ISRO women scientists credit family, colleagues support for MOM success

Mysuru: Women power was seen in full force. They were not the usual divas of glamour industry but women who work quietly behind the scenes and contribute to the growth of the country. They shared their experiences of how they manage their family and work successfully.

These and other lessons were imparted at a special interactive session with ‘Women Scientists of ISRO,’ the women behind India’s acclaimed Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), organised by the Women Forum of CII Mysuru, at L&T Training Centre here yesterday.

B.P. Dakshayani, Group Director – Flight Dynamics Group, ISRO Satellite Centre, highlighting about role of women scientist in success of ISRO mission said, “In ISRO, as on January 2017, there are 2,413 employees including 648 women, which is nearly 27 percent. They are also involved in design and development of all launch vehicles including PSLV and GSLV. Nearly 70 women are in decision-making.”

According to Dakshayani, there is no gender bias in their organisation. She asked the women to be passionate in whatever they do. They should be hard working and need to acquire skill and keep updating knowledge in any profession. “For our success, family support was beyond our expectation,” she added.

S Padmasree, Deputy Project Director – Sensors Subsystem, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bengaluru, said, “When you do work with pleasure, it is never considered as pressure. Without proper family support, it is difficult to excel in any profession. Apart from this, we had good team members who were very co-operative and motivating.”

Supriya Ramdasi, Convenor, Women Initiatives, CII Mysuru and COO, Plansee India HPM, said that recent study by World Bank shows only 27 percent of India’s workforce is female — far below the world average of 50 percent.  “We are way behind even some of our neighbouring countries — Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. India ranks 120 among 131 nations in women workforce. The contribution towards the GDP of India from women is a mere 17 percent, whereas the global average is 37 percent,” she said.

There was a lively interaction as over 150 women entrepreneurs who took part in the programme, posed a few questions including how the women scientists were able to manage family and work, how cooperative men were and how is the working condition for women scientists at ISRO. Anatta Sonney, Head – LEO and Interplanetary Orbit Dynamics Section of Flight Dynamics and S. Padmashree, Junior Engineer, ISRO Satellite Centre, were also present.