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For the Indian career woman, navigating the male mindset at work can still be a challenge
…one MCP at a time?
Guest Blogger Roopa Prabhakar describes herself as a a new mother, a working woman who believes her face is plastered on the glass ceiling, a closet feminist and writer.
How do Indian women ever get ahead in their professional life? Everywhere I turn I either run into an obnoxious MCP or a woman who’s actually an enabler somebody who eggs her male colleagues on to perpetuate their bad behavior. Whatever happened to universal sisterhood? For me, this was the unkindest cut of all, to see women siding with these men just so that they can say “We never have any problems with anybody, team spirit runs in our blood!!!” to all and sundry.
When you are thrown together for nine hours a day, you get to know a lot about the attitude your male colleagues have towards women. No matter how much they mind their P’s and Q’s some situations speak for themselves.
Like the other day my immediate boss remarked, “I am the only breadwinner in my family but you….” He left the sentence hanging and me gaping. Having worked in the U.S for a while (seems like a lifetime ago!) I knew that such a remark would be viewed as sexist but in India it’s normal. I am by no means implying that things are biased only in India, I know for a fact that you find first-rate MCP’s in every country all across the globe but in “Mera Bharat Mahan” the men get away with murder.
Another guy who’s even more higher up in the corporate hierarchy remarked about a male colleague saying, “His wife doesn’t work so he needs to get a promotion and come up in life, you on the other hand have two salaries coming in..”. The fact that I busted my ass to earn my M. Tech and build up my resume while the male colleague got the job because he knew the boss made no difference to him whatsoever. In his head he had already figured that somehow for me the promotion was not as important as for the other guy.
And let’s not get into what happened when I returned from maternity leave, it was as if I had a lobotomy done and the only word that stood out in my work experience was “MOMMY”. Which brings me to my original question, how do women in India get ahead in their professional career? Do they go about changing the male mindset one MCP at a time?
Any and all answers are welcome… 🙂
Pic credit: Mike Willis
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People say that women are the greatest enemies of women. I vehemently disagree. It is the patriarchal mindset that makes women believe in the wrong ideology.
The entire world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, 2024. It should be a joyful day, but unfortunately, not all women are entitled to this privilege, as violence against women is at its peak. The experience of oppression pushes many women to choose freedom. As far as patriotism is concerned, feminism is not a cup of tea in this society.
What happens when a woman decides to stand up for herself? Does this world easily accept the decisions of women in this society? What inspires them to be free of the clutches of the oppression that women have faced for ages? Most of the time, women do not get the chance to decide for themselves. Their lives are always at the mercy of someone, which can be their parents, siblings, husband, or children.
In some cases, women do not feel the need to make any decisions. They are taught to obey the patriarchal system, which makes them believe that they are right. In my family, I was never taught to make decisions on my own. It was always my parents who bought dresses and all that I needed.
If her home and family seem to be impacted by her career then we expect her to prioritize her ‘responsibilities at home as a woman’ and leave her job.
The entrenched patriarchal norms have always perpetuated certain roles and responsibilities as falling specifically in the domain of either men or women. Traditionally, women have been associated with the domestic sphere while men have been considered the bread winner of the household. This division of roles has become so ingrained in our lives that we seldom come to question it. However, while not being questioned does give the system a certain level of legitimacy, it in no way proves its veracity.
This systematic division has resulted in a widely accepted notion whereby the public sphere is demarcated as a men’s zone and the private sphere as belonging to women. Consequently, women are expected to stay at home and manage the household chores while men are supposed to go out and make a living with no interest whatsoever in the running of the household.
This divide is said to be grounded in the intrinsic nature of men and women. Women are believed to be compassionate, affectionate and loving and these supposedly ‘feminine’ qualities make them the right fit for caring roles. Men, on the other hand are allegedly more sturdy, strong and bold and hence, the ones to deal with the ordeals of the outside world.
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