What is a Virtual Support Circle? Women-for-Women Support system has been strengthened through Virtual Circles — online modes of mentoring and peer-to-peer interactions — that permit engagement in much larger numbers, with the participants located across different cities and regions.
As young women in STEM fields look into opportunities to step into professional careers, our virtual support circle provides resources, moral encouragement, mentoring and peer to peer networking in this online space. The support circle meets once a month and is open to all women pursuing careers in STEM fields.
In Widening the Support Circle, Women in Stem, Change Initiatives used the webinar format to build the support circle in Guwahati because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
We found the format extremely useful because it permitted flexible timings, facilitated interactions between the Guwahati and Kolkata students — who were all confined in their homes during the pandemic — and allowed us to invite a more diverse range of mentors and guest speakers from different parts of the country.
Earlier, while building the support system in Kolkata — under the Women for Women: Supporting Each Other to Build Sustainable Careers project — multiple peer-to-peer virtual sessions were held between Indians studying STEM subjects in the US and the students of Kolkata. The Kolkata students got a first-hand experience of academic life in the US, which they could not have done otherwise.
In October 2020, the virtual platform offered us to bring together seven successful women professionals of diverse STEM backgrounds based in different parts of India under one umbrella. Over a span of two evenings, the women leaders reminisced about their education and careers highlighting the importance of taking risks, the need to follow a non-linear career path, the importance of continuous learning and STEM professionals in the North East. The session was a huge boost to the self-confidence of the 100 women participants which had a heightened to them a sense of the need to venture into the world and understand they are enough on their own as long as they set their hearts to it.
In the coming days, as physical spaces open up, a virtual platform will be an effective complement as it overcomes the constraints of time and distance, reinforcing the support systems of Women in STEM.