About IWN Karnataka

Indian Women Network was launched in the year 2013 in Karnataka and ever since its origination IWN has recognised the requirement of structured network for professional women, wherein they can discuss their experience to overcome the challenges at work and Home. With this holistic approach IWN Karnataka has spread widely across the state to provide unique services to its members.

IWN is envisioned to make a difference in the way women manage their professional journey. IWN Karnataka is that one platform that will provide Learning, Knowledge Enhancing Programs, Training / Skills, Mentorship & Opportunity Packed Networking. It’s a positive environment of likeminded Career Women & Entrepreneurs to share experiences, overcome challenges and provide solutions.

With the energetic support of the state leadership IWN Karnataka had conducted various events related to Learning & development, Skill acquisition, Expert counselling on health, workplace & business issues, Awareness session on Rights & Legal frame work for women, Online sessions by experts on business practices, technical topics, manufacturing practices and topics of interest requested by members.

IWN Karnataka has specific focus on Leadership Development Programmes for its members. With a unit of very dynamic office bearers and along with eminent speakers form across industries, (IWN), organized its Annual Leadership Conference 2016 with the theme ‘Leadership to enable the Change’ in the Bangalore city. The leader ship development Programmes witnessed panel discussions on ‘Negotiations for Career Advancement’, ‘Leadership Challenges and Strategies for Change Management’, ‘Women Safety and Security: Leadership Role’ and ‘Developing Future Talent Through Effective Leadership’.

IWN in association with the Mahindra SSG (Special Services Group ) organized a Special Session on ‘Women Safety’ The session had the participation of women from corporate, independent professionals, entrepreneurs and academia. The session focussed on personal safety for women at work place, travel safety, hotel safety, sexual harassment and precautionary measures, use of personal protective equipment, self-defence training, tackling stress and improving work life.

It is important for women to know their rights and have complete understanding of the legal frame work which enables to work in a safe & secure environment. Under Policy & Advocacy brilliant workshops like ‘Protecting your Personnel - Companies and their preparedness under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act’ and ICC - Training and Setting Up of ‘Internal Complaints Committee’ were conducted to create awareness about important prevalent laws and how an organisation must implement it to safeguard its women employees and help them sustain well in their careers.

About IWN Kerala

Kerala is a small state in the south west corner of India. Its total area is 38,863 sq. km which is only 1.20% of the total of India. Kerala attracted the notice of people in other parts of India even from time immemorial. It is significant that Kerala is almost on a par with the most advanced countries of the world in point of literacy.

IWN Kerala ever since its initiation in the year 2013 has aspired to influence the quality of lives of career women in the state positively by providing the much needed platform for them to learn, share and network and hence to enable them to grow professionally. With the very active support of the its Office bearers throughout all three years, IWN was able to identify women who were in need of such a platform from across Corporates, Women professionals and independent entrepreneurs and from educational institutions and offer its services in the form of various specialized sessions aimed at their growth. In this direction, IWN organized learning sessions such as talks on Career Management, Cyber Security, Personality Development, Power Dressing, Organic Gardening, Urban Waste Management, Managing one’s finances and investing smartly. There were also interactive sessions organized with renowned personalities such as those with Ms Jaishree Misra, eminent author and writer and Mr Madhupal, famous film director, actor and screenwriter. To promote women entrepreneurship in the state and showcase the strength of its women entrepreneurs, IWN also organized a Women Entrepreneurship Conclave.

IWN understands that the need of the hour is to enable career women to manage their work lives and family commitments effectively and hence, it organized sessions on how to manage work life and maintain balance between the two roles to achieve a healthy family environment.

In order to honour certain achievers who had contributed significantly to women empowerment, IWN organized “Prathyupakaaram”, a programme that was a tribute to such visionaries who have contributed to the cause of Women Empowerment. Under the Learning and Development task force, IWN organized 14 activities in the year 2015-16, impacting 675 participants. IWN also aims at nurturing women’s health, being well aware that a healthy family is a reflection of a healthy woman in the family. Being mindful of this fact, IWN Kerala organized some health and wellness sessions such as Blood Donation Drives, Yoga sessions, a Urology camp, a Cardiology camp, session on Diabetes and Weight Management at IBS Software Services, session on ‘Dealing with adolescent problems’ at Geojit BNP Paribas etc. A special mention is to be made of SK Hospital which partnered with IWN in organizing many of these wellness sessions.

To enable participation from more women without them having to step out of their homes and offices, there were also two webinars organized on the topics ‘Stress and Fibromyalgia’ and ‘Cancer in women’. IWN in Kerala hopes to do a lot more with regard to women’s health with a well being partner hospital for the state. There were 9 activities under the Health and Well being task force during the year 2015-16, through which IWN Kerala reached out to 606 participants.

