Sheroes helps Indian women get back into the workforce

Sheroes is an online platform for women professionals looking for sustainable work options

When it comes to employment, the World Bank ranks India’s female labor force participation rate amongst the lowest in the world. Despite increased efforts to improve higher education, establish skilling initiatives and create jobs, the number of women that are able to find and sustain careers continues to hit global lows.

Sairee Chahal, CEO of Sheroes, explains that this is a problem that is deeply rooted in the societal expectations that surround an Indian woman’s life. “Conventionally, if a woman gets pregnant or has to take care of her parents, she leaves her job,” Sairee explains. “Unfortunately, once you step off the job ladder in this country, you end up falling off completely. It’s either up or off. There’s no easy way to weave your social expectations with that of a regular job.”

Inspired by the potential that the vast numbers of unemployed, talented women presented, Sairee decided to establish Sheroes, an online platform for women professionals looking for sustainable work options. Unlike other similar initiatives, Sheroes specifically works with educated, professional women. “Until now, most of the conversation has been directed towards empowering women at the grassroots level or getting highly educated women into the boardroom,” Sairee explains. “The ones in the middle have been entirely left out.”

Sheroes recently closed an angel round of Rs 5 crores ($760,000) from Quintillion Media, 500 Startups and a group of individuals including PayTM founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Google’s Rajan Anandan and Flipkart founder Binny Bansal. 

This is sourced from Tech in Asia. You can access the article here