KSOM conducted a webinar on “Choose to Challenge” to celebrate Women’s Day on the 9th of March, 2021 to commemorate all the phenomenal women out there. Dr. Sasmita Samanta, VC KISS, Pro VC KIIT DU, talked about sustainable development with respect to gender equality, the necessary changes which the society must strive to achieve, and the balance in nature which should always be maintained.

There were 3 panel discussions consisting of 9 women speakers from corporate as well as our KIIT deemed to be University. They gave their views on being vocal, breaking stereotypes as well as managing work from home in this digital world. 4 of the student speakers from MBA-I gave their individual views for celebrating today’s women.

Speakers shared their experiences, reflecting the past events and how they have so far been challenging the situations and overcoming the obstacles that life throws on them.

The event was all about choosing to challenge such obstacles, which in turn encourages women to stand up and raise their voices and learn to say no.

Ms. Sonali Nanda talked about how a woman should showcase her capabilities to companies. She focused on turning oneself into an asset for the company. She stated, “Being a single woman in the group is not always a weakness”. Ms. Priyadarshini Mohanty beautifully stated, “Behind the success of a woman is a supportive, open-minded family”.

Ms. Bobby Pattnaik stated, “ We are more fortunate than others. Let’s try to play the luck forward”.

Ms. Renu Khanna emphasized what a woman means and that woman is itself an abbreviation. She described the 4ps- Purpose of challenge, pick your battle, Be persistent, Peace within the self. She stressed how to learn to say NO.

Being a woman has always been difficult because she is destined to face the extremes and be answerable to society. Yet, few choices are at her disposal. A woman has to struggle against the two most important challenges i.e., challenging the social stigmas and balancing the professional and personal lives. People assume that women take the support of the words “Empowerment” and “Protection”.

Why would women need empowerment when they build up an entire family, guide it to contribute to the good of society?

Why would they ask to be protected, when they are bold enough to take decisions and stand strong with every move they make?

“A woman is strong, bold, and empowering”…

The audience gained motivation from such an intense discussion and learned about real life instances on how to tackle challenges. The webinar was in itself a tribute to the iron ladies of KIIT DU and society.