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| HER WORLD | Sunday, May 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India |
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Corporate
India: Women Not Allowed If you thought that
the woman executive had arrived, think again! POINT COUNTERPOINT
READERS’ RESPONSE |
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Corporate India: Women Not Allowed
A national daily recently ran a news story saying that at the turn of the century, big names in India Inc. treasure an unwritten code: "Do not employ women". Surprise? Not really, as experts say that a bare three per cent women occupy senior positions in private companies across India. And most of the companies only have five to six per cent women employees. Male representatives of private companies give various reasons for these appalling figures. Some blatantly say that they are traditional companies and don't hire women. Others cite safety as an issue. Still others say that maternity leaves are a serious interruption of work. According to Pallavi Jha, former Chairperson of the CII (Maharashtra):
"A few years ago, a researcher came to interview me about why women were not doing as well as their male colleagues after graduation from business schools. The young women that she had interviewed told her that despite their getting higher marks than the young men and performing better, they received less approval and recognition from male bosses and were slower to be promoted. They felt dejected and despondent." The predicament of these young women is understandable. And I
empathise with them. Boys are brought up to believe that they can get anything they want and are raised as such. Girls are also told that they can get anything they want, but are raised to have doubts about their ability, to put family first and to subsume their ambitions and dreams in the interest of family and society. They are never told how tough it is to negotiate their way in a world designed and defined by men. And they are not trained for it either. Where is this better exemplified than in the corporate world? The corporate world has been, and is one, where men can escape away from home and family. Men made the rules, and when women come into this world, they were not sure how to conduct themselves. In the Indian context, men learn to see women as mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. The idea of women as colleagues and as equals is very new and quite intimidating. Women too, coming into the corporate world, are awed by its norms. Their socialisation has been about home and family. Study and work outside the home are all short-term activities, in preparation for the homemaker role. Small surprise, then, that women are not prepared for the workplace, do not last long and only a few get to the top. In the last decade, women in other parts of the industrialised world have experienced what is popularly known as the 'glass ceiling' phenomenon, which means women find that they can only rise to a certain level in corporations and no further. Is this a conspiracy? Are men keeping women away from the top? Yes and no. Yes, as men do not seem to realise that women are— and can be—as capable as men. Men have trouble accepting that women do not function like them because they are raised differently, gender versus sex, and this can be their strength and an asset to the corporation. No, because women too have been socialised to believe that their world is in the home and family. The male values they encounter in the workplace are often alien to them. But what they see as behaviour unlike theirs, can also be a source of strength for them and a learning opportunity. But not having the skills to cope with this environment, they often opt out. In a mixed-sex workplace, women and men are often uncomfortable with each other. The most natural and unspoken tension is sexual. It is inevitable that men and women will be attracted to each other, as they spend so much time together, often more than they do with their spouses or families and friends. Separating emotions of congeniality, friendship and intimacy is not a skill that most Indians receive in the home, school or college. It is assumed that we are ready to handle these relationships when the time or opportunity arises. Men are not keeping women away from corporate houses because they don't like them. Men are more comfortable dealing with men, just as women are more comfortable dealing with women. While in the personal sphere there is nothing wrong with wanting to be around people we are comfortable with, in the public sphere of corporations and policy-making, it is essential that women and men work side by side. Indian corporations are no different from others when they say that women taking maternity leave will mean a setback for their operations. But large corporations have the least room to complain. A large staff means they can plan for women staff to be away on maternity leave - as pregnancy is not a short-term project - and move responsibilities around. Moreover, having a childcare centre at the workplace means that women can come to work and have the baby at close quarters without having to worry about it at home or about breast-feeding. Truly twenty-first century corporations will be those that recognise and act on the fact that the world, as we know it, does come in two sexes. Both men and women bring valuable and different experiences, skills and expertise to the workplace. By creating an environment that is less hospitable to women, men deprive themselves of a challenge to work with women. Women, in turn, are cheated out of the opportunity to use their education and training to make a contribution to society. When will corporations stop taking the soft option of keeping women out? When will they become real men and open their doors to women? —
WFS |
