. Radhika Ladda , CEO & President, Namrata Primary Women Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited and Kamli- a brand of Handicrafts, Ms. Shubhangi Rathore, Production head, Sadhna, an organization devoted to the skill development of women in society, Prof. Sanjay Lodha, Advisor, Pratidhvani Sansthan- an organization dedicated to the empowerment of tribal women, Dr. Nina Muncherji, Dr. Amola Bhatt, Dr. Sapna Parshar, Dr. Poonam Channiwal from NIRMA and Ms. Rupali Singh and Ms. Madhavi Singh from BIMTECH University participated in the discussion and shared their inputs and insights on the topic and suggested effective ways to cope up with the career challenges. They also deliberated on the different options and avenues for young women to help them join the mainstream and pursue their career. Dr. Shweta Lalwani and Dr. Shubham Goswami were the moderators for the session. The Vice Chancellor SPSU, Prof. Shrihari Prakash Honwad welcomed the dignitaries and Mr. VDV Singh, Head Operations, SPSU appreciated their noble work and presented mementos to the guests. Rainbow Center Incharge Prof. Shibani Banerjee gave a presentation on Rainbow Center activities and the way forward. It was followed by panel discussion with the members from the various organisations.

To understand the actual functioning of the NGO, the team visited an NGO- Sadhna (a unit of Sewa Mandir), – A women’s handicraft enterprise on 15 December, 2021. They also interacted with Ms.Smriti Kedia, CEO of Sadhna and gained knowledge about the establishment, functioning, challenges and opportunities of the unit. A field visit to Delwara- a village adopted by the NGO- Sadhna gave an understanding about the empowerment of the rural women and their contribution to the society.

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10 Dec, 2021

Nirma-Rainbow Centre Inauguration

Nirma-RAINBOW Centre Inauguration was on 10th Dec’21 at Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The Centre was inaugurated by Shri K K Patel, Vice President, Nirma University; Dr. Anup Singh, Director General Nirma University; Mr. G.R. Nair, Executive Registrar Nirma University; Dr. Subir Verma, Director Institute of Management, Nirma University; Dr Hrudanand Mishra, Additional Director, Dept. of Undergraduate Studies in Management, Institute of Management, Nirma University. The RAINBOW Centre Team welcomed the dignitaries and began the event with lighting of the lamp (as per Indian traditions), followed by the inauguration of the centre by cutting the ribbon and were then briefed about the objectives of the Centre and the activities to be organized.

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28 Nov, 2021

BIMTECH-Rainbow Centre Inauguration

The physical launch of rainbow centre at BIMTECH was held on November 28th 2021 at Vikramshila Leadership Centre BIMTECH. Smt. Vimla Batham, Chairperson, U.P. State Women Commission, Ex-MLA, Noida, UP has kindly was the Chief Guest of the launch event.

Book, “A Handbook on Career Counselling for Women Empowerment”, co-authored by project partners was also launched on the day. The debating and theatre society of BIMTECH Majlis organized an Asmita Theatre Play on the theme,’ Gender Diversity’ titled, ‘Dastak’. Two prominent alumni of the Institute Ms. Ekta saigal Pandit (Batch: 1995, Designation: Book Author, Meditation Coach) and Dr. Smita Kashiramka (Batch:2004, Designation: Associate Professor, IIT Delhi) send their special video messages to their alma mater and offered to be a supporting force behind Centre activities.

The event was also graced by the presence of Smt. Manjula Mishra, CEO Holosafe Security Labels Pvt. Ltd. and a leading women entrepreneur of the city, and Captain Manju Minhas, Founder and Director – Sifar Zaya an ex officer of Indian Army, a technically qualified professional and social entrepreneur working in environmental ecosystem especially sustainability.

The event was attended by a large number of students from various student bodies of BIMTECH. As they say, “Well Begun is half done”, RAINBOW Centre at BIMTECH could attract 111 student volunteers on the day of its Launch who will be providing their services to the activities and initiatives of Centre.

