Thursday, March 31, 2005

MBA Women

More young women than ever before are aspiring for MBAs.This year, there are 45 odd girls at IIM Ahmedabad - a record number.

Of course, that's partly because the batch size has been steadily increased.As a proportion of the batch the figure is fairly constant.

But, the question is, will this mean a surge in the number of women in middle to senior management positions 10-15 years from now?

I'm not so sure. In the initial 5-8 years years, yes. Young women will give the guys a run fortheir money. But once they get into motherhood mode the age old dilemmas kick in.

This is a subject I've written about in a cover story for Businessworld magazine (issue dated April 4, 2005). In a piece titled 'Price and Prejudice' I note

Think ‘female managers’ and enough Big Names readily roll off the tongue to make a convincing case for the rise and rise of women in the workplace: the ICICI women, Naina Lal Kidwai, Vinita Bali, Kiran Mazumdar- Shaw... .

No doubt, that gutsy generation has paved the way. It’s hard to believe that when Naina Lal applied to PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 1977 for a chartered accountant’s post, the company had to think long and hard before hiring her. Because prior to that they had never taken a woman on board!

Three decades later, the first-woman-to-do-the things-women-never-did bit is definitely over and done with. No job — at the entry level, at least — is seen as inherently unsuitable for women.

And yet, these few well-known faces are but the tip of the iceberg. The huge, invisible mass of that iceberg consists of the thousands of extremely capable women who will never make it to CEO or senior management levels. And it’s not just about the ‘glass ceiling’, competence or leadership style.

The real reason why women ‘fail’ to get ahead goes beyond that. Women could be as smart (or smarter) than their male counterparts, but for the most part they cannot — and will not — put up with the obscenely long hours, frequent travel or sudden relocation readily embraced by those seriously attempting to scale the corporate summit.

Tracking the careers of a group of UC Berkeley MBAs, Stanford Business School professor Charles O’Reilly said:“What makes a difference at the top level is effort; ability has been equilibrated.”

In an interview to Fast Company magazine, O’Reilly elaborated: “Today’s women are equal to their male counterparts in education, experience and skill. But when it is a painful choice between the client crisis and the birthday party, the long road trip and the middle schooler who needs attention, the employee most likely to put company over family is the traditional, work-oriented male.”

Ask B-school graduates who have crossed the five-years-since-we-left-campus-mark, and the number of female batch mates zealously pursuing careers starts declining rapidly. Which is understandable, because these are child-bearing years. But for many of these women, a shift into lower gear becomes a conscious, long-term choice.

Access the rest of the article at www.businessworldindia.com if you like. There are two more articls in the issue by me "Mission Possible" and "How Working Couples Cope".

Registration is required. I know, that's a pain, but since you aren't spending 10 bucks on the magazine don't crib!

What, me worry?
Of course, one may argue, the 'new generation' of women will be different. But the biological reality is, women do -eventually - want to be mothers. Although some - what are called 'career primaries' - are opting not to.

The social reality is, men have made the rules in the workplace. And women, until they can alter those rules, have to live by the existing ones to succeed.

A price not all are willing to pay!

12 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. I think that there is an opportunity for women entrepreneurs at a later stage, on a small scale. After the children become independent, many women are now getting into doing a small scale business on their own. Of course, they cannot aim to become huge conglomerates, but it is a healthy sign. I am from Bangalore, and have seen women take up stained glass/ garment businesses and do really well.

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  3. Anonymous11:54 PM

    At the moment it may seem that Indian woman has to choose between motherhood and career but it doesnt have to be this way all the time and i am sure it wont be. The face of Indian society is changing slowly but surely. Like in Canada, i have seen the career minded women bear children as well as progress in their career. Entrying into motherhood doesnt cause a hinderance in their career progression because the society has developed a system within itself where a woman gets equal support from her husband in maintaining a balance between family and work. Apart from the social support, very well run day-care-centers have come up. I am sure the Indian society and the system will evolve itself to find the similar ways.

