Speak Up. Be Heard. Be Noticed

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Women speak up less than men do in work settings at least and I have noticed this throughout my career. If I have only one advice to give to working women to advance their career, it would be to “speak up”. When you speak up, you make your presence felt and shine the light on your potential. It can take courage to speak up – whether for your rights, your opinions, or for something in which you believe deeply. This single most change of speaking up more can empower women not only in workplaces but in overall society.

Why should women speak up more in workplace ?

1. To make your presence felt. To be heard and noticed. To add value

In global economy and workplaces, not all meetings are in person. In a telecon meeting, if you don’t announce yourself and don’t speak up at all, you very well might not have been attended the meeting. It is important to make your presence felt by participating and contributing to a discussion. There is a reason why you have been included in a meeting and you should strive to earn your seat in a meeting and add value to it.

2.  Speaking up is critical to your growth at the company

Every meeting is an opportunity to  display your leadership potential and to build your professional brand. One can  achieve it  through speaking up at appropriate moments. Every time you remain silent, treat it as an opportunity lost. Keep a count of it and you would start speaking up. You need to earn believers in your ability to advance ahead. Speaking up more has been linked to displaying leadership potential. You earn your mentors and sponsors by speaking up and displaying potential.

 

3. Speaking up builds self-confidence – the secret ingredient for long-term success.

Confidence is not a static thing It keeps changing and you need to keep replenishing any loss of it. Speaking up has been found to be helpful in building confidence not only in yourself but of others in you. Mustering the courage to speak up can add volumes to your confidence. Just hearing your own voice in a meeting has been linked to contribute to an increased self-esteem.

4. Speaking up can get you promotions, salary raises and help

Humility is a great virtue but not so in workplace. Do not silently keep toiling and expect others to make a note of it and reward you. You shouldn’t be hesitant to ask for a promotion or to be recognised for your contributions. Do not maintain a stoic silence in those crucial performance appraisal discussions. Speak up for yourself and your efforts. In juggling between dual responsibilities of office and home, do not be afraid to ask for flexibility in work or any considerations which might help you in your work. Make your case and put it across assertively. If you don’t ask for it, you would never get it.  If you ask for it, you may or may not get it but you still at least have a shot at it.

5. Lastly, Speak up when something’s not right

Sometimes people cross lines in behaviour. You need to speak up the first time it happens. Speak up and say no firmly to an inappropriate behaviour or request. Do not be afraid of consequences. Do not let your silence be misunderstood for tacit approval.

Here are some tips on how you can speak up more and make your presence felt.

1. Believe in yourself. Don’t be hesitant to put your thoughts across

Most of the things come down to your self-confidence. Speaking up publicly not only requires good communication skills and good content but also confidence and courage within. Women need to keep working on their self-confidence and self worth.It is a known fact that women speak less in meetings not because they don’t have anything to say but because they are not confident that they would add value. Even when they speak, they are apologetic about interrupting or making a point.  Don’t hesitate or apologise. Just speak up.

2. Do not judge and disqualify your opinion as not worthy of mention.

As many a times, women out themselves from a race to the top, so do women themselves disqualify their point of views as something which would not add value to the discussion. You don’t decide that. In fact you earn your seat in meeting and add value by contributing to the discussion. If you are merely present and just absorbing information, you are not adding value to others and to the discussion.

3. Be prepared. Do your homework. Make your notes.

Prepare for your meetings and presentations. Go over the agenda, brainstorm and make notes of points you would like to make. Make notes while meeting is going on. Being prepared would not only add  value to quality of your point of view but also to your self-confidence. Being prepared makes you feel ready and you look forward to the meeting to participate and contribute.

4. Learn the language of assertiveness

Using correct language can help in being assertive. Women tend to tone down assertiveness with use of defensive language and starting sentences with phrases such as ” I think” or “I feel”. Sometimes these might indicate you are not sure of your opinions. Rather use starting sentences which convey certainty such as ” I believe”, ” I am sure” or “from my experience , this is what i have seen”. Handle interruptions with declarative sentences such as ” I haven’t  finished what I am saying”. Be assertive.

