Monday, October 31, 2016
Why don't we have more Women Leaders ? (HR or otherwise)
In a large professionally managed progressive organisation (Indian or MNC), there is initially no difference in the career velocity of men and women in HR till they do not start a family. Once, however, a child comes along, somehow things change.
someone has to 'lean-out' (as against lean-in).
This happens because of the lack of quality (and affordable) childcare in urban India. The only way both are able to keep a relentless corporate pace up is if they have family support. Read that as getting read that as getting your parents to take care of your child. This is espcially hard if you come from a nuclear family or from a small town. If one hails from a small town, your parents have to shut their home establishment and move in with you - not the easiest of scenarios. Sometimes grandparents not able to or don't want to play child-minders. It is might be an imposition on them - after all they might believe that they have done their due of bringing their children up.
Either that, or the couple has to be comfortable with the play-school/24-hour domestic help model. Some parents may not want their child to be left with the domestic help for long hours. A play-school sets you for the the 5 PM 'run' to pick up the child before it closes.
In all such scenarios, most dual-career couples opt for one of the partners (more often the man) to take on the 'corporate warrior' role. Invariably, the woman has to 'lean-back' (most often the woman) - after all how many international/domestic business trips and networking can one pack in if constantly worrying about homework and that nutritious snack? I am not sure if this is a 'concious' choice. Maybe women get subtle cues from their employer to take it easy (the mommy track), maybe it is a well-considered decision of the couple and maybe sometimes it just something that becomes the unintended default choice.
There can be other considerations :
1. What if the salary is just about adequate to pay for good child-care, commute and a few more rupees. If one feels that one is just 'transferring' the income to the care-giver and the marginal monetary benefit of working is minimal. This is more pronounced if a child comes along relativly early in one's career - when you might not be raking in the sweet moolah in yet.
2. What if for some women (and men largely might not feel as strongly on this), want to genuniely be around their children. One way to think about this is - "I did not have a child to see them for 2 hours for 5 days a week". Remember Mary Ann Slaughter's Atlantic article ? To have it all, women need to be superhuman, rich or self-employed.
My other hypothesis (and this is outside the MBA HR domain) is that women continue to be severely under-represented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) careers. To believe that from a graduating batch of 10-15% of female representation in premier BE/BTech courses to suddenly in a few years miraculously having a 50-50 leadership ratio in a few years is just fantasy. Of course networking and mentoring will help women but one cannot overlook this powerful dynamic. With most sectors of the economy gradually becoming more STEM-heavy, this will have lasting effects. In my view, this is one of the biggest reasons of the pay gap. STEM jobs just pay more. Period. If we want to correct it, we need to have significantly more women in them. In the HR domain, If the HR head comes from business, chances that it will be a man - given the absolute skewed ratio there. No amount of diversity initiatives will help if the STEM labour market is so lopsided at entry.
Fianlly, one really needs to have a supportive spouse if both are to work with equal vigour. Equal here includes house-hold chores, parenting responsibilities and important life decisions (like who takes care of a sick/aged parent). This is an issue which does not have simple solutions. There are just too many issues at play - gender roles, childcare availability, corporate expectations, societal role models etc. In my view, corporates will do what they can, individual will do what they can but without mindset changes about gender roles, better child-care options and pushing our daughters as hard as we do our sons for that BE/BTech seat, there will be incremental change. I remain hopeful that things will slowly but inexorably get better in India.
someone has to 'lean-out' (as against lean-in).
This happens because of the lack of quality (and affordable) childcare in urban India. The only way both are able to keep a relentless corporate pace up is if they have family support. Read that as getting read that as getting your parents to take care of your child. This is espcially hard if you come from a nuclear family or from a small town. If one hails from a small town, your parents have to shut their home establishment and move in with you - not the easiest of scenarios. Sometimes grandparents not able to or don't want to play child-minders. It is might be an imposition on them - after all they might believe that they have done their due of bringing their children up.
Either that, or the couple has to be comfortable with the play-school/24-hour domestic help model. Some parents may not want their child to be left with the domestic help for long hours. A play-school sets you for the the 5 PM 'run' to pick up the child before it closes.
In all such scenarios, most dual-career couples opt for one of the partners (more often the man) to take on the 'corporate warrior' role. Invariably, the woman has to 'lean-back' (most often the woman) - after all how many international/domestic business trips and networking can one pack in if constantly worrying about homework and that nutritious snack? I am not sure if this is a 'concious' choice. Maybe women get subtle cues from their employer to take it easy (the mommy track), maybe it is a well-considered decision of the couple and maybe sometimes it just something that becomes the unintended default choice.
There can be other considerations :
1. What if the salary is just about adequate to pay for good child-care, commute and a few more rupees. If one feels that one is just 'transferring' the income to the care-giver and the marginal monetary benefit of working is minimal. This is more pronounced if a child comes along relativly early in one's career - when you might not be raking in the sweet moolah in yet.
2. What if for some women (and men largely might not feel as strongly on this), want to genuniely be around their children. One way to think about this is - "I did not have a child to see them for 2 hours for 5 days a week". Remember Mary Ann Slaughter's Atlantic article ? To have it all, women need to be superhuman, rich or self-employed.
My other hypothesis (and this is outside the MBA HR domain) is that women continue to be severely under-represented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) careers. To believe that from a graduating batch of 10-15% of female representation in premier BE/BTech courses to suddenly in a few years miraculously having a 50-50 leadership ratio in a few years is just fantasy. Of course networking and mentoring will help women but one cannot overlook this powerful dynamic. With most sectors of the economy gradually becoming more STEM-heavy, this will have lasting effects. In my view, this is one of the biggest reasons of the pay gap. STEM jobs just pay more. Period. If we want to correct it, we need to have significantly more women in them. In the HR domain, If the HR head comes from business, chances that it will be a man - given the absolute skewed ratio there. No amount of diversity initiatives will help if the STEM labour market is so lopsided at entry.
Fianlly, one really needs to have a supportive spouse if both are to work with equal vigour. Equal here includes house-hold chores, parenting responsibilities and important life decisions (like who takes care of a sick/aged parent). This is an issue which does not have simple solutions. There are just too many issues at play - gender roles, childcare availability, corporate expectations, societal role models etc. In my view, corporates will do what they can, individual will do what they can but without mindset changes about gender roles, better child-care options and pushing our daughters as hard as we do our sons for that BE/BTech seat, there will be incremental change. I remain hopeful that things will slowly but inexorably get better in India.