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  4. Anonymous11:56 PM

    At the moment it may seem that Indian woman has to choose between motherhood and career but it doesnt have to be this way all the time and i am sure it wont be. The face of Indian society is changing slowly but surely. Like in Canada, i have seen the career minded women bear children as well as progress in their career. Entrying into motherhood doesnt cause a hinderance in their career progression because the society has developed a system within itself where a woman gets equal support from her husband in maintaining a balance between family and work. Apart from the social support, very well run day-care-centers have come up. I am sure the Indian society and the system will evolve itself to find the similar ways.

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  5. I'm from the US and I see the same situation. Women climb to the middle rungs of the corporate ladder only to climb back down because of family obligation. I am in Business School now and its evident in the culture. Alot of the men that attend see the women as possible trophy wives, not as actual contenders in the Business world. Unfortunately some females see themselves as future trophy wives also. I just don't understand why if a man neglects his family to pursue his career he's seen as providing for his family, but if a woman does the same thing she's seen as a bad mother.

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  6. I think it's a bit more than a choice of priority for women. I have felt that women themselves reconcile and settle for rather less, OF THEIR OWN VOLITION.
    Again, it may be argued that social conditioning, implicit messages are hard to ignore and cirumvent.

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  7. Mr,Sandy,
    I have a problem when you say this:
    Of course, they CANNOT aim to become huge conglomerates,

    What exactly do you mean by CANNOT with an emphasis of an OF COURSE preceding it?

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  8. Hmm...Maybe this book...www.v2e.net...authored by one of my acquaintances will bring about "more than 2 sides to the story"

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  9. Having completed my MBA degree, I recently joined a bulge bracket finance firm well known for its support for diversity, minorities and women. Out of curiousity and also with a need to identify with a Indian women role model, I set about trying to locate Indian women in senior management positions. To my surprise, it is a negligible. There are plenty in the entry level to 5-6 years level but hardly anyone beyond.

    My conclusion ? Indian women decide to drop out of the work environment as they move up and at a much higher rate than their American counterparts.

    And here is statistical evidence to support my experience: In a survey by a leading HR consulting firm, it was found that 57% of women holding top corporate jobs across the US do not have children (most are single or divorced).

    Worrying.

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  10. WOMEN'S REVENGE
    www.gotocasino.com
    "Cash, cheque card or charge-card?" I asked, after folding up the items the woman wished to purchase. As she fumbled for her wallet, I noticed a remote-control for a television set in her purse.
    "Do you always carry your TV remote?" I asked.
    "No," she replied, but my husband refused to come shopping with me, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally."

    UNDERSTANDING WOMEN - (FROM A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE)
    I know I'm not going to understand women. I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax, pour it onto your thigh, rip the hair out by the root, and still be afraid of a spider.

    WIFE VS. HUSBAND
    A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position.
    As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?"
    "Yep," the wife replied, "in-laws."

    WORDS A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day... 30,000 to a man's 15,000.
    The wife replied, "The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men..."
    The husband then turned to his wife and asked, "What?"
    The wife said, "See."

    CREATION
    A man said to his wife one day, "I don't know how you can be so stupid and beautiful all at the same time."
    The wife responded, "Allow me to explain. God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me; God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!"

    WHO DOES WHAT
    A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.
    The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee."
    The husband said, "You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee."
    The wife replied, "No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee."
    Husband replies, "I can't believe that, show me "
    The wife fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says.......... "HEBREWS"

    THE SILENT TREATMENT A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment.
    Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at 5:00 AM."
    He left it where he knew she would find it.
    The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed.
    The paper said, "It is 5:00 AM. Wake up."
    Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.
    sportbook
    God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece !!!

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  11. What do you get when you
    cross MBA with PMS?

    sportbook
    A bitch who knows everything!

    www.gotocasino.com

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  12. Rashmi this is a great article. I have leanrt about your blog from
    CurryPlanet.com - Insite on Inidan Yout MBA Women.

    I would encourage you to submit your articles on this site on regular basis.

    ReplyDelete

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