[Women in STEM] Dr Rashi Gupta, Chief Data Scientist and Co-Founder, Rezo.ai

Dr Rashi Gupta is the co-founder as well as the Chief Data Scientist at Rezo.ai. Her love for mathematics got her Mathematics Honors at Lady Sri Ram College. She also holds a Master’s in Applied Mathematics and MTech in Computer Application from IIT Delhi. After doing mathematics for five years, she took up an internship in genomics data analytics and drafting cutting edge algorithms for high-throughput screening at the University of Helsinki. Later, she finally received her PhD in Computational Biology from the University of Helsinki.

Post PhD, she has worked both in academics and industry. Initially, she joined JNU as an Assistant Professor and then worked at Absolutdata and WNS wherein she contributed to R&D and New Product Development. In 2017, Dr Rashi and her husband decided to start Rezo.ai with a vision to provide solution to enhance customer experience.

With CiOL, on Women in STEM, Dr Rashi Gupta, Founder, Rezo outlines her journey in the STEM career. She also sheds light on how the roles of women in STEM careers have changed over time, on paper and in action. Excerpts:

What got you interested in technology? What are your roles now?

My dad is an eminent animal geneticist. He has headed several national research and development programs with a focus on technology generation. As a child, was surrounded by scientists and scientific conversations. Yet, our final focus was the generation of technologies, protocols and products. This got me extremely keen and got my interest in applied research.

At Rezo, I am extensively involved in both the planning and execution stages of the projects until their rollout in a stabilized manner. I am also involved in the innovation of solutions, product development, and evangelism at Rezo.ai. I have the responsibility of handling product drafting, feature identification, R&D, and algorithm development at Rezo.

Has the inclusion of Women in STEM changed over the years? How can the change be snowballed?

According to various studies, it is observed that the labour participation rate of females in India is only 20.7%; it is even lesser in STEM participation. Further, though 43% of STEM graduates in India are women, yet their participation in jobs is only 14%. Similarly, though India is ranked second in the world’s top 20 countries, for the highest number of female CEO’s, their share in the tech industry is very merely 5.01%.

Lack of educational mentor’s and family environment are responsible for poor participation of women. Young females with sound academic backgrounds should be encouraged to pursue STEM careers. If given proper guidance and encouragement from the start, females can be equal contributors to STEM careers.

In the new normal, how are the roles of Women in Tech changing? What are the new challenges for women in tech?

The role of women in tech is changing rapidly and more opportunities are waiting for women. The placement of women in leadership roles has given hope to several young females who look up to working in tech. This has opened up the possibility for women to choose jobs from various locations. Further, now, it has started a new norm of taking up careers without worrying about uprooting their lives. Yet, every coin has two sides. Even in this hybrid workplace environment, women face many challenges. These include the need to constantly update ourselves with new business trends and technologies and upskill ourselves.

To overcome this, we need to encourage and mentor younger women in our organizations to prioritize their careers. There persists the unconscious bias and managing the work-life balance. Women need to first address these challenges, streamline to be able to overcome them as they appear in real life. This pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation and initiated larger conversations around the challenges that women face due to their unique social and biological differences.

The impact of women in technology is undeniable. What do you think should be the ways to keep women engaged and appreciated in the workforce?

The world bows a salute to the incredible women’s talent, which has the utmost potential to drive positive changes and build a prosperous nation. Currently, women only contribute 18% to India’s GDP, while the global average is close to 37%, as per a McKinsey Report released in 2018. We need to come together to empower the women of the country and give them an equal platform.

Companies should therefore strive to attract the right women talent into senior leadership roles and allow them to showcase their talent in the corporate board rooms. Companies need to imbibe a culture where women are understood, valued, and encouraged to undertake equal responsibilities as their male counterparts, where their achievements are appreciated, and perspectives respected and implemented. The top management must work towards promoting an environment where women can grow and succeed.

Another particularly important factor is providing security and safety for women at work. This is something that has been talked about a lot, but when it comes to implementation, most of the organizations fail. Women must be granted comfort and convenience so that they can perform all roles and responsibilities with ease and efficiency. These benefits could be in the form of flexible work schedules, childcare benefits, and other women-friendly practices, which would go a long way in ensuring a healthy, happy, and motivated workforce.

Companies must invest in the career progression of women employees. This could be done by conducting regular training sessions and undertaking various learning and development initiatives, which would help them enhance their existing skills and graduate to leadership positions. This would allow them to grow in the workplace.

What should organizations do to further advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the new hybrid workplace? 

For the last few years, tech organizations are focused on inclusion and diversity. The pandemic came and redefined the various possibilities of remote working with flexibility. Companies also understood these challenges that were being faced by the women while balancing work and home. Many companies introduced systems and policies that help women in prioritizing their careers. This situation is a challenge for everyone, and we need to take it up by breaking the stereotypes, coming out of our comfort zones, and be open to every experience. The companies need to shatter the outdated policies, re-evaluate the systems and provide equity and support to all genders alike.

The organizations are now accepting the hybrid workplace, This will result in an increased focus on location agnostic and skill-based hiring. Diversifying the hiring process will create a sustainable and scalable ecosystem. The innovation and creativity will increase exponentially which will allow the employees to learn and grow.

How can India Inc attract more women to STEM careers?

According to a report, India Inc. has a 30% representation of women; while 31% of women are a part of non-technical, a mere 26% represents technical roles at corporates. Shining a light on female role models is an extremely powerful way to inspire and empower young women because it creates a community of female figures and mentors for them to look up to. The first step towards this direction should be having more female representation on the board. This will bring a gender balance at the topmost level as well as set the right example for the whole organization.

Another problem that is widely faced by women at work is about creating a work-life balance. Organizations need to understand this problem which holds back many women from working. More importantly, many technology jobs at IT companies require availability in different shifts.  Companies should therefore allow people, irrespective of their gender, more flexibility to work remotely. This would provide women with support in managing both work and home simultaneously.