Vinita Gupta is an Indian-American technology entrepreneur who founded and ran Digital Link Corporation (now Quick Eagle Networks).
Technology … doesn’t require physical work, and it gives a woman entrepreneur a lot of flexibility. Technology is a great place to be, and women should dream of that. They should know there is nothing that should hold them back. But it is not gender-neutral, although it can be.
What many women don’t realize is how much fun it can be, and how the skill sets they learn in their engineering education come into life in all aspects. They gain enormous critical and analytical skill sets that make them better human beings in all respects. It is a lot of fun, especially solving a problem if you are an engineer. The day you come up with an elite solution to a problem or you innovate something, you are in seventh heaven. Nobody can give you recognition as much as you can give yourself.
The chances of women becoming technology entrepreneurs are higher in the United States than in India. Women in India are less of risk-takers than women in the United States. The reasons for that are differences in the socio-cultural settings and in the education systems. … [However,] the United States … is far more traditional in putting women in traditional roles. For example, there is a misconception … that women are not as good in math and science. I don’t think that perception exists in India.
Women in India have the family support structure to raise their children in a safe setting. On the other hand, they could be held back culturally because of other expectations from the extended family. In the United States, the woman is in charge.
Every time a woman has to work full time or launch herself as an entrepreneur, she has to home-craft a solution to take care of her family at home. As a family unit we have to come up with solutions. There has to be a more systematic approach, there has to be resources that are available and affordable. Society needs to evolve in that way — and it will. This is true for both the United States and India.