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22 Nov, 2021

SPSU-Rainbow Centre Inauguration

Renowned entrepreneurs Mr. Aakash Sinha- CEO and Founder of Omnipresent Robot Tech Pvt. Ltd and Mrs. Jyoti Vashistha Sinha Cofounder and CTO Omnipresent Robot Tech Pvt. Ltd inaugurated the RAINBOW Career Counselling Center, SPSU on 22 November 2021.’Mr. and Mrs. Sinha commended the initiative of counselling and capacity building of young women that is the prime objective of the centre. The Project Coordinator, Dr. Shweta Lalwani briefed about the project and the objectives of the RAINBOW centre. The centre shall provide guide and counselling to the young women enrolled at the University and shall also conduct activities to promote life skills amongst students for better career options. Professor Shibani Banerjee, RAINBOW Centre Incharge, SPSU delivered the vote of thanks.

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21 Sep, 2021

Project Presentation

The new batch of Integrated BBA-MBA underwent an Induction programme for seven days beginning from September 13, 2021. As a part of this programme, a session on Mentoring was kept. So, a briefing on Project RAINBOW was given by Dr. Amola Bhatt, followed by various on-campus activities for career and personal counselling for students and alumni. The audience comprised of about 250 First year BBA students and some faculty members. There were also questions from the students regarding the ongoing activities of the Rainbow Center which were duly answered.

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13 Sep, 2021

Project Presentation

To acclimatize the young minds to the University environment and ethos, Sir Padampat Singhania University, Udaipur organized the Orientation Programme for the newly admitted students of Engineering and Management from 4-20 October 2021. In the session conducted on Oct 6, 2021 Dr. Shweta Lalwani and Dr. Shibani Banerjee briefed about the European Union funded project RAINBOW and the establishment of RAINBOW Career Counselling Center at the University. The aims and objectives of the RAINBOW Career Counseling Center were explained to the students. They were also given the information regarding the activities to be conducted in the RAINBOW Career Counselling center. The audience comprised about 150 First year students and faculty members.

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18 Aug, 2021

Poster Presentation Competition organized by the RAINBOW Centre, SPSU

An online Poster Presentation Competition was organized by the RAINBOW Centre, SPSU on August 18, 2021. The main theme of the competition was Women Empowerment followed by some sub themes focusing on the challenges faced by women in the way to assertiveness. A good number of students participated in the event. The activity encouraged the imaginative capability of the students and provided a platform to showcase their skills. The judges for the event were Ms. SeemaOza (Academician and International Consultant) and Ms. NooriRastogi (Entrepreneur).

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15 Aug, 2021

Art Exhibition organized by the RAINBOW Centre, SPSU

An Art Exhibition was organized by the RAINBOW Centre, SPSU on August 15, 2021. The activity focused on creating an awareness about the importance of women, saving the girl child and the challenges faced by women in their proclamation.Colourful and lively drawings made by the children of SPSU fraternity were displayed in the form of an art exhibition.Around 200 people were a witness to the event.The gathering comprised of the Rural leaders, The Pradhan’s and Sarpanch of the VallabhnagarZilaParishad, Dignitaries from the University, Entrepreneurs and people involved in social service appreciated the exhibition and the RAINBOW project.

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15 Aug, 2021

Interaction with Rural Women Leaders, SPSU

With the motive to connect the rural women with the mainstream and create an awareness and visibility about the RAINBOW centre an interaction with the rural women leaders was organized at SPSU, Udaipur on 15 August 2021.The purpose of the ongoing ERASMUS + European Union funded project RAINBOW that focuses on gender mainstreaming, empowering of women and establishing of RAINBOW Career Counselling Centre at the University was elucidated to the rural women leaders by the RAINBOW team. Rural Women leaders (Sarpanch) KhumaniBai from TusDangiyan and KusumLata from Nandvel, Pradhan (Head) DevilalBagarchi of VallabhnagarPanchayatSmiti, HemantAhir, BhatewarSarpanch and other rural leaders who visited the University were briefed about the RAINBOW centre. The functioning of the centre and how it could empower rural women and provide opportunities for their sustainability were also discussed.

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9 Apr, 2021

Panel Talk under the aegis of RAINBOW Centre, BIMTECH

RAINBOW Centre at BIMTECH organised a Panel Talk on the theme, ‘Women at Work: Status Quo & Way Forward’. The panel was helmed by corporate experts, HR practitioners and academicians who elaborated on leadership, professional skill development and actionable strategies aimed to strengthen women’s participation and leadership in work life. The Talk was well attended by academicians, educators, policymakers, practitioners, budding HR managers and students.