4. Practice, Practice and more Practice

Practice makes perfect. Start with small meetings. Build confidence. After a while speaking up in meetings would start coming naturally to you. Even if you have been the silent majority in meetings, make an effort. If speaking up doesn’t come naturally to you, force yourself to speak up at least once in a meeting to start with. Once you are comfortable with speaking up, focus on content and adding value through the quality of your point of view.

It is not that women act differently in workplace and outside of it. A confident women who is not hesitant to voice her opinion would most likely do the same wherever she is – in office, at home or a party. To be a confident woman in workplace one day, a girl needs to grow up to be a confident woman with a mind of her own. Parents need to encourage their daughters to speak up more. Teachers need to be cognizant of giving equal opportunity to a raised hand of a girl in class. Community needs to not shut up a girl when she tries to make a point. Nobody should dismiss a girl’s point of view because well, it’s a girl’s point of view. Girls should be taught to not only have a point of view but to also have enough encourage to put across their point of view. Speaking up is akin to standing up for your opinion and for yourself.

 

How to close the Confidence Gap in Women ?

Image source: theatlantic.com

I volunteer as a mentor to students and working women on many forums and if I had to group the questions asked in different threads with common themes, can you guess which thread would have the maximum questions? It would be none other than Confidence gap. Right from school students to experienced working women, a common theme running in the background is ” I am not good enough” as evident in questions by school students in forms such as “I am not good at a particular subject or sport” and questions asked by working women, an example :” I don’t have good analytical skills” or have a drawback called “career gap” due to break taken to look after children. Many a times what the young girls and women see as skills gap is nothing more than actually a confidence gap.

The Importance of confidence building and why it should start early.

Confidence is key to long-term success and is underestimated for the role it plays. In fact I feel confidence building should be taught as a subject in schools right from kindergarten. Confidence is such an important trait that many a times what we see lacking in a child is actually lack of confidence more than anything else.I can not emphasise more on importance of building confidence in a child. Somewhere while growing up the confidence gap keeps on increasing in girls as compared to  boys. As per data from LeanIn, between elementary and high school, girls self-esteem drops 3.5 times more than boys

Women have low self-esteem than men has been backed  by research.

A recent study by Wiebke Bleidorn, Ph.D., from the University of California, reported in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, has found that the disparity in belief between men and women is universal.The eight-year study by Bleidorn her co-researchers analyzed data from over 985,000 men and women across 48 countries, asking them to rate the phrase: “I see myself as someone who has high self-esteem study found that across the board – regardless of culture or country, men have higher self-esteem than women.”

Following are some ways which can help in closing the confidence gap in women

Don’t be apologetic about the dual responsibility of a mother and professional. Instead be proud

Wear your scars on your resume as a soldier or a sportsperson does. It is a proof of your carrying out a responsibility nature has entrusted upon you. I am sure every woman or man out there understands what role a mother plays in our lives.  It does not take away anything from you. In fact motherhood adds dimension to your personality and teaches valuable lessons on patience, prioritization of work and balancing between two important things career and family. What it actually means that you have managing two full-time jobs.

Keep working on your profile. Never take a break from it.

Working on profile does not mean making a new resume. It means working on creating things which can go on your resume. Make it a continuous process of adding value to yourself as a person and a professional. This can be done through many ways such as volunteering for NGO, contributing in networks, professional certifications, doing internships in areas of interest. Even if you are not working fulltime, you must keep working on your profile. By doing so, you not only add skill sets to your profile but also replenish any lost confidence during compromises made to balance career and family responsibilities.

The world will take your own verdict on you.

Be kind to yourself in your SWOT analysis which is the only analysis which really matters. See your skills positively.Confidence is defined as our belief in our ability to succeed at a given task, so what matters is how you rate your ability. Get rid of those lingering self doubts you have been harbouring since childhood.We all are work in progress. Everything can be improved and worked upon if you are willing to do. If you would doubt your own capability, how can you expect anyone else to do otherwise as who can know you better than yourself.

Confidence equality = Gender equality

Important piece in bridging the gender gap is closing the confidence gap. There is an unspoken bias in society where confident outspoken women are labelled bossy or worse bitchy and confident men are called assertive and displaying leadership potential. Being ambitious is a positive trait for men but not so for women.This long running bias has forced women to become subdued and submissive in order to earn the approval of people in workplace and society. This in turn makes women risk averse and more cautious in how they make career decisions. Over the time, women miss out on opportunities and do not realize their full potential.