At the policy level, IWN Kerala organized an awareness session on the POSH Act, its provisions and compliance, understanding the high relevance of the act in today’s times given the alarming rate of harassment of women in the workplace. The knowledge partner for this session was Fox Mandal and the session was attended by 43 participants who represented several companies of Kerala. INW Kerala also organized a special session on women safety in partnership with Mahindra Special Service Group. To talk about the state initiatives for women safety, Mr Ajith kumar IPS, the then IGP for Kochi range addressed the participants. To add more flavour to this session, there was also a session by Ms Sheela Kochouspeh, MD, V Star Creations on the theme ‘Essence of a Leader’. This session too was a very fruitful one and was attended by 33 participants that included women from several companies, professions and from educational institutions as well.

IWN also submitted a set of recommendations to Smt. Smriti Irani, Minister of HRD, Govt of India for the new Union Govt, on Women Empowerment. The recommendations were broadly along five points: promotion of women entrepreneurs; exclusive SEZ for women; Safety of women; special incentives for Companies hiring 50% or more women and ensuring representation of women in the Boardroom.

IWN was a partner to the International Conference on Gender Equality (ICGE-1) held from 12 to 14 November 2015 at Kerala. The event was one of the key global events organized by Gender Park- Kerala and UN Women on the theme ‘Gender, Governance and Inclusion’. IWN also participated at the GCC – India Industrial Forum at the session on Cooperation between the GCC and Indian Businesswomen Communities held from 18 to 19 November 2015 at Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Ms Rina Vivekanandan, Chairwoman of Kerala state represented IWN.

IWN also has been witnessing a steady growth in its membership by creating a presence in various locations such as Kottayam, Thrissur and Kollam in addition to Cochin and Trivandrum. By doing some very relevant sessions and roadshows across companies and educational institutions in Kerala, we hope to have a growing membership so that more women can benefit from this unique platform of IWN and have a fulfilling experience for themselves.

About IWN Pondicherry

Since its inception in 2013, Indian Women Network (IWN), Puducherry has been a great source of inspiration. IWN promotes a holistic approach towards catering the privilege of membership to the women coming from various backgrounds, be it a highly qualified professional or a normal graduate/student.

IWN is an open platform for business women which promotes and support them to come up with new horizons. IWN aims to reach a maximum number of women by bridging the gap in society followed by various activities related to learning & development, Skill acquisition, well being, health and many more.

In order to provide expertise in the areas of Learning & Development, Wellbeing and Knowledge & Services, IWN has partnered with leading organizations. Following that, to deliver value added and need based intervention with the members, we have constituted 2 task forces namely: Learning & Development and Health & Wellbeing.

Last year we have conducted around 32 activities through which we tried to impact maximum people from various backgrounds.

It is commendable that IWN is taking a stand and organizing conversant and beneficial sessions on Business Knowledge Sharing, Transition from College to Professional, Grooming for employment, Personality Development, Make Life- a Celebration, along with an Interactive Session on Investment Advice & Money Management for Women by Ms Monica Halan. Ms. Halan is a well known journalist, financial advisor, policy & regulatory advisor and Member, Task Force at Government of India, Ministry of Finance.

Today’s women while wearing multiple caps are ensuring colors of triumph to all the caps. In order to make women active and successful at all the fronts, IWN fosters a cell for the health and well-being of women community. Sessions on holistic health, Eye Care for Computer Professionals, Healthy Lifestyle along with IWN Blood Donation Camp, Dental Camp and Workshop on Train the Trainers for Healthy Workplace have been organized for the wellness of IWN working women & members.

Along with the activities pertaining to learning & development and health, we were focused on the Session on Women Rights, Special Session on Women Safety, Session on Waste Management, Awareness Session on 5S etc. We also organized two webinars on Can Elephants Dance? and Bridging the gap – Moving towards Gender Equal Workplaces with good number of participants.

More women- friendly policies and action by both government and private sectors are required for a positive impact. In this scenario the efforts taken by the IWN - Puducherry chapter to conduct a detailed survey to analyze the "Workplace ecosystem for Women in Puducherry" is a commendable initiative. The survey report has analyzed the various dimensions of the work place ecosystem and gives concrete suggestions for creating a favorable and healthy work environment for the women.

Adding feathers to the crown, IWN came up with “My Journey- Newsletters” by the members. All the 8 Newsletters are incredible and a great source of inspiration.

Last but not Least IWN Puducherry Celebrated Women’s Day with a concept on “ Men for Women – Understanding Genders Equally” .The session had brought women and men leaders on a common platform to discuss on gender equality. This session also provided a platform for men who stood by women leaders in their growth process, which inspired the youngsters to follow.

About IWN Tamilnadu

Tamil Nadu is located in the South lying in the peninsula between the Bay of Bengal in the East, the Indian Ocean in the South, the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea on the West. Chennai has emerged as the hub of commercial activities due to its strategic location which has given it a competitive advantage. Its climate favours port operations all round the year which is a big plus point. It has a fantastic network of banking and financial institutions.

