TCS and Million Women Mentors Celebrate 650,000 Mentor Pledge Milestone to Advance Girls, Young Women and Minorities in STEM
NEW YORK | MUMBAI, March 18, 2016: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, today announced that Million Women Mentors (MWM) crossed a major milestone by reaching two thirds of the program’s goal of 1,000,000 pledges from STEM mentors for girls, young women and minorities – in only two years since its inception. At a March 15 luncheon in Washington, DC, corporate and nonprofit partners were joined by more than 20 U.S. Senators and Congressional leaders, who spoke regarding the importance of MWM and inspiring more women and girls in under-represented communities to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and careers.
“Million Women Mentors’ success is a testament to the collective impact we can have as leading organizations in North America, devoting the passion of our people and technology as critical factors to inspire more girls and women to puruse STEM education and careers,” said Sury Kant, President of North America, UK and Europe, Tata Consultancy Services. “The power of mentoring cannot be overstated. It can make a huge difference in fostering new female STEM leaders who will drive the U.S. innovation economy.”
MWM has more than 650,000 pledges, with participation from 55 corporate partners and 67 nonprofit, education and media partners. More than 34 states across the U.S have been engaged, with 13 Lieutenant Governors and one Governor acting as Honorary Chairs for their respective states. At the March 15 event, members of the Executive branch, Congress, the US Patent and Trademark Office, and United States Department of Agriculture made pledges to support this movement.
As a founding member of Million Women Mentors, TCS pledged 15,000 mentors from its highly skilled global workforce, with the hope of inspiring girls and women to pursue needed STEM careers in both the U.S. and around the world. TCS has also provided pro-bono services to develop the MWM technology platform, capturing the pledges, providing mentoring opportunity maps by zip code, connecting mentors to organizations serving mentees, and tracking progress. TCS’ role with MWM is part of its diverse corporate social responsibility efforts at the local, state and national level in North America, centered around education, health and the environment.
“TCS is a significant partner for Million Women Mentors and industry participation is critical to our success,” said Edie Fraser, CEO of Million Women Mentors and STEMconnector®. ”Our MWM site has been led by TCS and we’re incredibly grateful. They have provided significant skilled human capital to propel this movement, built on our shared passion to make a difference for girls and women in STEM.”
TCS and other MWM partners are dedicated to increasing access to STEM education for girls and young women, broadening participation from ethnic minorities, and improving persistence and retention in STEM careers. TCS reached an important milestone of more than 100,000 female employees in 2015, and appointed Aarthi Subramanian as the first female member of its Board of Directors. Today, women represent more than 34 percent of TCS’ 344,000 global workforce, making it one of the world’s largest private sector employers of female STEM talent.
US Senators speaking at the event included Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY); Bob Corker (R-TN); Tammy Baldwin (D-WI); Debbie Stabenow (D-MI); Kelly Ayotte (R-NH); Maize Hirono (D-HI); Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH); John Boozman (R-AR); Sherrod Brown (D-OH); Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA); Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); Joni Ernst (R-IA); Mike Enzi (R-WY); and Bob Casey (D-PA). They were joined by Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Barbara Comstock (R-VA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Congressman Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), Under Secretary of the USDA, Dr. Catherine Woteki, and Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office, Director Michelle K. Lee.
About Million Women Mentors
Million Women Mentors is an initiative of STEMconnector(R), and supports the engagement of one million Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) mentors (male and female) to increase the interest and confidence of girls and women to persist and succeed in STEM programs and careers. Through five dedicated pathways to mentoring, MWM leads a national call to action to empower women through mentor relationships. By the end of 2016, MWM will operate internationally in six countries. Did you know: 71% of American jobs in 2018 will require STEM skills? STEM jobs pay 92 cents on a dollar for women; and 96 cents on a dollar for tech jobs. Interest in STEM at the time of graduation has declined among women, with only 15.6% vs. 44% of men. Only four percent of the 368,000 women who plan to pursue STEM said a mentor encouraged them, according to research from My College Options. Employees who mentored were promoted six times more often than their peers who did not mentor.
About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS)
Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT , BPS, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model™, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 324,000 of the world’s best-trained consultants in 46 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $15.5 billion for year ended March 31, 2015 and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com.
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