I remember when I joined Tata Institute of Social Sciences for a Masters in Social Work, I was amazed by the fact that there were far more women than men there. It has nothing of course to do with women having "nicer" hearts, but as many men explained - that women's families assume that it's a "safe" and "decent" working line - (Not ever imagining that we would be packed off to rural Thane for fieldwork.).
But that brings me to something else - my undergrad was in a women's college (Lady Shri Ram) and my post grad in TISS ( women-dominated) and both had very poor alumni networks. Though in the last five years, both have been making half-hearted attempts. When we sat down to contact the many women who slipped through the sieves in these institutions, we realized that we couldn't contact most of them - because well - their names had changed. And in the institutions where there are far more men - the networks become that much harder to crack - everything seems to be loo-bonding. -- Neha Viswanathan +44(0) 77695 65886 London, UK http://withinandwithout.com | http://globalvoicesonline.org
