Indian Women

THE SHE ECONOMY

A change in outlook towards the 21^st century women

§ By Nidhi Anand

Today’s women are not just a showpiece lying in the house. Today a woman moves hand in hand with the men and in some cases has also left men behind. Till some years back a woman was supposed to handle daily chores and found place only in the kitchen of the house. But today the scenario has changed; today a woman is not just subject to the four walls of a house, she is out into the world and ready to give the men a run for their money.

Whether in the field of business, media or even sports woman is leaving a mark in every field. Sania Mirza has risen as one of India’s biggest sport star. The 19-year-old recorded many firsts by an Indian in women's tennis while proving herself to be a genuine world beater. A leap of 175 places to reach a career high 31 in world rankings, a seniors' title, victory over two top-10 players and reaching the fourth round of a Grand Slam - a spectacular start to what should be a long and colourful career. It was the first time an Indian woman had gone thus far at a Grand Slam and she bettered that mark at the US Open, going one step further later in the year. She made the whole nation proud with her achievements but with fame came public scrutiny. An Islamic cleric issued a fatwa banning her from wearing short skirts on courts. Her comments on safe sex resulted in public activist groups burning her effigies and demonstrating in front of her house in Hyderabad. That is the plight of any Indian women who has tried to establish her identity in a men’s world. Besides her we also have women like Barkha Dutt who managed to do a courageous reportage of the Kargil war and also women like Ekta Kapoor who has the whole nation drooling over her daily dose soaps. How much ever people may criticize her work but she has emerged as a true winner. One key factor that differentiates these successful women from the rest of the lot is the fact that they had the determination to dream and also the confidence to make them come true. Contrary to popular norms are these savvy czarinas who have taken over the reins form their fathers. Destroying long standing traditions, breaking into another male-dominated bastion, they are packing in a quite a punch! Groomed to lead corporate houses into the twentieth century, daddy’s little girls are proving as savvy, diplomatic and as worthy of their financial salt as their male counterparts. Taking over from the likes of Brinda Khatau and Zeenia Lawyer, these daughters of business magnates are out to prove their mettle. Articles, reportages, literary works and masterpieces of art have been dedicated to the mission of asserting the woman’s position in a man’s world. A lot has been said and done to equate their stature and role, but this is not about that, as we are already in an era where this fact is an established statement. This is an endeavour to probe into the rationale behind the various facets of the contemporary woman, who on one side, is a jet setting, successful business entity, and a devoted mother and loving wife, on the other.

Till ten years ago women executives were few and far between but today women constitute a major percentage in the entity of any corporate organization. Today a woman has managed to prove to the world that she is much more than an ever caring and sacrificing mother. She has managed to convince the world about her capabilities and talent. The complain that most of the corporate women today have is although they are complete workaholics and are earning bucks it really doesn’t matter to them anymore cause they do not have the time to spend it. Besides that money has never defined their goals or identity. In fact they consider themselves as just a bunch of people who find their meaning in work. Recently Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon, Chanda Kochar, executive director of ICICI Bank and Vidya Chhabria, Chairman of Jumbo Group recently secured a place in the Fortune magazine's list of the world's most powerful women in business. If this piece of news made every indian woman happy, another survey conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) painted a very different picture of Indian women in the corporate world. Even today women constitute only six per cent of the total workforce, says the survey conducted by CII, which was released by Anu Aga, Director of Thermax Ltd. The survey, which covers 149 companies, focused on medium and large companies. While the number of women at the junior level is a healthy 16 per cent, this tapered down to a mere four per cent at the middle and senior levels. This ratio declines in the senior management positions, coming down to almost universal levels of male leadership in the topmost positions. Basically the three factors that are the cause of a low percentage of women in the corporate world are gender bias in recruitment, gender inequality and sexual harassment at the workplace. Though it's not explicitly exhibited, there is some kind of gender bias in many organisations. These mainly related to those regarding promotions, allotment of assignments - where men are preferred. For instance, women are not preferred in some functions, such as manufacturing/ production etc. And the main reasons behind this being security concerns for women and perceptions that women would 'not be competent enough' for these positions.

If the Indian corporate world does not get rid of these primitive notions, how can you expect Indian women to climb the corporate ladder? It's really ridiculous. If Barkha Dutt can report from war zone, why others cannot do the same in some other fields. A few of the factors that are related to women and the ones which are not taken into consideration are that of motherhood. Say for instance Sulajja Firodia Motwani, the mind behind Kinetic group of companies has been working non-stop for 13 years with just a four day break when her son was born. A majority of the organisations do not have any provisions for day-care facilities or the option of flexibility of timings for young/ expectant mothers and most women feel that their companies do not give adequate benefits which motivate women to join back after childbirth. Another problem that has always kept women aback while climbing the corporate ladder is that of sexual and physical harassment at workplace. Only about half the companies claim to have formal policies in place to deal with sexual harassment within the organisation. But for the majority there are no policies in place to protect women from harassment from a client or a vendor. In India it is mainly the mindset of the people that needs repairing only then will we be able to see a steady growth in the number of women opting for a corporate lifestyle. Whenever it comes to choosing a job, most women in India prefer an office which is close to residence. Besides, post marriage, women either leave the job or join another office, which is near to husband's working place. Basically, it's the woman who has to sacrifice.

But what has to be considered is that women at work should be more assertive about their abilities and rights and also should put in front of the management their limitations and restrictions also besides that the companies should have a relook at their HR policies especially keeping the women in their organization into consideration. Looking at the above picture one realizes the amount of progress that India is making over the year but giving it another glance one realizes that things are even today not as glossy as one gets to see. The horrifying incidents against women have not changed over the years. In fact study reveals that domestic violence in on the rise in the country.

It’s easy to dismiss it as just another fad. After all, in a country where twice as many girls as boys die before the age of five, where only 40% of women are literate as compared to 64% of men and harassment, if not death, for dowry is the fate of a large number of women. So now it is for us to realize that we do not have to look at just a small percentage of women who are running the economy but also had the major section of the Indian women population who is suffering even today. So that we can call our economy a SHE Economy in the true sense of the term.