2023’s UN theme for International Women’s Day focuses on digital innovation and technology for gender equality, and this year, Smart Water Magazine used the opportunity to ask various professional women in the water industry about their experiences regarding women’s participation in digital innovation. One of those female professionals was KETOS founder and CEO Meena Sankaran.
How Women in the Water Industry Are Embracing Digital Innovation
While women are active in the water sector, the question remains how influential they are in the space. While much emphasis has been placed on creating excitement within younger generations around the water industry, more must be done to empower women specifically.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t women actively engaged in the space. KETOS is an example of how women participate in the digital transformation of water, and KETOS CEO Meena Sankaran proves that women can lead on innovation and succeed within a traditionally male-dominated sector.
Technology is Changing the Way We Work
In the past few years, we’ve witnessed seismic shifts in how we work – from more automated processes to more opportunities for remote work and flexible schedules. This change from the more structured, traditional 9-5 may impact gender parity. The flexibility has benefited almost everyone across the board. Women with children, for example, have more flexibility to manage their day-to-day. However, it has also allowed for a more distributed workload and created more work-life balance for everyone.
Digital innovation is also allowing us to manage work from afar. Everyone has been freed from their desktop, providing unique opportunities from a technology standpoint. KETOS, for example, enables water operators to monitor water quality from anywhere by having threshold alerts and sampling reports sent directly to their devices (phone, tablet, laptop, etc.). This allows for easier 24/7 monitoring without needing personnel to be on-site consistently.
More Room for Women in Water
Want more proof that the playing field is evening out for women in the water industry? Look to these organizations that are specifically uplifting women to board seats and embracing parity across the sector:
Read the full interview with Smart Water Magazine and Meena Sankaran here.
