GLASS CEILING – CRACKED … YET NOT BROKEN!!!

I am reminded of my yester days, when I had just got married &* was living happily with my wife here at Jaipur. We both were aggressively pursuing our individual careers wherein I was working for an MNC as Branch Head & My wife was a Lecturer, teaching English. A one-liner communication, however, changed our life. One day my boss came to my office on a visit & announced I have been promoted to Sales Manager at Mumbai. Happy though, I was in turmoil… How can I say yes without consulting my wife???

Late in the evening, I broached the subject just before going off to bed with a lot of skepticism. I was pleasantly alarmed to hear that she approved of my decision of taking on this promotion impromptu… & added: “I think I will take a break to rear up the kids!!!”. I grew up to be the Vice President of my company, then took VRS to start my own business… It’s been 17 years since… & My wife is still “rearing up the kids”

This is a very very common story, where a wife sacrifices her aspirations & ambition just to be a trailing spouse in order to bring up kids!!!

Yes, we have come a long way on global socio-cultural intermingling, Gender bias equality, no professional discrimination on the basis of men – women classification, equality in pay structure on the basis of job profile rather than gender, BUT, this is seen more in talk shows rather than on the ground.

Although there is a paradigm shift in the manner in which jobs are carried out today, there is no shift in the mindset that women cannot handle all jobs,& equally well or better than men-folk. In the olden days, jobs required much more physical energy since the help of gadgets & infrastructure was not available. Boughs were more important than brains. Today, with the technology boom in all spheres of work, travel, at al, mental stamina is more important than Physical Stamina.

Understanding a few statistics will now come in handy!

A Harvard Business School research says women are more persistently high performers than males. At the Carnegie Mellon University researchers found, after analyzing traffic data in 2007, that men are 77% more likely to die in a car accident than women. At Vanderbilt University researchers in 2006 stated that women score better in timed & untimed intelligence tests than men. They are more successful in sharing ideas and experiences with each other and hence learned more efficiently than men. As per the data collected, they also reached the conclusion that women have a quicker mind as compared to men. It has also been found that women invest better than men. When it comes to matters related to money, women are usually a lot more responsible than men. An international survey found that they are less likely to get into debt and also, strive harder to become financially independent. Another aspect where women are better than men in the management of stress related to work and the pressures of family life. This came into the limelight in a study conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles, published in the July 2000 issue of Psychological Review. It found that women tend to seek contact with others and social support when they are under stress, which is psychologically a much better way of coping with stress than the “ fight – or – flight ” approach of men.

• Why then is it, that despite being superior to their male counterpart in mental agility & endurance power only twelve Fortune 500 Companies have women CEOs???
• Why is it that the Indian Government has only 2 female Cabinet ministers today???
• Why is it that women have not been able to break the “Glass Ceiling”???

To my mind there is more than one reason for this phenomenon.

• First, albeit all the “Women Liberation movements” happening, Women still consider themselves as ‘The Weaker Sex’ & voluntarily wish to live under the shadows of Male chauvinism. They forget Shahrukh Khan’s dialogue from his movie Chak De… “Agar ladkiya usko (males ko) paida kar sakti hain… to voh kuch bhi kar sakti hain!!!”
• Second is the parents do not grant equality to their daughters & granddaughters. This discourages them from getting out of this myth of being ‘The Fairer Sex’. Kiran Bedi asserts that she would not have been what she is if it was not for her parent’s efforts to support & educate her.
• Another reason is the fact that young women in India even today let their families decide their fate. Naina Lal says “I decided early in life that I wanted to be a Banker”.
• Yet another pointer is that the women are not thinking out of the box. I see most girls pursuing an MBA degree want to get into HR. They literally need to be coaxed & cajoled to take up a - Sales profession. Manisha Gilotra is also of this opinion. “Women must diversify,” She says forcefully.
• And finally, lack of work-life balance is what working women need to work upon. There are a lot of family & social responsibilities that only women can undertake & hence it is more pertinent for them to learn this Work-Life Balance art. Agni Putri Tessy Thomas does this with great finesse. She is as good a Homemaker as she is as Director at ISRO.

I must confess though, things are changing & changing very fast. Women are becoming much Bolder than ever before!!! Gender discrimination is disappearing!!! Gender Neutrality is setting in at the workplace!!! Men are shedding their MCP (Male Chauvinistic Pig) syndrome & openly supporting their counterparts!!! That day is not far when women will shatter this so-called “Glass Ceiling” and show their true potential of women-hood!!!

Indra Nooyi, a visionary that she is, has very aptly put across “Women in India will be the Growth-engine of our nation… They are a Remarkable Specie… the Indian Women try to do it all… They are Role Models for what women across the world can be…”

Hail – The Women of India!!!



PROF. JITENDRA NIGAM

MBA

A PGDM from the reputed, R.A Poddar Institute of Management Jaipur. He brings with him a unique combination of rich corporate & Entrepreneurial experience of over 28yrs.

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