Before expecting anybody else to do, women have to believe themselves more. Women have to nurture their own self-esteem as much as they nurture their loved ones. Women have to be as kind and compassionate to themselves as they are to others. Most importantly, women have to overcome their fears and stop overestimating the risks and underestimating themselves.To quote Sheryl Sandberg, “Fortune does favor the bold and you’ll never know what you’re capable of if you don’t try.” Give your dreams a try and you might surprise yourself more than others.

Women in workplace 2016 Study : a synopsis

Image source: http://www.forbes.com

Women in the workplace 2016 is a comprehensive study done by LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Company to study the state of women in corporate America. Though the study was done in US, the findings are relevant for state of women in corporate India as well.

The research report headline itself tells what details we can expect inside. ” In corporate America, women fall behind early and continue to lose ground with every step” I must admit that as somebody who believes in championing the cause of advancement of women at workplace, I did feel depressed on reading those lines. Its 2016, we are talking about leisure trips to moon, driverless cars, cutting edge technology in every aspect of life and women are still struggling to get ahead at workplace. I wonder if this is the state in a developed country, how would be it in developing countries like India. Though we can see some women leaders in India specially in Banking Industry- Chanda Kochhar, Arundhati Bhattacharya, Naina Lal Kidwai to name a few, but these are  handful of women out of 1.8 million women working in organised sector in India. What’s happening to rest of women working in corporate India? The study throws some light on why we are not seeing more women at top of corporate world. The major reason being decreasing % of women in pipeline with increase in level of hierarchy as depicted by graph below.

Key findings from the women workplace study 2016.

1. For every 100 women promoted to manager, 130 men are promoted

2. Very few women are in line to become CEO

3. Women are negotiating as often as men—but face push back when they do

4. Women get less access to senior leaders

5. Women ask for feedback as often as men—but are less likely to receive it

6. Women are less interested in becoming top executives—and see the pros and cons of senior leadership differently

Key broader themes as per the study

# 1 : On average, women are promoted and hired at lower rates than men, so far fewer women become senior leaders  

Promotion rates for women lag behind those of men, and the disparity is largest at the first step up to manager—for every 100 women promoted, 130 men are promoted.

“Compared to women, almost twice as many men are hired from the outside as directors—and more than three times as many are hired as SVPs”.

# 2 : At more senior levels, we see women shift from line to staff roles, so very few end up on the path to becoming CEO.

By the time women reach the SVP level, they hold a mere 20 percent of line roles. This hurts their odds of getting the top job because the vast majority of CEOs come from line positions.

“In 2015, 90% of new CEOs were promoted or hired from line roles, and 100% of them were men.”

# 3 : Women are less interested in becoming top executives—and see the pros and cons of senior leadership differently from men

An expected reason behind this would be that women with children would find the dual responsibilities of a CXO position and home challenging but the startling result that even women without children are not interested in top jobs suggests that there are far deep-rooted beliefs women have about themselves and how they see the top job and its challenges.

– Women anticipate a steeper path to the top. Women who aspire to become a top executive are less likely to think they’ll get there than men with the same aspiration—and more likely to worry they won’t be able to manage work and family commitments.

– Women may not think their ideas and contributions carry the same weight as men’s. This could be rooted in the different experiences women and men are having in the workplace.

# 4 : People who do more work at home are less interested in becoming top executives

At every stage in their careers, women do more housework and child care than men—and there appears to be a link between the amount of work people do at home and their leadership ambition

“Women in senior management are seven times more likely than men at the same level to say they do more than half of the housework.”

It is a very important study and companies across the world should look at it carefully and design their gender equality strategies. Actually more than the plan, the bottleneck as always is implementation of the plan. Though gender equality at workplace is high on priority of CEO but slips away from the list when it comes to implementation. Companies have an important role to play in reaching gender equality in society at large by working sincerely towards achieving gender equality at workplace. A fairer, more inclusive work environment will lead to more engaged employees. A more diverse workforce will lead to stronger organizations which would lead to better business results. Long term benefits of gender equality at workplace go beyond companies and employees by not only strengthening the world economy but also making  world a fair and just place for half of its population. It is a worthy goal to go after!

