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Showing posts from March, 2023

The Harsh Reality of “Recognition” for the Queer Community in Society

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Queer is an umbrella term that describes sexual orientation and gender identities apart from straight and cisgenders. As time goes by, we can see how the queer community as a whole is evolving and there are significant changes with respect to the growth patterns amongst the community and the platforms and opportunities they have been exposed to. When we talk about the importance of recognition, we can see the changing trends in that too. Looking back at the situation ten or fifteen years back, homosexuality was seen as a taboo and indeed a crime in India. As societies developed and transformed, the LGBTQ community gradually started getting the recognition they always looked for. The community has always remained closeted because they feared discrimination not just by society, but also amongst their own peer groups, families, schools, etc. Today, even though homosexuality has been accepted, understood and acknowledged amongst the younger generations, there have still been stories of str

Women in Start-Ups - A Long Way To Go

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Startup Industry is at its peak right now in India and the world. In recent years, India has emerged as a hub for startups, with a thriving ecosystem of entrepreneurs, investors, and support organizations. According to a report by Nasscom and Zinnov, India is home to over 50,000 startups, and the country is poised to become the world's third-largest startup ecosystem by 2025. Women have historically been underrepresented in the startup world, with just a tiny fraction of venture capital funding going to female-led businesses. Despite an increase in unicorns and startup founders, women founders are still a very minute part of the pie and receive very less funding compared to their male counterparts. According to Pam Kostka, CEO of All Raise, in 2019, only a meagre 12% of U.S. venture capital funding was directed towards female-led startups, despite two years of record-breaking investments worth over $130 billion by U.S. venture capitalists. With the current economic recession, women