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Executive Interviews: Interview with Kamal Singh on Women Executives
July 2007
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By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary
Kamal Singh working with the British Council as Head, Governance & Social Justice, India. 
So, what's the role of leaders and
organizational policies in preparing
women?
I feel its not a question of merely
"preparing women" it's a question
of ensuring equal opportunities, and
that well includes "preparing men"
too. This means improving the
understanding of what equality is,
what equal opportunities are, where
and how discrimination is taking
place, what role employers and
employees can play and what role
family and community can play. For
example, the recent legislation about
sexual harassment at the work place
or
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about domestic violence means
that both men and women need to
understand what it means, what
kind of behavior is not acceptable
and what needs to change. What are the symptoms and
sources of gender inequality? Are
they specific to a culture?
Gender is a social construct through
the process of socialization we
internalize certain roles and then
imbibe these stereotypes. Patriarchy
has resulted in women's
subordination. Worldwide women
have been deprived of claiming their
rights and their autonomy. This is
evident if you study the research,
analysis, process and outcomes of the
4 UN conferences held since 1975 (at
Mexico, Copenhagen, Nairobi and
Beijing). The critical areas of concern
include women and poverty,
education, health, decision-making,
economy, media, violence etc. Basic
issues are worldwide, and then there
may be some specific to certain
regions, e.g., the high incidence of
female foeticide in Punjab and
Haryanawhich ends a girl's right even
to be born. Many approaches have been
suggested to rid gender inequality.
However, most of them seem to
address the symptoms, rather than
the sources. What are the best ways
to tackle the sources? What can be
the steps to root out sources of
discrimination and score possible
wins?
I value every approach used to tackle
gender discrimination, no effort can
be small. In my experience access to
quality education is a way forward
education that analyzes
discrimination, removes gender bias,
inculcates basic respect and dignity
for all and empowers individuals to
take action for rights and justice
within their own spheres of influence
and beyond. Statistics also suggest that as
women approach the top of the
corporate ladder, many jump off
frustrated or disillusioned with the
business world. The glass ceiling still
seems to be present. What will it take
to finally shatter it?
I don't know the source of your
statistics. Yes, the glass ceiling is still
an issue because the decisionmaking
arena is still dominated by
men, who bring to the workplace
their internalized gender biases. In a
study in the UK on women in
politics, the "glass ceiling" was
reversed to a "glass trap door" as
many women political workers
experienced that when it came to
election time and tickets to be
distributed the best of women
workers just became "invisible" and
went down the glass trapdoor!
Possibly, a critical mass of women in
various fields will help crack the
"glass" syndrome. I think we're
getting there! There were enough women
movements across the globe using
radical rhetoric and legal action to
drive out overt discrimination. But
most of today's barriers seem to be
insidious. Gender discrimination now
is so deeply embedded in
organizational life, as to be virtually
discernible. In a so-called "flatworld",
what needs to be done to wipe out
gender discrimination?
As I have said earlier, a rights-based
approach is needed: women must
believe, and men must accept, that
women too have a right to speak,
right to be heard, right to say ‘No' if they choose to, right to make a
mistake an awareness and
promotion of equality and diversity
from school education onwards is
needed. In UK the Equal
Opportunities Commission has
done a lot of work with employers
on wage disparity and sex
discrimination. Discrimination
exists even for people with
disability our law says 3%
reservation for employment of
people with disability, but only
some employers and organizations
have identified job profiles for
which they can be employed.
Women with disability face double
discrimination. Our caste and class
system means that women are
further discriminated against when
from certain caste. And, these days
a new form of discrimination is
your accent of spoken English! Women are said to have entered the
workforce in droves and it is generally
agreed that they add enormous value.
But organizational definitions of
competence and leadership are still
stereotypically associated with men:
tough, aggressive, decisive. How to
bridge suchimplausible gaps?Are there
any best practices (examples) that you
wish to share?
Sarah Longwe has ident if ied
var ious categories of gender
impact indicators, e.g.
- Indicators of progress towards
equality in terms of material
wel fare, e.g., reduced
workload; improvement in
health and nutritional status;
use of fuel-saving stoves; clean
water supply close by.
- Indicators of progress towards
equality in terms of access to
key economic resources, e.g.,
increased income;
diversif icat ion in women's
income-generat ing skil ls; increased herd/dairy/livestock
managed by women.
- Indicators of progress towards
equality in terms of awareness
of one's own situation and that
of others, including those of
oppose sex, e.g., increased
awareness of women's legal
rights; sharing of domestic
tasks between women and men;
nar rowing of l iteracy gap
between men and women.
- Indicators of progress towards
equality in terms of active
participation in development
projects and activities, e.g.,
increased proportion of women
in management committees;
increase in numbers of women
speaking up in meet ings;
increase in number of projects
identified by women.
- indicators of progress towards
equality in terms of control of
decisions affecting one's family
responsibilities and one's role in
the community, e.g., women's
and men's shared involvement in
household budgeting; frequency
with which women travel or
attend school out of choice;
participation of women in
previously male-only local
structures.
I think a better understanding of
such indicators by employers,
employees, policymakers and
politicians would help make
progress.
1.
Women's Western Wear Market Case Study
2. ICMR
Case Collection
3.
Case Study Volumes
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