Women’s Struggle For Equality Is Real, #Balanceforbetter

Posted: March 8, 2019

#Balanceforbetter at workplace.

Women’s day is celebrated in most of the organization’s, across the world with much aplomb, to make every woman employee feel special. I recently stumbled on an online campaign where the theme for International women’s day 2019 #Balanceforbetter focusses on promoting gender balance in different spheres – economic, cultural and even political.

Gloria Steinem, world-renowned feminist, journalist and activist once explained,

“The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.”

I am neither a feminist nor an activist. Based in the vocal, dharna loving region of WB. I have experienced serious differentiation in my previous MNC in terms of gender bias! After coming back from maternity leave, I was given a PIP (Performance Improvement Program), in spite of being the topmost revenue achiever. In an offline conversation, my HR told me that since I was away for 6 months, I need to prove my mettle again to the organization.

7 months down in the same organization, my boss was diagnosed with a severe illness and was on treatment for 6 months. However, when he came back, everyone was super supportive and helped him in every manner to get back to work. They also ensured that he was comfortable in the office. Being ill cant be compared to being pregnant of course but the difference and gender bias was apparent.

At my workplace and even outside it, I have faced these biases,

A man is uncompromising best but a woman becomes a ball breaker.
A man is respected for being authoritative but a woman who is similar in nature is “difficult to handle”.
A man is a leader and a woman is controlling.
A man gets angry, he is termed as passionate and if a woman is angry she is either PMSing or being hysteric.
A woman with a kid even if she is capable enough is seen with doubts like ‘Will she be able to travel?’, ‘Will she take a lot of leaves?’, Will she be able to handle pressure?’ etc.
We have raised the boys giving them a typical idea of the ideal woman and they look for a similar version everywhere, be it their workplace or at home.

Women are seen breaking the glass ceiling across all walks of life but still, they need feminists or activists to raise awareness on gender balance. They need diversity drives in organizations to hire women in senior roles.

These issues are here to stay as they are so deep rooted in our culture. What we need is more and more HR professionals to take the lead and be the change agents. We need women to come together and help each other and not be judgmental about the choices that we make. We need to come together as one force to create this balance and get rid of Gender bias forever.

Image via Pixabay