CII Indian Women Network, Southern Region was formally launched on 23rd Jan 2013. However for a year before that, a group of us had been brainstorming about the mandate and charter of the organisation.

We agreed that CII-IWN would focus on professional women and students in their final year of college. IWN would provide opportunities for Continuous Learning & Development, address questions on Health & Wellness and be an advocate of women's concerns to their organisations. These would be the three pillars of the IWN organisation in each state.

IWN, Tamil Nadu has done very well in all three areas. Between 2013 and 2016, IWN has offered short interactions, webinars and day-long programs on Professional Growth, Wellness and Creating a Safe Work Environment for women. Many health camps have been conducted at our member company locations and in academic institutions.

Some of the webinar topics in Professional Growth include Effective Delegation, Professional Behaviour, Reimagining Yourself as a Leader, Personal Branding and Money Management. Dr Kiran Bedi of the IPS, Padmashree Mallika Srinivasan of TAFE and others have conducted interactive sessions. Day-long programs on Personal Effectiveness, the 7PQs for Women, Developing Entrepreneurial DNA, Exploring the Leader in Me have opened up new ways of thinking. These programs have also helped women to network across companies and enabled students to look for mentors and role models.

On the Health & Wellness front, IWN, Tamil Nadu has done a fabulous job by offering nearly 30 webinars on topics ranging from Stress Management, Emotional Intelligence and Parenting to Obesity, Cardiac Health, Fitness, Nutrition versus Fad Diets and further to the impact of climate change on women! The team has also conducted 8 camps dealing with awareness of blood donation and organ donation to screening for diabetes. Fourteen day-long programs including one on Work-Life Balance Swami Sugabogadananda in Coimbatore and Wellness in the Workplace in Chennai have seen strong attendance from women across a wide range of industries.

IWN Tamil Nadu released a booklet dealing with Wellness in the Workplace in Mar 2016 : On an average an individual spends over 60 – 80 % of their waking hours at work. Practices at the workplace – prolonged sitting, poor diet, infrequent breaks, stress, etc lead to weight gain and other lifestyle diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure etc. The booklet suggests some simple tips that improve health and wellness at the workplace .

IWN Southern Region has tied up with Fox Mandal to create awareness on women's right to a safe workplace that is free of sexual harassment. These webinars and workshops have given the attendees an understanding of what constitutes sexual harassment and what their employers are expected to do by law. Other sessions helped HR officers of member companies understand how they should go about setting up an Internal Complaints Committee and the resources that they can tap into, should they need help.

IWN in Tamil Nadu is active in Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem, Madurai and Trichy and Erode and engages with professional women across the state to help them grow in their careers.

About IWN Telangana

IWN, started in Telangana on an optimistic note with a group of very dynamic members and office bearers. With a large member base in the state, IWN Telangana is also proud to have a varied member base consisting of students and faculty in the educational institutions category, the fresher, middle management, senior management in the corporate, and the independent professionals and entrepreneurs in the individual category.

By way of its value services IWN Telangana has been able to have a huge impact through its 3 major task forces namely Learning & Development, Health & Wellbeing and Policy & Advocacy.

Under the learning & development task force some commendable programs conduced have been sessions and workshops on communication, resume building, planning and strategising for one’s career, entrepreneurship accelerator etc. for the students and faculty. For the corporates, sessions and talks have been conducted on burning work issues like negotiation, professional presence, personal branding, mentorship and the likes. And for the individual independent professionals sessions, power talks and bootcamps are organised like the STARTREK Power talk series, and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp.

Under Policy & Advocacy brilliant workshops like ‘Protecting your Personnel - Companies and their preparedness under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act’ are conducted which create awareness about important prevalent laws and how an organisation must implement it to safeguard its women employees and help them sustain well in their careers.

IWN in association with the Mahindra SSG (Special Services Group ) organized a Special Session on ‘Women Safety’ The session had the participation of women from corporate, independent professionals, entrepreneurs and academia. The session focussed on personal safety for women at work place, travel safety, hotel safety, sexual harassment and precautionary measures, use of personal protective equipment, self defence training, tackling stress and improving work life.

There is a special focus on the Health & Wellbeing task force of IWN for we believe that the wellbeing of a woman is crucial for her to have a healthy professional life. Various awareness sessions, talks and webinars, are organised to elaborate the understanding of basic women’s health issues like Menstruation, Menopause, Cancer, PCOD, AUB, Work like harmony, Headaches in women and children, Nutrition, Emotional Intelligence and the likes.

We have had some very valuable feedback from our members who feel very much part of an exclusive platform for women. We feel content that our members are enthusiastically engaging with IWN and finding value in the activities being conducted. In future, following the essence of 'WOMEN MATTER' we really look forward to scaling to greater heights and making sure women professionals get an equal opportunity to rise and shine!