You can read the complete report at link below.

Reference : https://womenintheworkplace.com/

 

Why amendment to maternity benefits act is historic and a potential game changer

Working women in organised sector have been struggling with inadequate provisions in Maternity Benefits Act 1961 and an amendment was long due. Maternity amendment bill seeks to address most of the issues though not all. Proposed amendment would significantly improve the working condition for 1.8 million working women in organised sector in India.  Before getting into how this is going to benefit  all stakeholders involved such as working women, children, companies and economy of the country, lets briefly understand what key features of this amendment are:

1. Duration of maternity leave: The Bill increases maternity benefit of paid leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks.
2. Maternity leave for adoptive and commissioning mothers: The Bill introduces a provision to grant 12 weeks of maternity leave to: (i) a woman who legally adopts a child below three months of age; and (ii) a commissioning mother.
3. Option to work from home: The Bill introduces a provision that states that an employer may permit a woman to work from home.
4. Crèche facilities: The Bill introduces a provision which requires every establishment with 50 or more employees to provide crèche facilities within a prescribed distance.  The woman will be allowed four visits to the crèche in a day.
5. Informing women employees of the right to maternity leave: The Bill introduces a provision which requires every establishment to intimate a woman at the time of her appointment of the maternity benefits available to her.

All of the changes above are actually solutions to the major pain points working women face in our country. Woman ‘s dual roles of a primary care provider/nurturer to the child and a responsible professional at work should not be at conflict with each other.Lack of support from govt legislation and HR policies at the workplace has been pushing working women towards a situation where  she is forced to choose between her career and child. With new responsibilities of child, a working mother desperately tries to make it work and continue working but when faced with inadequate support from available laws, company policies and child care arrangement, there is no option left but to quit her job. Amendment at least fixes part of the problem and is a great start in addressing the key pain points. Amendment itself should contribute to a significant reduction in number of women dropping out of workforce due to child care responsibilities. In addition to obvious direct benefits to working women, amendment could lead to following macro level benefits to other important stakeholder such as economy and companies in organised sector:

1. Arresting the “leaking pipeline” of working women. Leaking pipeline is a phrase used to represent loss of women employees in organised sector.Between the age of 25 to 30, one-third of women move out of the work force and 30 percent of these never return
2. Increase in GDP due to increased women participation in workplace.A study by Booz and Company estimates that if men and women in India were to be equally employed, its GDP could go up by 27 percent.
3. Greater representation of women in C-suites and boardrooms. One of the key reasons for low representation of women in senior management levels is women dropping out at middle management levels. Out of the professionals joining at the entry-level, 29 percent are women, this number dwindles to 9 percent at mid to senior management and is less than 1 percent at CEO level (source: McKinsey data base)

key beneficiaries of this amendment are:

Working women

Women are forced by unfavorable work conditions and lack of support at workplace and home to  quit their jobs and exit the workforce bringing down their household income and aborting their career aspirations and dreams. This amendment solves some key pain points with solutions such as adequate paid maternity leave, work from home option and crèche facility. Amendment increases the odds for women to not drop out and continue their career, therefore  an increased possibility of realizing their full potential and reaching the corner offices and boardrooms.

Children

The biggest beneficiary of this amendment would be children. When it is prescribed for newborns to be exclusively on mother’s milk up till 6 months of age, how can maternity leave be less than this duration? A leave of 3 months was forcing many mothers to wean their new-born babies jeopardising a child’s development and long-term health. 26 weeks of paid maternity leave would ensure that a new born’s basic right of nurture by a mother is not denied. This would play a big role in addressing issues of malnutrition and infant mortality in our country.

Companies in organised sector

Gender diversity is important metric for all leading companies and higher educational institutions. Only legislation is not enough to increase the women representation at senior levels of management, companies  need to be more committed in improving gender diversity through implementing and measuring pro women policies and initiatives such as flexibility of work hours, function and role change options, part-time work, sabbatical, work from home and fair appraisal processes etc. Companies need to sensitize the male employees on special needs and child responsibilities of women in order to create an empathetic and sensitive work environment. Companies also need to ensure that women are not indirectly penalised or denied growth opportunities for availing the flexible work options.

All and all, the amendment is a good start and closes many existing gaps in Maternity benefits act and is one of the best news in recent times for working women and their careers.

