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Our inspiring woman this week is Arundhati Bhattacharya, SBI's first female chairperson
Arundhati Bhattacharya
Our Inspiring Woman this week is Arundhati Bhattacharya who recently made the headlines for becoming the State Bank of India’s first female Chairperson. Currently CFO and Managing Director at SBI, she has been with SBI for over 35 years, in an illustrious career across multiple roles and subsidiaries.
Women heading banks is not a new trend in India, especially with well-known female CEOs in the private sector such Chanda Kochhar of ICICI and Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank. However, SBI is India’s largest bank and in the bank’s over 200 years of existence, this is the first time a woman will be leading it. That is certainly a first worth celebrating.
She was also previously the bank’s first female Managing Director, so this is a woman with a history of firsts! Her achievements at SBI have included the setting up of subsidiaries such as General Insurance and the Macquarie Infrastructure fund.
She has been upfront in talking about the challenges that women face in moving up the ladder. In one interview to the media, she says, “Often, people wonder if she can give the time required at work, given also her responsibilities at home. So a woman has to prove her worth over and over again each time she’s given a new responsibility, especially when she is at junior to mid-level position.”
Even as more women reach the top in the financial sector, we need more women – and men – being upfront about the challenges women face, and how they can navigate these, as well as get the institution to remove obstacles in their path up.
Arundhati Bhattacharya is an inspiration for proving again that women can do it, and here’s hoping that more women at the top will reach out to those of us younger and making the same journey.
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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.
14 years after her last feature film Dhobi Ghat, storyteller extraordinaire comes up with her new film, Laapataa Ladies, a must watch.
*Some spoilers alert*
Every religion around the world dictates terms to women. The onus is always on women to be ‘modest’ and cover their faces and bodies so men can’t be “tempted”, rather than on men to keep their eyes where they belong and behave like civilized beings. So much so that even rape has been excused on the grounds of women eating chowmein or ‘men will be men’. I think the best Hindi movie retort to this unwanted advice on ‘akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai’ (an alone woman is like an open jewellery box) came from Geet in Jab We Met – Kya aap gyan dene ke paise lete hain kyonki chillar nahin hain mere paas.
The premise of Laapataa Ladies is beautifully simple – two brides clad in the ghunghat that covers their identity get mixed up on a train. Within this Russian Doll, you get a comedy of errors, a story of getting lost, a commentary on patriarchy’s attitude towards women, a mystery, and a tale of finding oneself, all in one. Done with a mostly light touch that has you laughing and nodding along.
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