Who Said It’s A Man’s World?
EmPower Research
September 24, 2007
By Shoma Bakre
"If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman" - Margaret Thatcher.
I object to anyone saying that it is a man’s world - in fact I don’t think it ever was. I am not a feminist and certainly never cared about burning bras. I like men to be chivalrous and open doors and pull chairs for me. I am proud to be a woman and am proud of my femininity. I will gladly let a man carry my heavy bags for me, as I cannot dispute the fact that men are physically stronger than women (barring some exceptions of course!). I do not believe in equality of men and women nor do I want to be equal to a man. Men and women are biologically, physiologically and psychologically entirely two different creatures with distinct traits, which make it impossible for them to be equals.
On the other hand, what I do believe is that women through generations have been displaying immense strength and power that many men cannot match. This inherent strength arises precisely out of the very gender differences that have, ironically, always led women to be portrayed as the weaker sex. Despite the gender bias and being looked upon as the weaker sex, women in India have done remarkable deeds. Whether it is Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, fearlessly battling the British Raj, or Indira Gandhi, our first woman Prime Minister, or today’s corporate icons like Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and PepsiCo’s Indra K Nooyi – Indian women have proven time and time again that women mean serious business and are capable of accomplishing anything.
Multitasking to perfection
Indian women have been multitasking since long before the term “multitasking” became part of the corporate world jargon. Every day I look around myself and see women from all walks of life juggling multiple roles in their routine life. Besides building successful professional careers, we have been managing and anchoring homes, taking care of parents and children, nurturing familial ties, all through our roles as daughter, sister, mother, and wife. We have been playing every role very effectively, through different stages of our life, with equilibrium and poise. What better examples can I cite than my two female business partners and myself! We are co-founders of a successful multinational company that is now three years old. Each of us work at least 16 to 18 hours a day managing an organization of 100-plus people spanning across two continents. Besides this, what we also have in common is that all three of us are devoted mothers with more than one small child. We try to attend our children’s school parent-teacher meetings, do homework with them, read to them, tuck them into bed, cook special dishes with them on weekends, arrange play-dates for them, and in general, we try to be actively involved in their lives. Although we sometimes go through severe guilt pangs for not spending as much time with them as stay home mothers can do with their children, we have been able to successfully strike a balance between our commitment to our work and to our respective families.
To continue about my partners and myself, as all three of us are of Indian origin with small-town upbringing and belong to a slightly older generation, we are culturally indoctrinated to also keep our ties alive and strong with our immediate and extended families. We have been able to do that too by taking care of ailing parents, looking after the in-laws, hosting relatives of relatives in our homes for prolonged periods of time, and extending our hospitality to anyone who happens to be visiting from our home town even if we have no clue who they are! Much of this is certainly not an easy task but we have done it all and continue to fulfill these responsibilities despite all the demands on our time. Needless to say, our juggling act would not have been possible without the help and support of our exceptionally understanding spouses, parents, in-laws, colleagues, and friends. Even our fourth (and the only male) business partner has been very understanding and supportive of us – many a times we would open our strategic partner meetings with discussions about diapers and baby food or wails about terrible things the nanny had done! So the successful woman juggler is one who also needs/has a network of support from family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, nannies, and institutions such as day cares, in order to be able to fulfill the multiple roles and responsibilities in her daily life.
Dignity and Strength
While the corporate/professional success stories of women in our country abound, I am impressed by the strength and dignity of the women in the under-privileged segments of our society. The strength and resilience of the Indian woman I see every day across all strata of society. From the patio of my apartment I can see a lot of construction activity happening all around and the construction workers toiling away each day. What I cannot stop marveling at is the juggling act of the women folk working on these construction sites. It never ceases to amaze me how they work side by side with their male counterparts, doing equally hard backbreaking work under the glaring sun or in the chilly rains, while keeping an eye on their little children who play on mounds of dirt beside them or just sit around. Unfailingly, these women tend to the children whenever they take a break, feed them, play with them, put them to sleep, and then go back to work. Women’s contribution in the rural Indian economy is also notable - they contribute considerably to household income through farm and non-farm activities. They have extensive work loads with dual responsibility for farm and household production.
Woman, EmPowered!
Fortunately, the social fabric in India is now changing such that the value of women joining the workforce and building careers is recognized increasingly as a very important element necessary for the economic and social advancement of our country. The increasing feminization of the workforce in India is evident as the proportion of women in India’s workforce has consistently increased during the last three decades. Social and economic changes in the country have led to the entry of women into the workforce in large numbers. The technology boom in the country, over the last 20 years, has also been a big catalyst for this. Women now make up a fifth of the total IT workforce in India. As the Indian economy is surging, the horizons for women in the country are expanding. So the Indian woman is much more empowered today than their mothers or grandmothers ever were. It is now up to us to take advantage of this social change and prove ourselves independent, capable, and powerful without having to ever assert that we are “equal to men”.