Reference:the-maternity-benefit-amendment-bill-2016-4370/

Role Model for Women : Hillary Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton has many firsts to her name beside being the first woman nominee in a US presidential election. Hillary has been the first woman to become a partner at Rose Law firm in 1979 and first first lady to have a professional career. Hillary has been a role model in making for long and she has been promoting women’s equality and women’s rights at various forums. At UN conference in Beijing in 1995, she spoke the now famous quote “human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights”.Hillary also had to go through the same life cycles like any other working woman. Adjusting and changing jobs or relocating places after getting married, slowing down to look after young child and putting your own career and ambitions on hold to support an ambitious husband’s rising career. Hillary has done it all. Most of working women go through these stages and but very few are able to realize their full potential as evident in scant numbers of women occupying top offices in any stream. Very few women are able to break those hardest and highest glass ceilings and storm into the boardrooms or topmost offices. Hillary has done it and women across the world can learn some very valuable lessons from her life journey.

It is never too late

Woman have to make compromises in their balancing act between family and career responsibilities. Many a times, a woman takes a break or if lucky, keeps the job but intentionally slows down her career progression by refusing opportunities which would create a conflict in her personal life. This conflict could also push a woman to take the hardest decision of choosing between career and family because both can’t exist together. After a long break , many women think that it is too late to go back to work or they are too old to go back to study to re-skill and advance their careers.

Hillary has proved that it is never too late to pursue your dreams. Hillary is running for US presidency at an age when most people are retired and living a relaxed life. She knows she is not at peak of her physical strength and age is on wrong side but this doesn’t deter her. You have one life and it is never too late if you are ready to work hard to fulfill your dreams and aspirations.

The importance of self belief

To believe in yourself and to dare to dream are at heart of many success stories. Women need to have the courage and determination to keep pursuing their aspirations and to not give up. It needs immense self belief, hard work and emotional strength to keep going on through everything life throws at you and not give up on your career aspirations. Hillary has reinforced that what matters most is to believe in yourself when it feels that no one does. World is full of doubters and skeptics but the most important thing is to never doubt your own capability and to have that infinite reservoir of self-confidence to pull you out of any crisis in life.

To not out yourself from the race.

This is one of key reasons why many women are not there in top jobs in corporate or elsewhere. Before anyone does, women out themselves from the race. Somewhere the prejudice that women are somewhat less capable than men has affected women’s self belief and women deny themselves those top jobs by choosing to not go for it. There aren’t many women in boardrooms or in presidential race primarily because very few women even dare to dream to reach that level. It is much more complex and harder to explain why it is so but the truth is that there are very few women who are even in race for these top jobs. To increase the number of women in top jobs, we first have to make sure that women don’t defeat themselves by not even taking part in the race.

Perseverance is the key. 

Never give up.It is one virtue which outdoes everything else. Sometimes just not quitting and hanging in there can lead to outstanding results in long-term. Many thought Hillary’s career was over long time back. She has not let many setbacks such as past failures, public humiliation at husband’s scandal and personal attacks on her looks, stamina, age, integrity affect her pursuit of her goal. For a working woman, challenges come in all forms such as illness of children, spouse’s career needs, inadequate family support system, societal judgements and self doubts. Women have to be relentless and keep moving forward .The march can be slower at times but if you keep walking  you would reach your goal one day. Never ever give up on your dreams.

 If Hillary is elected to be the first woman president of United States in country’s history of 240 years, she would shatter the toughest and highest glass ceiling. She would not only earn her place in history but also inspire generations of young girls in America and the world beyond.

 # Role Models for Women Series

The quest for fairness

I am not talking about the quest for being fair and just here. I mean to use word”Fair” in a way only we in India use it – to describe a lighter colour of skin .

India is a unique country race wise. We are neither white nor black. We are not even completely brown. The heterogeneity and diversity in skin colour from very fair (a particular term used only in India to describe your skin colour) to wheatish(another term used in India) to black has produced deep prejudices and discrimination in the society and women are particularly at receiving end of this discrimination. You should just read a wanted bride advertisement in any matrimonial section of newspaper to understand where Indian society stands on this issue. No wonder parents and society crave for a girl to be fair as that’s what sells in unofficial arranged marriage market and apparently a fair skin is what it takes to be successful in life as shown by the advertisements for fairness creams.

