Hy Local Guides, 
Today is the Second day of Women’s Week with International Women’s Day on March 8th. From Today to March 8th is viewed as Women in Construction Week.
This week is to acknowledge women in construction sectors and also women CivIl engineers.
Let’s meet @Gouri_S_Prakash.
Gouri, a B.tech (Bachelor of Technology) degree student in Civil Department of Mohandas College of Engineering and Technology, Nedumangad, Thiruvananthapuram. She was born and brought up in Nedumangad, India. She gradually developed many unique skills like dance, music and drawing with hobbies like cooking and dancing.
Let’s hear what you has to say.
- What inspired you to be a local guide and how long have you been contributing?
Answer : It was a Youtube Shorts video that inspired me to contribute on Google Maps.That guy who posted this video got a badge of Google maps official logo, that was the moment I realised that we can also share photos, videos and reviews on google map.I thought that maps were used to check the location. So that day itself I started contributing and crossed level 4.
- Why do you choose engineering and what initiated your interest to choose that?
Answer : My Father is a Civil Engineer and he is owning a private firm - Bhavanam Builders. Gradually i opt to choose Civil engineering as my subject. My two cousins sisters are also Civil Engineers. They started motivating me and which made me toI wrote the KEAM exam and get a merit seat in MCET. Also it is my father’s dream to make his daughter a civil engineer. But now it’s my dream to make my parents happy and proud.
- How do you think your experiences as a woman in both engineering and a local guide shaped your perspective?
Answer : Even in this 21st century, There are many stereotypes, especially about women in the working field. When I was waiting for the bus in a bus stop near my college, one old man came near me and asked me about the timing of the bus. As the conversation continued he asked me about my college and what I was doing. So I replied to him that I am a student of MCET and my subject is civil engineering. He was astonished and asked me “You girl is studying civil engineering to build bridges” and all I replied yes and he was like *How long is it going to be there? It will collapse as soon as you build it and Nowadays it is very difficult to build a bridge even for a man. how will you…you are a girl”. This was his reply and so to overcome these obstacles, we can foster resilience and adaptability which is one of the important things in our life.
As a woman local guide it helped me in fostering confidence, leadership,etc.
- What does Women’s day mean to you and how do you plan to celebrate it as a local guide?
Answer : In my point of view women’s day means empowerment, equality, fairness and breaking all the stereotypes. As a woman local guide I would like to celebrate women’s day by highlighting women owned Businesses on Google Maps.
Thank you Gouri for giving me such a wonderful interview and being a Local guide and a student.
Previous post of Women’s Week
- Women’s Week & Zero Discrimination Day - Shamneera
- Women’s Week & International Wheelchair Day - Dr. Fathima Asla
Share inspiring stories of Women local guides from the construction department to acknowledge their work this week.
. All the best for the future. And thank you 
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