What started with 10 members has grown into a global community, creating more opportunities for women to learn, contribute, and lead in open source.
Launched in 2023 as an OpenSource DB CSR chapter, Postgres Women India has grown from 10 members to a global community of over 2000 women across 70+ countries. It addresses the underrepresentation of women participants and technical speakers at open source and database conferences.
Origin and rapid growth
At various PostgreSQL conferences, the number of women participants and speakers presenting on the PostgreSQL open source ecosystem or data technologies was very low. That realisation led to the creation of Postgres Women India.
The community started as a small corporate social responsibility (CSR) chapter of OpenSource DB, a startup in the PostgreSQL ecosystem. It grew from 10 individuals in 2023 to over 2000 community members. Members contribute to the ecosystem as open source developers and learners working with PostgreSQL, AI, and other data technologies.
Mission, vision, and core pillars
The mission is to empower, connect, and celebrate women in technology, especially within open source. The objective is to build an inclusive ecosystem where women’s voices, ideas, and leadership are represented and valued. The vision is to foster a diverse, inclusive, and globally connected community where women participate in and lead open source development. Inclusion is positioned not as a standalone programme, but as part of a culture built on mentorship, learning, and representation across open source.
The community’s work centres on three pillars: community building, nurturing next-generation leaders, and education and advocacy in academia.
Community engagement and academic partnerships
The initiative organises virtual and in-person meetups featuring speakers from the PostgreSQL, AI, and data ecosystems. Mentorship plays a major role, connecting students, professors, and startup operators to develop skills and ideas. The programmes focus on developing students’ skills and helping professionals transition to or advance within the PostgreSQL ecosystem, while connecting participants with industry knowledge and experience.
For education and advocacy, Postgres Women India actively collaborates with universities such as JNTU in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, alongside partnerships with IIT Madras’s consulting wing, IITM Pravartak, and various other educational institutions. These initiatives provide students with exposure to database technologies and industry practices.
Leadership nurturing and global team
Leadership development is intended to ensure that the community continues to grow beyond the contribution of any one individual. Since 2023, Postgres Women India has pursued this through PostgreSQL and AI bootcamps and leadership events. In 2025, the community hosted the Women for Data Summit, which brought together over 100 participants.
Postgres Women India is supported by a global core team that includes Aarti, Kalyani, Keerthi Seetha, Praveena Sivasankar, and Hari Kiran.
Key milestones and programs
The community was established in 2023, after the COVID-19 period, when many professionals were restarting their careers or adopting new technologies. Postgres Women India sought to connect industry requirements with participants’ skills. The community steadily built regional chapters and hosted meetups, while its members spoke at global conferences.
The PostgreSQL conferences in Bengaluru in 2024 and 2025 attracted 600 to 800 PostgreSQL professionals. There, the team presented the community’s work and its technical upskilling initiatives.
Several key initiatives define the operational focus of Postgres Women India:
- Career connect day: Connects hiring partners directly with job seekers, offering a focused platform for students, early-career candidates, and seasoned professionals to showcase their skills to companies seeking specialised PostgreSQL talent—from performance tuning to database administration.
- Upskill programmes: Offer an intensive 20-week curriculum covering PostgreSQL architecture, database internals, and performance engineering. The programmes draw participants not only from student communities in India but also from experienced database professionals in Europe and the US looking to develop skills in PostgreSQL after working with engines such as Oracle and MySQL.
- Women for Data Summit 2026: The community hosted its second annual Women for Data Summit in January 2026.
Recognition, technical impact, and allies
Recognition is an important part of sustaining the community. Postgres Women India has recognised 18 women globally as ‘Postgres Women of the Month’. The ‘Rookie Spotlight’ initiative has also highlighted eight emerging contributors. The community shares these stories on social platforms to provide examples of women contributing to open source.
Many of the women recognised by the community have contributed directly to core PostgreSQL code used in production systems worldwide. For example, Alicia and Bina Emerson contributed to logical decoding features, while Malladi from Microsoft contributed to B-tree and GIN index implementations.
Although focused on women, the community also works with male allies, mentors, and contributors. Male allies and supporters provide expertise and mentorship in production PostgreSQL, database migration, DevOps, core development, and the AI ecosystem.
Partnerships and call for community support
OpenSource DB was the founding CSR partner. Support has since expanded to organisations including Google, YugaByteDB, and IITM Pravartak, with advocates such as Gayatri Varadharan supporting the initiative. Volunteers and supporting organisations across time zones and technical areas also contribute to the community’s activities.
Postgres Women India continues to seek external support. Organisations and startups can contribute by launching local chapters in Tier-1, Tier-2, or Tier-3 cities, hosting technical meetups, offering mentorship, or connecting community members with hiring networks and career opportunities.
The article is based on the talk at OPEN SOURCE INDIA 2025 titled ‘Postgres Women India: Driving Diversity and Innovation in Open Source’, delivered by Hari Kiran, Founder & CEO, OpenSource DB, and Praveena Sivasankar, Head – Operations, OpenSource DB. The talk was transcribed and curated by Jiya Jay Singh, Journalist at EFY.