The roots of this quest for fairness are in how you don’t accept yourself as you are and don’t feel good enough to engage with the world without armour of that talcum powder and fairness cream. This reflects the low self-esteem and inability to accept oneself. This damage was not done in a day. It was done day by day to the girls throughout their childhood and growing up years in India.Importance of how we treat children is reflective of their behaviour as adults.

Even a new-born baby is not spared. All elderly women folks who come to see a new-born baby would examine the face of baby closely and declare the fortune or misfortune of parents for having a fair or not so fair baby girl respectively. This is especially true in small towns and rural North India. Grandmothers or sometimes mothers telling girls to not play in sun as they might become dark. Comparing children on basis of their colour of skin, praising other children who are fair and hence beautiful.The quest for fairness isn’t a new phenomenon. There are age old sayings which exemplify the deep-seated desire for fair skin. One example of such saying is that one fairness can hide 10 faults in a face. Colour discrimination goes hand in hand with gender discrimination. When a boy is dark, it is said a man is as handsome as he does but for a girl how she looks is everything. Idioms such as “beauty is skin deep and a book should not be judged by its cover” are not used for girls. Girls are indeed judged by their physical appearance in which fair skin has way more weightage than any other attribute. In India being beautiful has become synonymous with having a relatively whiter skin colour.

It’s not that even ones who are born fair are free from this quest. They want to be fairer. The quest for fairness can not be satisfied. Have seen many fair girls using all fairness products to move up in fairness value chain. I once heard a description for a young bride that she was so fair that she shined like a bulb when there was no light in room! Can you imagine the obsession of Indian society with fairness? The real damage such mind-set does on young Indian girls is that they misplace their value system as far as beauty and self-image is concerned. Being declared not enough fair reduces their self-esteem and self-confidence for ever. They are never able to accept themselves as they are and misplace their efforts on hiding their skin colour through the fairness products instead of focusing on things that really matter such as enhancing their skills, knowledge and making a real difference to their lives.

I respect celebrities who refuse to endorse fairness products.Any educated person knows that you can not change colour of your skin. It is coded in your genes.Still celebrities like Yami Gautam or Alia Bhatt choose to feature in these misleading fairness cream ads.These are women who were born fair and have not become fair by using these products. They know that and yet they accept to do ads which are misleading the impressionable young minds. They are not endorsing these products, they are endorsing the fact that it is a privilege in this country to be born fair. And to me that is not fair.

Can a bad performance at Olympics be a good thing?

The top achievers at Rio Olympics – All women

Yes , it might be for women in India. Rio Olympics 2016 just concluded with a medal tally of 2 for India that too after a long agonising wait.  Rio Olympics has seen the largest Indian contingent consisting of 118 sports persons accompanied by as high expectations. After all Olympics is the biggest show on earth. It might just be a fact that the only medals in India’s tally have been won by WOMEN. It couldn’t have been more ironical as India’s supposed pride and honour was saved by 2 women.

India is a country which yearns for a male child. India is a country which struggles with female feticide and a skewed sex ratio of 943 females per 1000 males. India is a country where many girls are killed before being born, if born, many are subjected to lifelong discrimination which can come in many forms, varying from denied access to nutrition, medical care to a denied promotion in a job. In a country where birth of a girl is not celebrated as equally as birth of a boy because girls are perceived as burden to the family and boys as the ones who would bring pride and money to the family.

Instead it has been 2 girls who brought pride to the country, fame and monetary rewards to their families. It is a humbling moment for Indian patriarchal society. Sakshi and sindhu’s victories haves captured the imagination of this nation. It is a powerful moment of realization of something big, a fact that nobody took notice of – fact that even girls can do what boys can do and here something girls have done which even boys couldn’t do. It is a powerful and game changing realization. Country is waking to realization of what could happen if women in India are given access to equal if not better opportunities than men. It’s a moment of reckoning for the unrealized potential of women in India.

How many potential medallist like sakshi and sindhu have been killed even before being born, how many potential medallists are being stopped from realizing their potential by denying these young girls equal access to nutrition, education and freedom to make crucial choices in life such as career and marriage.  Having a no choice in  life altering decisions such as marriage is a major contributor to unfulfilled dreams of millions of girls in India.  Every dream like a sapling requires nurture, support, and care to bloom and become a reality.

