Career Intentionality Models Leading to Sustained Socio-Economic Development among Underprivileged Girls Dr. Rajesh Saundarya1, Rakesh Anju2 1Founder-President, AVTAR Group, Neelangarai, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, sr@avtarcc.com 2Lead-Research & Analytics, AVTAR Group, Neelangarai, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, anju@avtarcc.com Online published on 7 April, 2017. Abstract India is an intrinsically diverse society, 48.5% of our population is women. However, Indian women's contribution to the economy is the lowest on a global scale, at 17 percent, reports a 2016 research from McKinsey. This means that for inclusive growth for the country, significant improvement in the women“s workforce participation is a must. It may be noted that over 70% of women in India live outside of the urban conditions. If women“s workforce participation in the country needs to be improved, it is important that inclusive policies extend to the entire socio-economic spectrum of women-giving all women access to education and opportunities to pursue careers. Poverty, early marriages, sexual abuse and domestic violence-these are only a few of the challenges faced by young girls from underprivileged backgrounds. As the first step forward one needs to understand, how a few such women overcame these challenges to get to where they are today. How did they become “career intentional”? What is the framework their successful, sustained careers are based on? This paper theorizes and proposes indicative solutions to these questions based on primary research conducted by AVTAR Human Capital Trust on 496 such women from across India, who were all from economically disadvantaged classes of the society. Top Keywords Career Intentionality, career development framework, corporate exposure, mentors, role models, underprivileged girls. Top |