It is now 45 years since the United Nations adopted the commemoration of International Women’s Day (IWD) in 1977, and SINE wishes everyone, regardless of their gender, a very happy women’s day. The reason it is a globally celebrated event with much pride, dialogue, conversation, and campaigns is still significant for every woman, regardless of their profession or employment status, which is discussed in the latter half of this blog. The very origin of women’s day lies in women’s struggle for their rights-at the workplace and in the political and societal structure; hence this blog will focus on the very foundation of this struggle story i.e., women’s status outside their home boundaries.
It is still referred to as claims that initially the protests were started by working class / labor women; it was later shaped as a socialist movement. This piece deals with many statistics to give a prelude to our upcoming pieces this month discussing the roles of women in different arenas.
The Imitation Game is a movie based on a true-life story of a mathematician who was able to break the German codes of the much-hyped Enigma during World War Two; the movie also focuses on how an English woman, Joan Clarke, vanquishes the judgmental eyes of the men around her who first thought she came for the entry-level interview and not for the cryptographer’s. Most of the women shown in the film are working either as assistants, passing files from one desk to another, or as associates with negligible contribution in decision-making.
The historical evidence concludes that there has been a huge disparity between men’s and women’s opportunities at work; men’s and women’s remuneration; the way they are treated at the workplace and other professional benefits. Although substantial change has taken place in these years with the support of multiple public policies, schemes and benefits for women, the working conditions have definitely transformed with more open opportunities and a co-operative working environment for women. The private sector has also made many efforts towards making women conducive policies and work culture. To share some numbers, women now account for 47.7% of the workforce and their global contribution to the GDP is about 37%. By 2021, about 252 million out of 582 million females of the world are entrepreneurs; they control more than $20 trillion of annual spending. The data and statistics will change from one country to another, from one geographical region to another; for instance, the US granted its women the right to vote in 1919, however Saudi Arabia granted it very recently in 2015 and for India, the rights were given since the time we got independence and drafted our constitution. So, we wonder where the gap is, what still keeps the ‘women lagging behind’ debate alive? The answer lies in numbers again; only 27.1% women are managers and leaders, and 48% of women occupy entry-level positions. The conversation rather than the debate should start from here and it indeed starts from here but becomes more of a noisy TV channel argument. Expecting a dramatic overnight change would be overwhelming on women who have been conditioned of being submissive by the patriarchs of the society. Many peripheral factors are also responsible for such a structural gap.
The trend towards women in leadership positions is on rise, an increasing number of well-known organizations like IBM, General Motors, and Mondelēz International are appointing female CEOs. In fact, there are more women running Fortune 500 businesses today than at any point in the 63-year history of the Fortune 500. However, that’s still only 6.4% of these leading companies. The issues are much deep rooted than we discuss, the solution is yet achievable and less complex than it seems. The gap has to deal with behavior and perception, the perception of women as role models, the perception of women as a confident professional, the perception of herself as being better than their male counterparts. Most of the barriers women face are psychological and societal affecting her confidence and it importantly has to deal with men’s role in women’s life, them sharing the equal load surpassing societal norms and men taking onus of a woman’s progress at his home and in his office. More than a women’s issue, it is a men’s issue.
On this note, we leave it to our male and female readers to share their thoughts or just maybe start a dialogue at your home, workplace, but first with yourself on what is the barrier for women, who has been a role model for women at work, what has pushed them to attain the height they are at and what has pulled them from not becoming what they have always dreamt of and importantly how far they’ve wanted to go in their career, how conducive was their environment to assist them through it and by environment we mean – what was the role of the man in their life to achieve those heights. While you take notes on these important questions, SINE is taking notes from some remarkable female personalities to bring a series of conversations revolving around the real journeys from some diverse mix of professionals.