On Women’s Day this year, I wrote a post on my blog asking whether a woman really needs to feel happy that it was Women’s Day! Here is the link – ‘Happy Women’s Day… Really???‘ Women’s liberation is an oft discussed topic. It is also a delicate topic, which people stay away from, for fear of affecting sentiments. The allegiance towards the ‘feminist cause’ is two pronged actually. Some women take feminism to the level of activism. They take the belligerent stance when it comes to asking for opportunities. Some others, who by dint of their efforts and hard work, manage to reach somewhere in their careers, look upon the tag of being ‘feminist’ with disdain. They do not wish to be associated with the feminist tag, for fear of appearing to be one of ‘them’. But the issue at hand is the fact that there still remain a number of challenges that face women at work.
One key issue, that affects women, no matter which field of work they may be in, is that of the lopsided work-life balance. A friend of mine, the other day, gave me a grim statistic. Of 30 women picked up for consulting jobs at a prestigious B school in India, 27 ended up divorced! I cannot comment on the veracity of the stat, but I can certainly say that it is indeed a scary one. On the one hand, social thinkers advocate equal opportunity for women, and say that women must strive to achieve greatness in life. On the other hand, support systems decide how successful a woman can get in the corporate life. What triggered my line of thought was a statement by my maid the other day. She happens to have studied all the way till grade 10. Such qualification for someone who belongs to the lower economic strata of society is nothing short of a tremendous achievement. However, when quizzed why she did not pick up a more intellectually oriented job, say like working at a cash desk, or something similar, rather than spend her labor on cleaning houses and utensils, she bluntly said that she had a school going child who needed to be looked after, and so, she could not try out for jobs that needed her to be out all day long.
So, its a systemic problem. Among the educated urban population, you have professionally qualified women having to give it all up, effect a trade – off to care for the family. When they do indeed decide to return to work, they are many a time not given their due. I have heard this about many women in some countries, again, I cannot really put a finger on the degree of truth in the statement, but apparently, during recruitment processes, women who return after taking time off to tend to the family, are usually never given a good opportunity to come back. And amongst the underprivileged sections of society, on one hand, young girls are taught the immense importance of studying. They see their mothers slogging it out on fields, in houses and decide that they do not want to walk down that road. They study hard, with stars in their eyes. They don’t aspire to become CEOs, but they aspire to provide their children with easier lives. But then again, systemic issues deals their plans a fatal blow as well. Now, that is a sorry state of affairs, and a royal squandering of talent. In fact I personally know of many instances, where maids’ kids give up studying at a point, because they realize that there is no point in studying, since the muck in the system drags everyone – educated or otherwise, into the same quagmire.
The solution? Yes, we, as educated privileged people, must push for a change in the mindset of the corporate culture. How about day-care provision at work becoming mandatory? How about creating a support system for the lower strata of society, wherein we support them and prevent them from becoming uninterested? It is certainly possible, but it requires collective effort. More importantly, the confidence in women need to be reaffirmed. Their self confidence needs to be bolstered but only through a conscious effort to pro actively bring them to the top.
