Education New Zealand's SheLeads event celebrates women in education

To highlight the importance of gender diversity in education and foster a continuous dialogue, Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao (ENZ) recently hosted the SheLeads: Celebrating Excellence event, at the New Zealand High Commission in New Delhi.

The event was a culmination of Education New Zealand’s SheLeads campaign launched on International Women’s Day to celebrate women leaders and experts and drive positive change among students.

The event saw participation from different schools and colleges as part of its video essay showcase and debate competitions. In April and May, schools across Delhi-NCR deliberated on underrepresentation of women in STEM. In the finale, the winners from each school came together to deliberate on another pertinent topic: the impact of flexible work policies on gender diversity in leadership.

Quoting relevant statistics, the students spoke about unconscious biases, the vicious cycle of work, how flexibility is used a smokescreen, value for female labour, and the role of women as caregivers. They also outlined the diverse challenges faced by women to make a case for flexibility for women in the workforce.

On the flip side, students argued that flexibility could be a liability for companies and how women could lose out on a number of factors if they opted for flexibility.

All in all, the high-spirited discussions set the tone for understanding the challenges faced by working women and how organisations can step in to make their lives better and encourage them to rise up the ladder.

The winners of the inter-school debate competition were Shaurya Datta, Delhi Public School R K Puram (for the motion), and Arohi Ghosh, Shiv Nadar School Gurugram (against the motion).

As par of the She Leads programme, a video essay showcase was also organised across Indian colleges. This sought to address the importance of achieving gender parity in education in alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4. SDG4 aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Education New Zealand received over 50 entries from which Professor Carol Mutch, Faculty of Education and Social Work, from The University of Auckland selected the top three winning entries. Winners were felicitated at the finale held at the High Commission.

The winners of the video essay competition were Katyayani Singh, Symbiosis Law School Noida;

Hardik Mahendru, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi; and Adhyaa Malik, FLAME University.

The event also showcased the experiences of women leaders and alumni from New Zealand universities who discussed their journey on breaking the glass ceiling and how their education in New Zealand helped them in their journeys in their respective fields.

Panellists included Nazima Parveen, Associate Research Fellow who studied at Victoria University of Wellington; Manvi Singh, Assistant Professor, Delhi Metropolitan Education who studied at the University of Auckland, and Medha Mathur, Founder & Creative Director, Artyykase and Founder of MM Agencyz, an adverting and marketing agency, who studied at Auckland University of Technology.

Speaking to HerStory about the SheLeads campaign, Jugnu Roy, Director of Engagement East Asia & India, Education New Zealand, said, “Education New Zealand has been at the forefront of driving change through initiatives that champion diversity, equity and inclusion. We take pride in launching various projects aimed at encouraging and supporting more women to pursue quality education at New Zealand institutions."

She added, "Our SheLeads campaign celebrates the achievements of women leaders, experts, and learners, sparking meaningful dialogue that drives transformational growth towards the goals set under SDG4. We continue to encourage diverse cohorts of Indian learners at universities in Aotearoa New Zealand, all of which rank in the top 3% worldwide."