It is also a moment to realize the crucial role parents play in shaping life of  a young girl. Sakshi and sindhu couldn’t have done it without support of their parents. The parents have done a laudable job for giving wings to their daughter’s dreams. Parents are the first gatekeepers of children’s dreams and aspirations. No child can achieve his or her potential if not supported and encouraged by parents.

My heart swells with pride for achievement of sakshi and sindhu. As a women in India you would face the discrimination in some form or another even if you are of the luckier lot. It might not be as severe as having no access to nutrition or education but nonetheless it is still there and there is no escaping from it.

To me the roots of all discrimination are in the way society looks at women in India. The lack of trust in a women’s capabilities and potential. If state of women in this country has to improve, this perspective has to change. And for it to change, women have to be seen as adding value to themselves, families, country in intangible outcomes like pride as well as in tangible outcomes like money, job, rewards.

Cash rewards worth 3 crore and 10 crore have been announced for sakshi and sindhu respectively. There is immense future potential of income from advertisement deals, endorsement and similar things. These facts need to be highlighted as much as possible because this would open the eyes of people who do not see girls as future source of monetary gains to the family. Society might start seeing girls as valuable as boys as far as economic gains are concerned.

For all those young girls who watched the Olympics and who have interest in sports, Sakshi, Sindhu, Dipa, Lalita are the women role models Indian badly needs. These extraordinary sports women have inspired a generation of Indian girls who have set eyes on bringing many more medals to India in coming Olympics.

Girls have a stronger case to make to fend off hurdles put by society and culture when they set out to realize their potential. Winning only 2 medals and that too by women might turn out to be a good thing in long run for state of women in India. The biggest good which can come out of it might be change in belief that after all women have equal potential and can sometimes bring more results than men given their wings are not trimmed before they are ready to fly.

Rio Olympics 2016 might turn out to be an inflection point for women in India. Keeping my fingers crossed!

You can watch an inspiring poem by Prasoon Joshi on achievement of Indian girls in Rio.He dedicates this poem to the girl child.

 

The New Role Models for Women in India – Sakshi & Sindhu

The New Role Models for Women in India

Rio olympics 2016 gave us not only 2 medals but also 2 bright shinning women role models to inspire a generation of young girls in India. To make them believe that they can do it too. Women in India badly need such role models. Role models are inspiring , they are somebody you can relate to, somebody you can look up to. The success of saskhi and sindhu has captured the imagination of millions of young girls.

My hope and guess is that sakshi’s and sindhu’s feat at Rio would have captured imagination of a generation of parents of young girls as well. Parents are the launchpads girls need to launch their ambitions and fly high. Parents are the first gatekeepers of children’s dreams and aspirations. In fact many a times, it is the grit and belief of a parent in talent of child which makes their dream a reality. Behind every successful child or a young adult, stands a firm mother or father or both.

The importance of role models is in the logic of human mind. You want proof of something to believe it. Success of role models is the proof that it is achievable. Sakshi and Sindhu are national icons, sort of celebrity everyone knows but not everyone would know them personally. In my opinion, closer are role models to you, stronger is impact of their success on you. For example if your cousin is a successful state level swimmer and you aspire to be a swimmer, you would relate totally with your cousin as you share similar background and her success is a solid proof that its doable. Your mind knows if she could do it , you could do it too. Having a role model known personally also helps more as you have direct access to the guidance, expertise and tips.

Nonetheless, till we have a successful women role model in our family or neighbourhood, lets celebrate and get inspired by the success of sakshi and sindhu. Sakshi and sindhu should realize that millions of hopeful eyes are looking up to them, ears are tuned to hear what they have to say. They should share their experiences, struggles and how they overcame those struggles. They should share details of their journey right from childhood to the olympic podium. They should tell what inspired them and what got them going  day after day, year after year. Their stories and words would inspire a generation of girls and tomorrow we would have many more saskhi’s and sindhu’s who would go on to inspire another generation. This chain of role models inspiring millions is what would help India in reaching its own potential when it comes to Olympics and more importantly would help young girls and women in India realize their potential and fulfill their dreams.