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If you thought that the woman executive had arrived, think again! SO you think that Indian women have finally arrived. They are working in offices, driving large cars and generally doing all that more, which their mothers and grandmothers didn't get to do. Well, there's a quite a slip betwixt the cup and the lip. No doubt, Indian women have come a long way but attitudes and mindsets have a longer way to go. There're corporate houses that as a policy don't hire women. (Yes, you read that right). In the year 2002, when Indian corporates are adopting international management practices, wish to have a global work culture and appear in sync with the rest of the world; there just seems to be a small chink in the amour. Actually quite a large one. Certain companies on grounds of their gender disqualify women for certain jobs. Women graduating from premier engineering colleges often complain that prospective companies, seeking pass-outs for jobs during campus interviews, would often by-pass female candidates despite their having brilliant marks. "We were told that these jobs aren't for a woman. Woman can't work with labourers in a plant," said Meenal, a graduating student from Jadavpur University, Mechanical Engineering. "If that's the attitude the industry has then why do the institutes let us do the course spending our parent's money and our valuable time?," says another female pass-out from Delhi IIT. Meenal isn't an exception, there're many like her who after having completed civil/mechanical engineering found that there weren't any takers on account of their being of the fairer sex. Not wanting to specify the names of the companies, the female pass-outs say that the ones who don't usually take women are the ones who have large operations on field, plants and factories. They're usually told, "it isn't safe to have women at a plant/factory or field among workers." And this isn't just the scenario among entrants into the corporate world. Figures indicate:
Only 3 per cent of senior positions in the Indian private sector companies is filled by women Between 5 per cent to 6 per cent of the public sector is occupied by women. And the reasons cited by the companies are amazingly primitive. Videocon, the leading appliance manufacturer, doesn't hire women in its corporate office in Mumbai, though it has a large (4,000) women workforce in its factories! When asked the company's chairman just said, "We are from an orthodox family and this is the way we work." Refusing to elaborate his comment, he left an enormous lot to imagination. Does he mean that women can be used for menial labour work but not for intelligent managerial work? But at least he is candid enough to say that it's the traditional family backing which decide on company hiring policies. There're scores of others who are far from outspoken in their discrimination yet quietly leave out women from their folds. The most common line that they mouth is "no suitable women candidate was found." Bajaj Auto is yet another company that doesn't on rule hire women for its shop floor. Though women gained entry in other departments about six years ago, there are barely six women managers in the middle level or senior positions in the company. Women seem to face closed doors in manufacturing, engineering and IT companies. Rachna Chhachhi, founder CEO of Red for Women, an organisation that's trying open corporate doors for more women, says, "These outfits need people who can deal with labourers/workers in the plant or be involved in projects that would mean very long work hours and extensive travelling." Both of which pose problems for a women, especially if she's married and with a family. If companies hesitate to hire women, all of it isn't without good reason. Erstwhile Vice President of a leading MNC says, "There are companies whose nature of work is such that it would be risky to have a woman. The sales team has to travel into the interiors, deal with agents, dealers and plant workers all of which can't be done by women. It's a man's job and no amount of debate is going to change my mind. We have women in the PR department but my sales team has to be all male as I need my boys to go anywhere and anytime, day or night." Most companies have the same thing to say that one possibly can't have a woman brush shoulders with plant workers and travel at odd hours. "There is a certain safety hazard one has to keep in mind. One can ask a male sales officer to stay anywhere while on tours in the hinterland, but a woman can't stay in just about any place," says an HR head of the leading luggage manufacturing company. The National Sales Manager of a leading travel company says, "I can ask any of my boys to go anywhere by plane, train or even by bus, if the need arises. But with a woman I've to think and make appropriate arrangements. All this hinders when deadlines have to be met and competition is fierce." These arguments are real and can't be denied. There are certain occupational hazards of being a woman, which even women can't deny. Being unable to travel anywhere at any time, brush with the grassroot workers are justifiable reasons, which silence even the most loud protests for being not considered for sales jobs. For these reasons, one sees women in large numbers in newspaper offices, media, PR firms and other creative jobs where the interaction is with the educated lot and work is within the office premises, even if it is for long hours. However it's not just these reasons that are responsible for shutting doors for women. "It's the women themselves who close doors," says Pallavi Jha, former chairperson of the Confederation of India Industries (Maharashtra). She explains that women in most cases aren't serious about their career. They often work only to earn some extra money, without any serious career plans. According to a 1998 study done by her, it showed at nearly 70 per cent of women graduates from IIM Ahmedabad didn't pursue a career. They worked for a year or so, got married and then most just didn't work and a few did something far removed from what they had trained at IIM. Managers and heads of sales team say that women on being asked to travel at a short notice often complain. "Women are fine till they get married. Once married, the husbands begin to decide what they should do and when and when children arrive, it's even worse. I have a business to run, a target to meet and a boss to answer. I can't handle the hassle of a woman in my team. So I prefer men," confesses a Regional Sales Manager of a leading cosmetic-manufacturing MNC. Yet one feels that it's a catch-22 situation. Companies don't hire women as they don't work with seriousness and women have to leave jobs or change tracks, as companies aren't sensitive enough. It is a fact that companies that have a large women workforce within their premises are very flexible and open in their approach. As Rachna adds, "Women in our countries have to operate on many levels. If the companies can be a bit more sensitive to the needs of the women, they would find an efficient, quick and responsible worker doing as well, if not better than her male counterparts. Biologically it's proven that women can do multi-tasking. If a woman finds a sensitive employer she's so indebted to the firm to give her the flexibility to being able to work alongside fulfilling her domestic duties, that she puts in more effort instead of wasting precious time in coffee breaks and water cooler chats." "More than 60 per cent of employees in Pepsi and ICICI are women and both the companies are very successful. It just goes to prove the point," she adds. Rachna further says that things have changed for the better, as in 1987 women formed only 13 per cent of the work force in private sector, in 2000 it was 20 per cent and today it is at 28 per cent. So a change is underway, albeit slowly. But it's for a fact that if more corporate doors are to be opened for women, more than just a change in the companies is required. Women, for one, have to be more serious and persistent about what they wish to do. One can't expect others to take our career plans seriously unless we ourselves are serious and clear about what we want to do. |
