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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. 
Who are to blame squarely for
gender discrimination? Are men to
take the brunt?
Yes! Because men play the game of
power relations physical power,
economic power, political power,
institutional power. This has had an
impact on social relations.Men coopt
women into this and have created the
myth that women are their own
enemies! Midway in life, between a third and
a half of all successful career-women
in theUS do not have children. In fact,
33% of such women (business
executives, doctors, lawyers,
academics and the like)
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in the 41 to
55-age bracket are childless and that
figure rises to 42% in corporate
America (as per a study conducted
Sylvia Ann Hewlett in partnership
with Harris Interactive and the
National Parenting Association). The
findings are startling and troubling.
They make it clear that for many
women, the brutal demands of
ambitious careers, asymmetries in
male-female relationships and
difficulties of having children late in
life, conspire to crowd out the
possibility of having children. Why
has the age-old business of having
babies become so difficult for today's
high-achieving women?
I think these statistics are of the 1970s
and 1980s, when women had to do
twice thework done bymen butwere
rewarded only half of what men got!
Research fromthat period has shown
the cost of women's struggle to be
seen as "successful" in their careers
by male counterparts. As Naila
Kabeer has pointed out in her
researchwhenwomen stepped out to
work it required a shift in household
management, with men having to
take on some burden. But this issue
never came up in the household
decision-making process, as men's
response was that if women wanted
to work then it was up to them to
ensure that the household was not
neglected!! Thus, women tended to
end up being "super-women" in
balancing their work and home
duties. You can imagine the
tremendous pressure on women
then. But their stories of struggle
have resulted in what we see today:women-friendly workplaces,
crèches, flexible hours,and even
paternity leave! Is it true that most successful men
are not interested in acquiring an
ambitious peer as a partner? Should
the reverse be also believed?
What about the trend of role reversal
these days? I feel younger men today
are more willing to accept women
on grounds of equal qualifications,
knowledge, experience, ideas etc.
However, the rising trend of
violence against women is also
alarming. Generally speaking, the more
successful the man is, the more
likely he will find a spouse and
become a father. The opposite holds
true for women and the disparity is
particularly striking among
corporate ultra-achievers. What are
the sources of disparity? What can
be done to eradicate such
disparities?
Are you suggesting that men stay
away fromintelligent and successful
women? Then, its their loss! Let
women make their own choice: let
them choose whether they wish to
marry or not. And, if they choose to
remain single, then respect their
decision. Don't stigmatize it. I think
the institution of marriage is overhyped!
Indian society may still
create barriers and disparity for
single women, but today's single
woman is on the go ready to take
on new challenges and cross new
frontiers with great success. Let's now look at wage disparities.
The persistent wage gap between
men and women is mainly due to
women being penalized for
interrupting their careers to have
children. In a study, economists
Susan Harkness and Jane Waldfogel
compared the wage gap across seven
industrialized countries and found
it was particularly wide in the US
(for instance, in France, women earn
81%the male wage, in Sweden 84%,
and in Australia 88%; while in the
US, women continue to earn a mere
78% of the male wage). Why such
disparities when job expectations
(and outcomes too) do not differ
gender-wise. What can help prevent
such disparities?
We need equal pay legislation,
regulation and monitoring of the
legislation to ensure equality. Don't
forget women in the west got their
right to vote later than us! Men are
not designed to have babies. Men
need to accept thatmotherhood is an
integral part of a woman's life who
chooses to have a baby. Employers
need to accept that women need
career breaks for early childhood
career in order to prepare a healthy
new generation, they can't be
penalized for taking time off for this.
We should look at best practices
around the world and adapt
whatever suits our conditions. How should working women
(more so with achievers and superachievers)
strike a balance between
their work and life?
Through delegation, prioritization
and access to quality service
providers who can do take on some
chores at home or work. This will
release quality time for self and
others. I learnt the concept of "me
time". This was through one of
British Council's projects that we
have run with women in public
sector, police and the academia. It's
called Springboard women's
development program from UK,
now run in more than 20 countries.
"Me time" means giving time to
yourself to do whatever you wish for
yourself it means protecting a bit
of your time for your own needs,
leisure or development or even just for awalk or nap!Women are always
giving their time to meet the needs
of others, and when we introduced
"me time" they first felt guilty about
spending time on themselves! Many
have reported how much this has
helped them and even improved
relationships as others begin to
respect their "me time". What can women managers learn
from 2002's Time magazine's
Persons of the Year, Cynthia Cooper
(Worldcom), Coleen Rowley (FBI),
and Sherron Watkins (Enron)?
Which of their experiences, do you
think, are important for women
managers?
Inspiring, and that empathy and
determination to succeed pay off!
But sometimes it becomes difficult
to relate to high-achievers as their
life seems a bit unreal when
compared with our ordinary lives.
You will be interested to know that
in the Springboard programwe have
profiled Indian women achievers
who have made huge changes in
their lives through their own efforts,
despite adversity or lack of
resources. Women have reported
that they have found these real life
stories very motivating.
1.
Women's Western Wear Market Case Study
2. ICMR
Case Collection
3.
Case Study Volumes
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