What is leadership?

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."
I would define leadership as the ability to initiate, to process and work coherently on innovative ideas. Leadership is exhibited by how we influence others, what impact we create on society, how our actions depict our ultimate goal and the methodology adopted to gain support from our fellows.There are many ways we are having an effect on the members of the different communities we are a part of.
I am pursuing my bachelor's degree from a reputed government college. There exists a robotics club which provides an environment where all students build bots and compete among themselves but I didn't find a proper lab for such activities. I approached the club coordinators and they introduced me to e-Yantra IITB, which is a flagship project under MHRD India through the National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT).The prime purpose of which is to spread Embedded Systems and Robotics education in colleges across India. I gathered more information about events organised by e-Yantra at IITB and came to know about eLSI (e-Yantra Lab Setup Initiative).
This was a turning point when I desired to have a fully-equipped robotics lab in our college. I attended the webinars conducted by e-Yantra for almost a month and participated in the robotics competition also to hone my skills. I worked with three of my fellow classmates and crossed Stage 1 of the competition. But our team lagged behind because we had no proper laboratory for testing our bots, due to which we couldn't cross Stage 2. I decided to work upon this issue and wrote an email to the e-Yantra support organization and they responded positively. But no man can move a mountain alone, I can't build a lab on my own. But I wanted to initiate the process so that it would build a culture and proper direction could be given to our college students to work upon their skills of embedded systems and bot-building.
I approached the Computer Science Department faculties to bring this issue in their eyes and they agreed to support. It was ultimately beneficial of all the students of the college. The college authorities contacted e-Yantra for information regarding establishment eligibility and complete procedure. The e-Yantra team guides establishment of Robotics Lab in an effective manner by training teams of four(4) teachers and ten(10) students from the college itself. They organized an aptitude test for selection of candidates. I contacted the robotics club coordinators but they tried to postpone the process due to the worldwide pandemic. I didn't lose hope. I knew that my colleagues had immense inclination towards embedded systems and bot-building. I hosted webinars to make fellow students of my college aware of what my plans were for the establishment of a well equipped technical robotics lab in our college. I mustered support from over 100 students and they boosted my confidence. With the co-ordination of my teacher, I gathered funds from administration department and prepared a list of 4 teachers and 50 students who were keen to appear on the aptitude test for robotics training. And now the funds are being generated by the institute for the whole lab setup.
This experience taught me that not even a worldwide pandemic can stop growth if we desire to build our own way out of the fire. There are miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep. I believe that a significant challenge that women face in the tech industry is the stereotype that women are inferior than men. Even today, women are paid less as compared to men for the same job. Women are growing in all aspects and proving their worth but the number of representatives is quite small when compared to men. Particularly in India, the stereotypes govern women perspective. From an early age, men are taught to be strong and independent but women are taught to be sensitive and dependent. These societal norms vanish when intellect enters our mind but still a trace of inferiority remains. We, as a responsible society need not to sympathize with women, but to treat them with equal opportunity and equal value for their work.
When I entered into engineering, my neighbours and peers started talking negative about me, and that I couldn't compete in a manly-sector. I forged metal, practiced carpentry, welded metal in my first year of college and didn't feel even an ounce of inferiority when compared to my male classmates. I learnt to code and worked on projects with male students and never felt that I lag behind being a female. I believe that we are confined to the walls built by ourselves. Women are equally as strong as men physically and mentally. It all begins within our home, when as kids, we learn that our mother cooks food and dad earns. Mother and kids are a liability and father is an asset to the nation. This is the scenario of almost all Indian houses. Parents spend most of their earning in their daughter's marriage instead of her career. Marriage and giving birth are important rituals in a female's life but they can't be considered the sole purpose of existence of a woman. Emphasizing on education and higher studies is very important. I believe there is a need to change the outlook. But it won't come over night. Time will take it's toll and many women like Kalpana Chawla, Neera Tandon, Kamla Harris, Nirmala Sitaraman, Reshma Saujani, Vinita Singh, etc. will continue to prove that nothing is impossible. A woman does not need empowerment. She needs equal opportunity and equal value of work. 'Teach girls bravery and not perfection' should be our motto.