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POINT COUNTERPOINT THE concept of a career cycle both challenges and reinforces many of the traditional messages communicated to women. The myth that in order to achieve success women must follow a straight and narrow path through their career cycle, has led many women to avoid defining career goals, thus finding them selves working at jobs beneath their potential. The biological clock in women certainly serves as an anxiety-producing barrier to whole-heartedly pursuing long-term career goals. Even today working girls are forced to focus on their social lives rather than educating or training themselves to learn marketable skills. They are guided into traditional occupations, which reach ceiling levels in a short time. So the message is clear at an early age: women need not take their career development, as seriously as men since men will eventually be there to take care of them. Many intelligent women still view ambition and competition as negative and therefore do not prepare them selves for a profession or a satisfying career. They still believe that if they fulfill their potential, men would not be attracted to them. They still give "social life" number one priority, even as collegeiates, when men are vigorously pursuing their career goals. The belief that male co-workers or any one else would view their behaviour as unfeminine is devastating to a good number of working women. Employers’ perspective Discrimination and non-induction of women for higher jobs in corporate levels is due to a presumed concern of the employer over marriage of a female employee, her pregnancy, the maternity cycle and it’s accompanying absenteeism. They feel women are happy with dead-end jobs because they do not want the responsibility, visibility or inconveniences that are thought to accompany career advancement. Women make for poor travellers as being alone they can be harassed. Women also cannot switch roles during work as easily as men who can deal with Government offices, courts, entertain customers and officials at dinners etc., all in a day’s work. This is a serious handicap in today’s cut- throat competitive world. Ironical, but true, they are still treated as little play things. When there is a high level vacancy they feel they do not require showpieces. Even when women try to bridge the difference by acting more like men, men become resentful and they find it impossible to avoid being viewed as the ‘other’. For instance, at a conference where she is the only female colleague, a male colleague may well remark "you look gorgeous today". A remark that men do not make to each other and it sounds a little patronising if made at the start of the meeting. —
Rajshree Sarda |
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READERS’ RESPONSE AS far as household responsibilities are concerned, not many men want to help out at home. In fact, there are many men who are either too obsessed with a sense of assumed male superiority, or are too lazy to offer a helping hand to their spouse or to their children in the discharge of routine household chores. A vast majority of Indian men, sadly fall in the above category. They fail to appreciate that an assortment of strenuous and time Time-consuming chores have to be performed by a homemaker, at times not withstanding the poor state of her health, not only to keep a home functional, but to keep it spic and span. The exact volume of the work for the lady of the home would, among other factors, depend upon: (a) The size of the family (b), the extent of contribution rendered towards routine household chores by each member (c), whether any part-time or whole-time help is available from servants (d), the time and effort involved to oversee the quality of work rendered by such household help and (e), the time available at the disposal of the family member/s of the lady of the home, etc. In the West, the household duties of men, their spouses and children are generally well-defined, as is the schedule for undertaking each specific chore. This is worked out on a daily/weekly basis. Thus, for example, baby sitting, cleaning the home, cooking, dish washing, clothes washing, car washing, mowing the lawn/gardening and helping children with their home work etc-may be performed by any member of the family, or by particular members or by rotation. The exact contribution of each member would vary, depending on the time available with each, the working hours of the earning members and the academic schedule of the children. When routine household chores are rotated to be performed by different members, the drudgery or monotony associated with these in minimised, hence it makes sense to do so. The system as followed in the West, whereby the responsibility is shared has its merits and is worthy of emulation in Indian homes. In contemporary homes, as a result of economic compulsions and other factors, it is not uncommon for both the husband and wife to be gainfully occupied with full time 9 to 5 pm work schedules. It, therefore, becomes absolutely essential that the husbands make the demands of domesticity that much easier, by lending a helping hand. Of course, there are always emergencies or situations other than normal, where, for example a particular family member may be ill or may be out of town, or there may be additional workload due to entertainment or a live-in guest. In such a scenario, the rest of the family members, should chip in and contribute their mite to keep the wheels of the routine household chores sufficiently greased for its smooth functioning. V.
B. N. Ram, New Delhi. |