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8 Apr, 2021

Impact of COVID-19 in CBHE ERASMUS+ Projects

Coping with the COVID-19 pandemic has been a very difficult and challenging endeavour worldwide. This situation particularly affected projects funded within the framework of the Erasmus+ programme, as many of them were (and to some extent continue to be) affected by restrictive measures to protect public health. The European Commission and entities working on Education and Training cooperation and mobility projects had to adapt to this new and difficult situation. Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE) projects are at high risk of being negatively impacted by the pandemic, as they are cross-regional initiatives and containment strategies and measures to tackle the impact of COVID-19 widely vary.

For this reason, INCOMA, as an institution responsible for coordinating Evaluation and Quality actions as part of several Capacity Building in HE projects, and as a member of several transnational Consortia that bring together institutions from around the world, created a global survey in order to understand how COVID-19 affected Capacity Building in HE projects and if this impact might entrain long-term changes.

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8 Mar, 2021

International Women’s Day at Nirma

Expert Lecture is delivered by Ms. Neha Lal & Ms. Anjali Gulati on ‘Gender Mainstreaming and Women Empowerment’ organized under the aegis of the RAINBOW Centre (Realizing Aspirations, Interests & Brilliance of Young Women) set up at Institute of Management, Nirma University co-funded by ERASMUS+ (EU) on Women’s Day

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8 Mar, 2021

International Women’s Day at SPSU

The International Women’s Day was celebrated with great fanfare at Sir Padampat Singhania University, Udaipur. Mr. Ashok Ghosh, President SPSU highlighted the pivotal role of women in shaping lives and making it meaningful. He applauded the efforts of women at the forefront of the battle against COVID-19, as front-line and health sector workers, as scientists, doctors and caregivers. Professor Shihari Honwad, Vice Chancellor of the University too lauded the achievements of women and complimented Ms. Rinu Ghosh, Vice President SPSU for her concern, vision and being the torchbearer for the milestones achieved by the University. Dr. Shweta Lalwani, Head, School of Management and Dr.Shubham Goswami shared the information regarding the ongoing ERASMUS + European Union funded project RAINBOW that focuses on gender mainstreaming, empowering of women and establishing of Rainbow Career Counselling center at the University. The Rainbow center staff members were introduced during the event. The poster gallery displaying the aim, activities and progress of the project was disseminated during the event. More than 100 people participated in the event.

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1 Feb, 2021

Rainbow handbook

Rainbow handbook was presented by Anna-Maija Lamsa to the steering group members of the fPlaza project by the Applied Unversity of Oulu and the University of Oulu in Finland. The book was given to the both institutions’ libraries.

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16 Dec, 2020

Presentation of the Rainbow project

Presentation of the Rainbow project is given by Anna-Maija Lamsa in Ethics, Leadership and Human Resource Management Ethos Research Group seminar at University of Jyvaskyla on 16th, December 2020. The event was attended by 18 participants.

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12 Oct, 2020

3rd online Rainbow training

From 12-15 October, the 3rd online Rainbow training was led by University of Jyvaskyla School of Business and Economics (Finland) in cooperation with SPSU (India). Training dealt with promoting the Rainbow Centre activities and business plan. In particular, further planning of the organizational structure and Centre responsibilities were discussed. Moreover, stakeholder and networking relationships and management were in the focus. The sustainability challenges, especially financial resources, were reflected and discussed, and activities which can solve the challenges were discussed. Several examples of cases and practices to promote women’s empowerment were introduced and discussed. In addition to the Rainbow representatives, two visitors – one from Finland and another from India – made a speech in the training. Training mode included various presentations, common discussion, groupwork and its feedback.

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28 Sep, 2020

Second online training for RAINBOW Centres Staff

From the 28th of September to the 1st of October 2020 took place the second online training that was held and organised by INCOMA. This training was focused on the quality management and sustainability of the RAINBOW Centres and was divided in four different workshops: quality management strategy and sustainability of the Centres, talent management, skills assessment and promotion of entrepreneurship. All of them were addressed to Indian project Universities and were moderated by experts from INCOMA like Candela Valcárcel, Erica Romero, Mónica Muriel and Juan Guerrero. An average of 14 participants attended the whole training.

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24 Sep, 2020

Project Presentation (by JSBE)

Presentation of the Rainbow project and Women’s Career by Anna-Maija Lämsä (JSBE) at Oulu University, Oulu, Finland on 24th September, 2020. The event was attended by 23 participants.

