Chennai: It may take ages for the discrimination against women in Indian organisations to end, rues Sujoya Basu in Gender Stereotypes in Corporate India: A Glimpse. Any remedy would need large doses of awareness, apt legislation, and a general change in societal mindset, she suggests.
The author, a member of the faculty of behavioural sciences at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, is of the view that educational institutions, especially the B-schools, can do their bit in forming workgroups keeping the inclusion of women students in mind.
Instead of boardroom quotas, professional educational institutes can think of compulsorily recruiting more women in their student bodies, and facilitating situations where women hold leadership positions, says Basu.
“As women are observed more in positions where their managerial and leadership qualities become more pronounced, there is a finite chance that stereotypic inaccuracies would reduce, thus paving the way to healthier organisations and policies.”
Stereotyping is a natural phenomenon that all human beings use; and stereotypes are not per se dangerous or negative in nature, Basu explains. However, “the problem with stereotypes is that they mostly become inaccurate over time, especially when they are stereotypes held by men of women in workplaces, which traditionally have been male bastions.”
Women like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Kiran Bedi, and Naina Lal Kidwai are the rare exceptions to the prevailing trend where women are underrepresented in Indian corporates and administration, avers the author.
“If at the level of fresh graduates from the top management institutes, we have approximately 17 women managers for every 100 men managers graduating every year, is it a surprise then that the total number of women managers per 100 men managers is 2 in India as compared to 67 in the US?” she demands.
The well-researched book cites many studies about the various obstacles women face in corporates – be it bias in evaluation or unfairness in rewards, be it the proverbial glass ceiling or fewer overseas assignments.
Thankfully, however, the common perception that women are their own worst enemies may be wrong, Basu postulates. While women relate workplace success equally to men and women managers, men seem to think of their own gender when it comes to accomplishment.
If that is an indication of the two genders living in their own worlds, what can be a cause of concern is a survey insight that women see men as achievers owing to their being devious, less grateful, and less reserved.
Another worrying observation in the book is that stereotypes held by men managers of women managers are more prejudiced than the stereotypes held in the west. “The Indian male manager seems to believe in the ‘think manager – think male’ phenomenon even more strongly than his counterparts in countries across the world.”
The author cautions that once inaccurate stereotypes set in, they have a tendency to self-feed their inaccuracy resulting in a host of negative consequences for women managers who want to make it to the top echelons of organisations.
She hopes that the real abilities and qualities of women managers can be tapped without prejudice or bias by hiring more women in management positions. Since Indian women managers are not influenced by stereotypical thinking, Indian organisations can expect their women managers to treat men and women more or less equally in selection and appraisals, Basu assures.
And, her advice to men managers can be quite sobering: that they’d need training and counselling before women managers could report harmonious and satisfying working conditions under them.
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