Youth are the catalysts of positive change: President, WICCI, D&I, Delhi

A TEDx Speaker, Women Economic Forum speaker, soft skills & behavioral trainer, Vedica Saxena (she/hers), is currently serving as President, WICCI (Women's Indian Chamber for Commerce and Industry) D&I. 

In this role, Vedica empowers women, especially from rural backgrounds, to build their brand and small scale businesses. She works on policies to strengthen diversity and inclusion at every level, provides recommendations to relevant government authorities, and works towards improving economic and social ecosystems for women to thrive at all levels with a view to robustly encourage and empower them in businesses, professions, industry and commerce.

In addition to her role with WICCI, Vedica is also working as a Project Director with Tagore International School, New Delhi, where she initiates and leads social campaigns based on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) with senior students on Human Rights, LGBT+ community rights. She also conducts gender sensitization workshops for other schools and colleges across city. Her work in the D&I space has been covered in some of the bestsellers including Queeristan and EQUALLY. She was also interviewed by Vogue India on making classrooms inclusive and queer representation in educational spaces.

Additionally, Vedica has also been working towards the welfare of ‘acid attack survivors’, raising awareness, generating employability by training them on various learning and development skills. 

In conversation with People Matters, Vedica shed light on the need to make educational curriculum and language more inclusive, building a bridge between rural women and tech to promote entrepreneurship, and how today’s youth can be a harbinger of equity. 

Having led diversity and inclusion efforts for the youth, what have been some highlights of your journey?

I've always wanted to mentor the youth on D&I because they are the future. If we want to make their future safe, we have to start with the young. My journey has been interesting and very fruitful because I don't just teach but learn in the process. Youth are the catalysts of positive change. I've been able to mentor them for numerous social awareness campaigns, covering more than 7 UN SDGs like Quality Education, Gender Equality, Climate Action, Reducing Inequalities, Good Health and Well-being, Building Peace & Justice for Strong Institutions, Mental Health Awareness, LGBT+ Awareness, Creating Job Opportunities for the EWS, Sanitation and more. 

How does Indian youth perceive the DEI landscape in the evolving business and work climate? What is this segment of the population most driven by?

DEI is not a new concept but it's more talked about in today's generation. We had DEI discussions earlier as well but it was mostly only a ‘within home’ affair, nobody really spoke about it in open forums, in schools or colleges or workplaces. Youth can make a large impact with DEI in workplaces by driving the change themselves. For instance, making policy amendments at workplaces and businesses. This can become a reality when they think about it since their growing years, requiring it to become a social norm starting from educational spaces. 

For many people living in urban India, one of their biggest fears is exposure to half-baked information.

In a world where information is available just at a click of a button, we must be constantly worried about the youth carrying incorrect concepts about things that could impede their development as humans and the future workforce of the world.

I believe that our homes are a place where we feel safe enough to discuss whatever crosses our minds, but I started wondering if this was enough.

Workplaces are now global, and simply providing students with academic competence will not suffice to succeed in the real world. Businesses now require a diverse and inclusive workplace to innovate, grow and thrive even more in the present times. 

I believe that D&I should be part of the educational curriculum. We have to rethink if we are providing this learning to the youth and preparing them for a diverse and inclusive future.

How are you empowering women, especially from rural backgrounds, to build their brand and their small scale businesses? How has the shift to virtual and hybrid impacted efforts in this space?

I strongly believe that a woman can empower and should empower another woman to grow together. As President at WICCI, D&I for Delhi, I've been supporting women especially from the rural sector to utilize opportunities to enhance their small scale businesses, mostly home run businesses to grow. However, the pandemic was a big hit for small scale run businesses. 

To counter this impact, I spread awareness among the rural sector to share with them the policies in favour of them, tell them about gig economy and help them register as entrepreneurs. I took the initiative to start training women on using technology to their benefit, helped them use meeting apps, register themselves, trained them on English speaking skills, personality development, personal hygiene and more.