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5 Aug, 2020

Online Training (by FH JOANNEUM)

From 5th to 8th of August 2020 an online training was held by FH JOANNEUM. The training was moderated by Rupert Beinhauer and the 17 participants met from 12 pm to 16 pm (IST) each day. The main topic was career counseling. The definition of key concepts, women’s employability in India, career counseling theories and best practice examples were addressed. The second topic was Rainbow centers. The discussions included the strategic mission and vision of the centers, the needs of students and how to involve student associations and the alumni network.

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17 Feb, 2020

Roundtable on Career Barrier (SPSU)

A Round table discussion was organised on 17 February, 2020 by SPSU between girl students of SPSU and Chiba University of Commerce, Japan. The topic discussed was: “Women Career Barrier” in Indian and Japanese society. The support of family and mentors are found significant in career advancement in both the counties. They were apprised about the RAINBOW project and its objectives.Moderators: Dr. Shweta Lalwani and Dr. Shubham Goswami.

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11 Feb, 2020

Rainbow Poster Sharing (by SPSU)

Rainbow Project poster is shared with the Takako Hashimoto, Vice President, Professor, Chiba University of Commerce, Japan at Sir Padampat Singhania University,India. Rainbow project aims, major tasks and expected outcomes were discussed. She shared her experience across other gender based projects in India and Japan.

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4 Feb, 2020

Presentation (by JSBE)

A key note presentation by Anna-Maija Lämsä on Rainbow and its key ideas is discussed in the seminar concerning actual topics in research organised by the Retired People’s Association of Oulu., Finland. Participants: 180.

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29 Jan, 2020

Project Presentation (by JSBE)

Project presentation was held in Tampere University, Finland on 29 January 2020. The topic of the presentation was: Realizing Aspirations, Interests and Brilliance of Young Women.The presentation was made by Suvi Heikkinen on Rainbow project major objective with expected outcomes.

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2 Dec, 2019

Third consortium meeting for the EU project-RAINBOW

The third consortium meeting for the EU project-RAINBOW was held from 2nd to 4thDec, 2019 at Nirma University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. This meeting has discussions on project management issues and handbook, concept presentation on setting up of the Rainbow Centre and dissemination activities along with setting of milestones to be achieved.

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27 Nov, 2019

Rainbow Poster Sharing (by SPSU)

Rainbow Project poster is shared with the Eminent Scientists at SPSU at the Sixth DST-INSPIRE Internship Science Camp (25-29 Nov 2019). Rainbow project posters were shared with eminent scientists across the country to enhance project visibility and the objectives of project were also discussed.

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5 Oct, 2019

Rainbow Presentation (by JSBE)

Presentation of the Rainbow project by Anna-Maija Lämsä. Female Plaza project participants – women managers and entrepreneurs. Training at the Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Oulu Finland 27 September, 2019 (22 participants) and 1 October, 2019 (21 participants).

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19 Jul, 2019

Rainbow Presentation (by NIRMA)

A session on Gender Sensitization and Equal Opportunities was delivered during five day Induction programme for new batch of Integrated BBA-MBA (2019-24) on July 19, 2019. Presentation on RAINBOW was given by Dr. Amola Bhatt, followed by various on-campus activities for women development. The audience comprised of about 200 First year BBA students and faculty members.

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24 Jun, 2019

Rainbow Presentation (by NIRMA)

Project presentation was made on Student Induction Programme at NIRMA Institute of Management by Nina Muncherji. The Programme was attended by 257 students and Faculty members

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29 May, 2019

JSBE insider

Project information and News about the Project 2nd consortium meetingis provided for Faculty and staff of JSBE.

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27 May, 2019

Second consortium meeting for the EU project-RAINBOW

The second consortium meeting for Rainbow was held from 27th to 29th of May, 2019 at Jyväskylä School of Business and Economics JSBE in Finland. The consortium meeting included a project meeting to discuss the main developments, as well as a roundtable discussion on “Career Counselling to Tackle Women’s Challenges”.

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23 Apr, 2019

Focus Group Discussion (by INCOMA)

Focus Group discussion was organised by INCOMA at University of Seville, Faculty of Education, Spain on Challenges of women to join workforce after getting a University’s degree, where participants discussed about the topic: “In many societies, also in our own society, a problem is that highly educated young women at university have more problems than similar men to start their career and enter the labor market”. Moderators: Candela Valcárcel and Erica Romero

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