KPMG in India and KPMG Global Services (KGS) conducted many events across office locations to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). These events included panel discussions, addresses by members of the leadership team and engagement activities.
Alumni events
As part of the celebrations at the firm, KPMG in India hosted the third Coffee n Connect session in the Mumbai office with Ms. Gayathri Sukumar, a senior alumni, on 8 March 2018. The session witnessed participation from across various teams and levels at our firm. Naresh Makhijani, Partner, Head of Financial Services, KPMG in India, moderated the session. The platform was a great opportunity for alumni and KPMG employees to come together and share fond memories and success stories while at KPMG in India. Ms. Sukumar talked about her stint with KPMG in India and the role it has played in her career. She said, “KPMG in India was a quantum shift in thought and action. It gave me a differentiated experience, complete accessibility, a high degree of communication and the chance to see people grow.” The session was very interactive and invigorating, and garnered encouraging feedback from all the participants.
Women’s Day memento
Across KPMG in India, women colleagues were welcomed with a special memento – A bag charm created by a social enterprise called Svatanya – which creates opportunities for underprivileged women, living in slums, to get trained and make handcrafted products for children and women. From using sustainable fabrics, promoting textile recycling, to using cut-to-order technologies, the endeavour is to minimise impact on the environment.
Breaking gender stereotypes
As part of the celebrations, we conducted workshops on breaking gender stereotypes at our partner schools.
The purpose of this initiative was to increase awareness amongst students on gender stereotypes and socially constructed gender roles, which can be seen all around us. These stereotypes can influence our psychology negatively from an early age, impacting multiple aspects of our life such as self-esteem, relationships and our careers.
Therefore, it needs a constant reminder and reinforcement to break away from the shackles of stereotypes associated with men and women.
What we experienced last week, was a perfect example of colleagues living the values of ‘Respecting the individual’ and ‘Improving communities’, as a number of KPMG colleagues came in support of this initiative, to communicate an important yet seldom discussed message.
Touching over 800 students across Bengaluru, Gurugram, Kochi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai, these workshops were conducted in a simple and fun way, and involved activities such as:
- Drawing contests in which students, divided in groups, were asked to draw the roles girls / women and boys / men should play. This followed a discussion on gender roles and how they are only a societal construct and are fast changing.
- Role plays and theatrical case studies performed by KPMG volunteers on breaking gender stereotypes.
- Fun activities by forming tableaux, which also helped reinforce the message.