WOMEN SPECIAL.... Boys Club is a Myth Created by Men

Boys Club is a Myth Created by Men

Women agreed that behind every successful woman, there is a supporting father, acting as a buffer between detractors and their daughters
women workforce faces a big issue, one of making a comeback after they take a break, very often for motherhood

The “boys club” is a myth. If a group of women, who have made it big into the fields that were traditionally seen as the male domain says so, you have to believe them.

“I’m not interested in the big boys club because I belong to the coolest club. I have three sisters and the four of us are the coolest club,” said Shobana Kamineni, the first woman president of the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Kamineni and her sisters worked along with their father to establish the Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, where she is executive vice chairperson. “We were given the privilege of not knowing that there is a difference between genders,” Kamineni said at The Economic Times Women’s Forum. So, when she was chosen as the first woman head of the 120-year-old industry association that represents 60% of India’s GDP, all she had to say to the members was, “It’s about time, boys.”

Mixologist Shatbhi Basu reflects the same sentiment, “I don’t think there is a boys’ club. They would like to think there is, but it’s not. Not just in bartending but there are a lot of women coming into the beverage and alcohol industry. People say, have the men chosen to let them in, I say no, the women have actually chosen to enter the field purely because they believe in what they were doing and they were focused.” Basu said she had her first sip of alcohol with her father, and her mother gifted her the first book on drinks.

Captain Kiran Sangwan, a pilot with IndiGo, was also supported by her parents in her choice of career. There were naysays, passengers who asked “uda legi kya (can she fly the aircraft)?” to relatives who first questioned her father for his decision to invest in her education and later for not marrying her off. His reply to them was, “If she can choose a career, she can choose her man.”

It is said that behind every successful man there is a woman. The women at the Women’s Forum unanimously agreed that behind every successful woman, there is a supporting father, acting as a buffer between detractors and their daughters, and a mother who silently provides strength, and sometimes, there is also a daughter.

Shashikala Sinha found her biggest supporter in her daughter when she made a comeback to work life after taking a break for 5-6 years after her child was born, at a time when she lost her husband in an accident. Today, at the Defence Research Development Organisation, she is project director for advanced area defence interceptor missiles.

“I told myself that I will upgrade my knowledge of technology to an extent that the loss of five years in my career won’t matter. If you are technically competent, no one can challenge you,” Sinha said. Her tips to women looking at a comeback in career are: avoid falling into stereotypes, upgrade skills and set own goals.

Premlata Agrawal, who began her mountaineering career in her 30s, knows all about breaking stereotypes. She is the first Indian woman to scale the seven highest continental peaks of the world, but when she started out, she was a housewife and a mother. At 48, when she was climbing Mount Everest, her Sherpa dismissed her and told her that at her age, she should be at home to look after grandchildren. “I just stopped listening to him. I used to take part in races as a schoolgirl and always come last. Mera will power bahut strong hai, main harne ke liye paida nahi hui hoon (I have a strong will power. I was not born to lose).”

These women with extraordinary stories may have shattered the myth of any field being a “boys’ club”, but the women workforce at large suffers from another big issue, one of making a comeback after they take a break, very often for motherhood.

“It’s a problem across the world and we are yet to find a solution,” Kamineni said. “Every corporation needs to find a solution because we have to have a right to opt out.”

Rachita.Prasad

ET19MAR18