The Role of our Professional Ecosystem in fostering Women as Front- Runners/ Achievers

This article was originally for Winspiration 2011 conducted by The Indian Women's Leadership Council

The basic design was to have two equal beings, complementing each other with enough similarities such that they find sufficient common ground and with enough differences such that they fuel the most important necessity of life- Change. Here, I was recalling the design of humans. The two beings being: Women and Men. But somewhere in the process, things dint really go as per the design with one being starting to exploit over the other. Sadly even after all these years of humanity, we still don’t exactly conform to the original design. In fact it would be wise to say that civilization as such can be measured as a degree of conformance to this design.

                With this, I bring this article to the 21st century, to the ‘today’, to the ‘right now’. This article does not intend to do root- cause analysis for this non-conformance, if I try to do that, I might have to go back to the ‘long long ago’, so long ago to a time when physical strength and endurance were pre- requisites in the race to being the fittest and ultimately the employable of the two sexes. {Good for us now, we have technologies, machines, robots and other enablers which have tremendously increased the productivity of an average human and perhaps there are not many jobs out there that a man can do and a woman cannot}. Neither is this article intended to establish the beauty of a more equal workplace, but rather this article tries to propose plans to even out the crests and troughs of outdated societal norms and the need to nurture a professional ecosystem that would contribute to women becoming the new- age front- runners and achievers. I channel this article into three segments: Understanding the role of the ecosystem in shaping its women and their lives, coming in terms with the dynamics of the present day work environment and scooping out path- breaking initiatives to make way for a smarter workplace ecosystem in the future.

“It is not our abilities that determine what we are, but the choices that we make”- Albus Dumbledore. Every day, we make so many choices and decisions. Society and the ecosystem around, remains the brain behind many of these choices. It is the society and everything in it which curtails the options available to us and in a way makes decisions for us on our behalf. And so, as it may seem, the professional ecosystem shoulders a huge responsibility- it should provide a soothing and sensitive atmosphere for all its women to grow, mature, improve and shine; it should panel out suitable and sufficient opportunities for grabs, it should be conducive to enable women empowerment and most importantly it should believe in its women and the fact they will ultimately have something to give back.

                It is time to analyze the present day workplace atmosphere for women. Over the years, especially in countries like India, the governing bodies, people in authority and other significant figures have made sufficient efforts in bringing out the fact that education is a basic human right and a necessity to brighter times. Much effort has been put in bringing awareness about the vitality of education, especially for women. Education will bring out the skeptic in a woman; it will make her ask questions, it will urge her to seek the truth, it will teach her to chuck logic and embrace imagination, it will teach her to innovate into new possibilities and somewhere in the process, it will make her a better being. While the efforts towards mandatory education are noticeable and appreciable, one needs to remember that while education alone is necessary, it is not sufficient; it needs to be followed up with Exposure/ Experience. All that was learnt in theory needs to be applied in practice, somewhere, to make something better. And this is where the present-day ecosystem fails to make an impact. It fails to make its women contribute back to the system. India’s ever-increasing middle class (women) face this wrath significantly. Women in the lower economic strata work to support themselves and their families financially, while women in the upper economic strata have enough money to (maybe) start a small business on their own. In fact both these classes of women have produced significant numbers of front- runners than their middle-class counterparts. Research shows that not many middle-class women continue to work after marriage {if they do, then kudos to them}. But the point is the society has failed to tell the modern-day middle-class woman that she has it in her to make it as more than a housewife. When a woman becomes a housewife, she knowingly or unknowingly makes marriage her only source of livelihood- Definitely not an option to endorse. This is where some smart thinking is required to bring more women out of the kitchens into the workplaces and ultimately make them achieve both in the personal and professional spheres as to be discussed in the remainder of this article:

                Some of us are privileged enough to work in an organization that recognizes the need to empower women in any economic strata, by engaging initiatives as in the following: allowing flexible work timing, enabling provisions to connect/ work from home, balancing work and life, providing location flexibility and bringing back previously employed women who had to quit owing to personal reasons. In fact, it is a welcome sign to see multi-national companies like IBM set an example for others to follow. Though it might be controversial to have such benefits and reservations on the basis of sensitive classifications like gender, it will be efforts like these that will ultimately pull out more women onto the open, into the professional workplace.

                Professional societies should actively engage in awareness sessions that creep into the thought patterns of how women traditionally think- Such sessions should try to make women understand the need for a small space, a small world, only for herself where she can grow both personally and professionally. A realization should also dawn upon her that achievements should be defined, not by the professional ecosystem, but by her. Such awareness sessions can be anything from women benefit camps or well-being councils to leadership conferences and empowerment schemes. The focus should be, not on keeping women glued to the work that they do but to keep them interested in the work that they do, if that has happened, a job, work, a career will become more of a necessity than a luxury.

                Media has a deep penetration in every sphere of life. Exploiting media to solve the purpose at large can be another initiative. Media will not only influence people but will also inspire them. Movies, video clips, success stories, biographies, name it; any kind of media will indeed help.

                Any job role can be assessed along with two factors: Health factors and Motivating Factors. The presence of health factors does not cause satisfaction, but its absence causes dissatisfaction. The absence of motivation factors does not cause dissatisfaction but its presence causes satisfaction. If organizations understand the mental health needs of any employee, then it is bound to retain more people in its work spectrum. These needs can be fulfilled through recognitions, rewards, bonuses and other benefits. Research has shown that when motivational-y challenged, men switch, while women quit (The point as previously noted that a job can merely be a luxury to many women). So it should be the social responsibility of organizations in making sure motivation is available in abundance for those who seek for it and thus making sure that the women folk stick around and open up possibilities of probable achievements down the line.

                On an ending note, what is most important for ordinary women to metamorphose into successful achievers is to be recognized and regarded. It is good to see more and more women being acknowledged and identified for their efforts and not taken for granted. It is good to see that people are more and more open in accepting this change trajectory. It is good to see people evolving. When people in the society evolve, society as such will evolve, possibly into a better tomorrow. As long as this evolution is felt, women are poised to become the modern day achievers and front- runners, humanity is poised to become a more conforming race and the world is poised to become a more equal place to live in.