With SHECONOMY, which is the world's first website for women entrepreneurs, they can register their businesses online at 0 cost and sell their products for free. This website also helps them directly connect with not just Indian customers, but a global clientele. This kind of awareness is required for people living in urban as well as rural areas. 

What DEI challenges should individuals be prepared to tackle as they attempt to amplify inclusion efforts?

Although D&I offers clear benefits, it is difficult to implement. It’s easier said than done and not everyone agrees with you when it comes to matters of DEI. At the workplace, diversity means that your employees comprise individuals who bring in new perspectives and backgrounds to the table, whereas inclusion is about everyone in the diverse mix, making them feel involved, valued, treated in a just and fair manner and making them feel respected in the workplace. Empowering each and every employee and recognizing their special or innate talents is a vital part of creating an inclusive organization. Some aspects to keep in mind while working towards making DEI a reality include:

• There will always be hurdles and blocks when implementing changes in a workplace. Not everyone will be ready to transition or agree 100% with the new policies. 
• It is very important that D&I initiatives align with the organizational goals and ethos. Organizational change always begins at the top level. 
• We need to allocate resources and efforts accordingly that benefit D&I even in difficult circumstances. 
• We need to showcase what we speak in actions so that employees believe that you are taking D&I seriously. 
• Be prepared to make tough decisions and initiate tough conversations - this is extremely vital to drive true change. Assess where and how D&I activities can be improved and communicate the same with the employees.
• Workplaces must practice listening and taking continuous feedback. One must give employees the opportunity to voice out their concerns related to D&I
• Finally, the only way D&I can be improved is to measure it using the right tools like the work equality index. 

Does younger talent look at diversity as separate buckets or with a lens of a single equity driven mindset? 

I feel that this generation is way smarter. They do not look at D&I as separate buckets but as a mindset of equity because of the awareness and information readily available to them. They are thinkers and they do not fear questioning.

They voice their opinions and stand up for what's right and that's the way it should be.

What are some ways to foster allyship at the educational level?

The best way to involve youth into good work and equality based society is by raising them as responsible and informed citizens. Some ways to ensure allyship at an educational level are:

• Include gender sensitization workshops as a curriculum in senior grades.
• Have classroom discussions, open dialogues and debates in groups on gender roles, queer community, human rights.
• Conduct social experiments with secondary grades by asking them questions like who do you think flies an aeroplane, who cooks, who designs automobiles, etc, then depending on their responses, break stereotypes in classrooms itself.
• Organize a week dedicated to celebrating allyship in the campus, let students run this celebration, let them design posters and display it along the classroom corridors and campus. The more students see this, the more it becomes a lifestyle. 
• We must make allyship a routine. Let's teach students as well as educators to use inclusive language. For instance, don't say things like, "ask your mother to help you with your work"  but say, "ask your parents to help you with your work or ask your parents to talk to me". Change words like husband and wife to partner, 'hello boys and girls to hello friends', mankind to humankind, etc., ask for pronouns rather than assuming it for others.

Allyship is a journey. It cannot be achieved in a day or two. Educational institutions must teach children to own up to their mistakes, to unlearn, learn and relearn.

Being a good ally may seem pretty simple but the reality is that true allyship requires flexibility, openness, and the ability to admit when you're wrong.

We must make educational spaces as inclusive as possible by having strict policies in place that hold people accountable when they bully or discriminate against someone on any basis. They must be taught to pay attention to their words, actions and listen to their own voices. They must be taught to prepare themselves for some tough conversations, to change stringent mindsets and break stereotypes.  

How can leaders accelerate DEI efforts? 

I would definitely urge workplaces to create a guide book for employees to understand DEI in detail. They can hand it over to them with their appointment letter so that they learn about it before turning up to work. Have a Work Equality Index to check where you stand with respect to DEI, also how you can improve and in what area.

Invest in a workforce communication platform. By integrating all communication channels into one platform, organizations will be able to reach every employee on their preferred channel, thereby also supporting and enhancing a climate of diverse thinking.