How women top board exams yet fail to make it to boardrooms

"Girls outclass boys in CBSE Class 10 results 2015", "Fewer Women Run Big Companies than Men Named John", "Girls top UPSC continuously for the past 4 years"... These headlines bring to fore the lack of consistency in the female gender’s performance from academics towards career growth. Examining the reasons for such statistics, one chances upon multi-dimensional aspects, which contribute to the current situation. For women, these vary from societal expectations to biological patterns. The very evident wage gap coupled with familial commitments is fortifying the glass ceiling that so many women face in their career journey today. This is definitely a deep-rooted issue and needs to be also addressed ground up. Gender roles are normally shaped by cultural norms and over the centuries masculinity is associated with strength, aggression, dominance and femininity with subordination, passivity and nurturing.

In most parts of the developing world, gender-specific foeticide/ infanticide is rampant. Society chooses boys over girls, men over women from health to education to empowerment. When it comes to even basic education of one’s children, the boy is given preference, as it is believed that the boy will provide for his family in the future, and the girl is to marry and become part of another family. So, while the boys are being taught to earn their keep, girls are being taught to housekeep.

Despite this deep-rooted but definitely improving societal attitude, girls perform extremely well when given a chance to study in schools, colleges and competitive exams. This may be attributed to fewer distractions, and the serious and enduring nature of women. However, in most families in India, girls are perceived as a burden that needs to be passed along to someone else. This makes them believe it is the man’s duty to have a career and that they themselves don’t need to take work seriously. Besides, their natural lifecycle is intertwined with marriage, child-bearing and house-keeping.

The few who do take up the active career path rigorously, have been getting the requisite support, however then the pressures of distance from home, late working hours, balancing household work, marriage, children, among other things emerge. So even if one is a topper in her class, district, state, country, added with these very demands, she may have to settle down to make less aggressive career choices. Since the parametres of success of a woman - set by the society - rest more on how good a wife, mother and homemaker she is, it makes it difficult for women to perform that balancing act efficiently. Though we have few men taking almost equal responsibility in managing homes, women’s main KRAs in personal life are homemaking at the end of the day.

Some women seem to rise above these dual challenges and perform equally well. However, biased perceptions too, such as leaving work on time earlier being interpreted as wanting to run back to the family, taking days off because of issues concerning children are considered unacceptable excuses, all add up to reflect in appraisals. Given this, women tend to take extra pressure and are forced to show more commitment than men just to be considered equal in spite of challenges around women-friendly work facilities. With such lack of level-playing field, it is an uphill task to achieve parity, not just in pay, but also in perception. The gender wage gap is a reality and keeps increasing, as one moves up the ladder. The next stop one comes across is the glass ceiling.

To my mind it all boils down to the choices that one makes. As opportunities lie equal for both men and women. It is just that the women professional pipe itself is far less than that of men, which results in these skewed ratios. Indira Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo mentions in one of her interviews, she has to play the traditional role of a wife and a mother once she steps out of her office, which I am sure, is equivalent to having two full-time jobs. However, that is a choice she has made and therefore emerged as one of the most powerful women in the world.

My professional journey has been most gratifying, as I had two very supportive people in my life - my mother and my husband - who enabled me to achieve success at every professional juncture over the years. My success story did not happen overnight, and I definitely had to make difficult choices at times including choosing to stay away from my family for work, depend on my mother to raise my child and in spite of very hectic long hours at work ensure that I perform as a homemaker effectively. But these decisions were made as I was clear that I wanted to pursue my career no matter what, with farsightedness that the only thing a man can do better than a woman is lifting more kilos of weight than her. Multi-tasking comes to women naturally and this is one of my key strengths that has enabled me most in my career.

I would like to quote Sheryl Sandberg, "The Most Important Career Choice You'll Make Is Who You Marry". If you are one to marry, this should be the leading commandment. Your partner needs to be in sync with your aspirations for both of you to achieve your goals. But this in itself is of course not enough, the world also needs to start tuning in to working wives, working mothers, as they are abundant and would one day be 50 per cent of the workforce.

Finally, it all rests with an individual, the opportunity she spots and the willingness and determination. It is like scaling the Everest - tough, adventurous, and vigorous but with a huge sense of achievement at the end.