All round efforts are required by women to storm into global lists
The journey seems to be quite long. Indian women have come a
long way – from confinement of their home to the limelight of business and power. The dark period of women era, without any apprehensions, is currently witnessing a transition phase. Although this transition is quite slow and to some extent quite delayed too. The camouflage has been removed, if not by all then by the likes of Sonia Gandhi, Chanda Kochhar and a few others. Writing their own success story, these women have overcome many societal hurdles and made themselves a prominent figure in national as well as international circle. In a patriarchal Indian society, few women have not only achieved new milestones but also booked their slots in the world’s most esteemed magazine. Few weeks ago, a few Indian women, namely Sonia Gandhi, Chanda Kochhar and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw made it to the Forbes’ ‘The 100 Most Powerful Women’. Being featured in this globally recognised list is not only their personal achievement but is also a matter of pride for the whole country!
Amidst this pomp and show and echo of applause, the pertinent question that surfaces is – in a country where women’s exploitation, illiteracy, adversity and subjection is still a daily affair, can this status be achieved by a woman hailing from a small town or a tier-II/III city? It would be just not a distant dream but more of a mirage, expecting women hailing from a small town, a financially weak family, studying in a government school or government-aided college and then working in a government office to make to this list in the near future.
Most of the women, who are a potential candidate for this globally acclaimed status, are shackled by domestic restriction and are financially handicapped. No doubt, the government of India, through its numerous pro-women policy intervention sought to uplift the women, but most of them have not reached a larger audience.
In case of Ms. Gandhi, Ms. Kochhar or Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw, their family support and excellent private education (of course, their own effort too!) catapulted them to their current level. It would have been not only difficult but rather next to impossible for them to reach this zenith if they were from some lower section of the society – where government’s aid takes decades to reach. Along with their own effort, the benefit of pedigree always came to their rescue. According to Grand Thormton International Business Report, merely 14 per cent of the Indian women have made it to the top corporate rungs. Along with societal hurdles, Indian women, unlike their counterparts in the West, do face bias in the corporate milieu too. Girls in India still have to compromise on their education and health along with virtues like child marriage and foeticide, to name a few.
It would require a chain-reaction like efforts from the government’s end to uplift women and help them at the grass root level. Innovative policies from government, collaboration amongst nations and support from corporate sector is required to trounce the bigotries that act as an impediment for the Indian women. Until then, these success stories will be just confined to a small pocket of population, these names will be just an exception and not a norm. To corroborate this – only three Indian women were featured in the top 100 as compared to overwhelming 66 American women.
The journey seems to be quite long. Indian women have come a
long way – from confinement of their home to the limelight of business and power. The dark period of women era, without any apprehensions, is currently witnessing a transition phase. Although this transition is quite slow and to some extent quite delayed too. The camouflage has been removed, if not by all then by the likes of Sonia Gandhi, Chanda Kochhar and a few others. Writing their own success story, these women have overcome many societal hurdles and made themselves a prominent figure in national as well as international circle. In a patriarchal Indian society, few women have not only achieved new milestones but also booked their slots in the world’s most esteemed magazine. Few weeks ago, a few Indian women, namely Sonia Gandhi, Chanda Kochhar and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw made it to the Forbes’ ‘The 100 Most Powerful Women’. Being featured in this globally recognised list is not only their personal achievement but is also a matter of pride for the whole country!Amidst this pomp and show and echo of applause, the pertinent question that surfaces is – in a country where women’s exploitation, illiteracy, adversity and subjection is still a daily affair, can this status be achieved by a woman hailing from a small town or a tier-II/III city? It would be just not a distant dream but more of a mirage, expecting women hailing from a small town, a financially weak family, studying in a government school or government-aided college and then working in a government office to make to this list in the near future.
Most of the women, who are a potential candidate for this globally acclaimed status, are shackled by domestic restriction and are financially handicapped. No doubt, the government of India, through its numerous pro-women policy intervention sought to uplift the women, but most of them have not reached a larger audience.
In case of Ms. Gandhi, Ms. Kochhar or Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw, their family support and excellent private education (of course, their own effort too!) catapulted them to their current level. It would have been not only difficult but rather next to impossible for them to reach this zenith if they were from some lower section of the society – where government’s aid takes decades to reach. Along with their own effort, the benefit of pedigree always came to their rescue. According to Grand Thormton International Business Report, merely 14 per cent of the Indian women have made it to the top corporate rungs. Along with societal hurdles, Indian women, unlike their counterparts in the West, do face bias in the corporate milieu too. Girls in India still have to compromise on their education and health along with virtues like child marriage and foeticide, to name a few.
It would require a chain-reaction like efforts from the government’s end to uplift women and help them at the grass root level. Innovative policies from government, collaboration amongst nations and support from corporate sector is required to trounce the bigotries that act as an impediment for the Indian women. Until then, these success stories will be just confined to a small pocket of population, these names will be just an exception and not a norm. To corroborate this – only three Indian women were featured in the top 100 as compared to overwhelming 66 American women.
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