"If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman" - Margaret Thatcher.
I object to anyone saying that it is a man’s world - in fact I don’t think it ever was. I am not a feminist and certainly never cared about burning bras. I like men to be chivalrous and open doors and pull chairs for me. I am proud to be a woman and am proud of my femininity. I will gladly let a man carry my heavy bags for me, as I cannot dispute the fact that men are physically stronger than women (barring some exceptions of course!). I do not believe in equality of men and women nor do I want to be equal to a man. Men and women are biologically, physiologically and psychologically entirely two different creatures with distinct traits, which make it impossible for them to be equals.
On the other hand, what I do believe is that women through generations have been displaying immense strength and power that many men cannot match. This inherent strength arises precisely out of the very gender differences that have, ironically, always led women to be portrayed as the weaker sex. Despite the gender bias and being looked upon as the weaker sex, women in India have done remarkable deeds. Whether it is Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, fearlessly battling the British Raj, or Indira Gandhi, our first woman Prime Minister, or today’s corporate icons like Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and PepsiCo’s Indra K Nooyi – Indian women have proven time and time again that women mean serious business and are capable of accomplishing anything.
Multitasking to perfection
Indian women have been multitasking since long before the term “multitasking” became part of the corporate world jargon. Every day I look around myself and see women from all walks of life juggling multiple roles in their routine life. Besides building successful professional careers, we have been managing and anchoring homes, taking care of parents and children, nurturing familial ties, all through our roles as daughter, sister, mother, and wife. We have been playing every role very effectively, through different stages of our life, with equilibrium and poise. What better examples can I cite than my two female business partners and myself! We are co-founders of a successful multinational company that is now three years old. Each of us work at least 16 to 18 hours a day managing an organization of 100-plus people spanning across two continents. Besides this, what we also have in common is that all three of us are devoted mothers with more than one small child. We try to attend our children’s school parent-teacher meetings, do homework with them, read to them, tuck them into bed, cook special dishes with them on weekends, arrange play-dates for them, and in general, we try to be actively involved in their lives. Although we sometimes go through severe guilt pangs for not spending as much time with them as stay home mothers can do with their children, we have been able to successfully strike a balance between our commitment to our work and to our respective families.
To continue about my partners and myself, as all three of us are of Indian origin with small-town upbringing and belong to a slightly older generation, we are culturally indoctrinated to also keep our ties alive and strong with our immediate and extended families. We have been able to do that too by taking care of ailing parents, looking after the in-laws, hosting relatives of relatives in our homes for prolonged periods of time, and extending our hospitality to anyone who happens to be visiting from our home town even if we have no clue who they are! Much of this is certainly not an easy task but we have done it all and continue to fulfill these responsibilities despite all the demands on our time. Needless to say, our juggling act would not have been possible without the help and support of our exceptionally understanding spouses, parents, in-laws, colleagues, and friends. Even our fourth (and the only male) business partner has been very understanding and supportive of us – many a times we would open our strategic partner meetings with discussions about diapers and baby food or wails about terrible things the nanny had done! So the successful woman juggler is one who also needs/has a network of support from family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, nannies, and institutions such as day cares, in order to be able to fulfill the multiple roles and responsibilities in her daily life.
Dignity and Strength
While the corporate/professional success stories of women in our country abound, I am impressed by the strength and dignity of the women in the under-privileged segments of our society. The strength and resilience of the Indian woman I see every day across all strata of society. From the patio of my apartment I can see a lot of construction activity happening all around and the construction workers toiling away each day. What I cannot stop marveling at is the juggling act of the women folk working on these construction sites. It never ceases to amaze me how they work side by side with their male counterparts, doing equally hard backbreaking work under the glaring sun or in the chilly rains, while keeping an eye on their little children who play on mounds of dirt beside them or just sit around. Unfailingly, these women tend to the children whenever they take a break, feed them, play with them, put them to sleep, and then go back to work. Women’s contribution in the rural Indian economy is also notable - they contribute considerably to household income through farm and non-farm activities. They have extensive work loads with dual responsibility for farm and household production.
Woman, EmPowered!
Fortunately, the social fabric in India is now changing such that the value of women joining the workforce and building careers is recognized increasingly as a very important element necessary for the economic and social advancement of our country. The increasing feminization of the workforce in India is evident as the proportion of women in India’s workforce has consistently increased during the last three decades. Social and economic changes in the country have led to the entry of women into the workforce in large numbers. The technology boom in the country, over the last 20 years, has also been a big catalyst for this. Women now make up a fifth of the total IT workforce in India. As the Indian economy is surging, the horizons for women in the country are expanding. So the Indian woman is much more empowered today than their mothers or grandmothers ever were. It is now up to us to take advantage of this social change and prove ourselves independent, capable, and powerful without having to ever assert that we are “equal to men”.
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