Snippet of a conversation at my work place...
‘You've got additional hiring reqs as part of Diversity and Inclusiveness initiative’ my boss from North America informs me over the call
‘It’s mainly colour and gender inclusiveness’ He further emphasizes
I process the information, after a pause and I respond
‘hmm.. ok we are all brown so we’ll focus on gender. One variable for us in India is constant fortunately ?’ I smile
‘And we have concerns on colour in North America...umm it's quite sensitive after BLM episode...so we’ll pick on colour and you pick on gender from the pool of reqs’ He makes a note
‘It’s easier to hire female in India than in north America’ He asserts further
‘Really ?’ I ask with curiosity
‘Yeah the stats are here’ He explains
‘Overall the gender diversity in India is a lot better. Look at this chart’ He shares the chart in teams.
‘I hear there are lot of govt initiatives in India off late particularly targeted to encourage women in STEM and to create better ecosystem for women employment’
‘In contrast we are not doing as great here in North America. Women are neither encouraged nor are they much interested in STEM’
He expresses in despair
'Doesn't STEM take you to highest paid jobs out there' with curiosity I ask
'Yeah but it's efforts too. And still lawyers top the chart' He nodes and then again switches back to India scenario.
He kept on talking about improved prospects for women in India and I enjoyed listening, I didn't feel like correcting him on his overly impressive impression about India on this topic. I was swayed with Deshbhakti. It was my Yudhishthir moment. I hear him patiently and then intercept.
‘Yeah boss. But women from below middle class in India are subjected to #$%^&*….'
'What ?' from other side.
I re-calibrate my thoughts.
'oh my voice must have trailed off. A plane was crossing over. Nevertheless...yeah women in India are doing great’ I evade myself from my own unsettled thoughts.
‘You are a better ambassador for India’ I compliment him. Obviously he wasn't a Desi.
‘You picked 70% women grads this year. That was impressive’
He points out to corroborate his India understanding
‘yeah they got it on merit. They just outsmarted the male grads’ I make it clear
It was a great conversation spilled over further on colour, gender, interest, culture and initiatives of different nations on overall equality and inclusiveness.
A few days later I discuss the topic with my immediate India staff. Interestingly all male!
I explain the India plan and then open the discussion.
‘Does this D&I initiative really help business to grow’ Someone quips.
The point was deeper and broader. The topic was close to my heart. I compose my chain of thoughts.
After a pause I said
‘your circumspection is genuine but stereotyped my friend. I must explain’ And I get a bit theatrical and start my monolog
‘A business runs under the hood of a society and within a social fabric. A business is run by people, and people form the society. No business can succeed in a long run if it’s not strengthening the social fabric. Without a strong social ecosystem your business will eventually collapse. Diversity and inclusiveness is the solution. Gender, colour, cast, creed, region, religion -all of them need to function in coherence. None should feel intimidated from each other. Everyone should be partners and owners in socio-economic development. Isn’t it good for the so called primary sex/race to distribute the burden of accountability? Merit for business, in isolation is overrated. All humans respond similarly if given a similar environment. It’s law of nature. One has to be invested for long in this thought to yield a sustainable result for business growth’
The monolog was well received. I guess I was able to bring the point home.
However I have some uncomfortable questions to both genders in the context of our comprehensive Indian society that aims to be equal and inclusive. May be for next blog. For now I leave you with this food for thought from Spiderman.
"With great power comes great responsibility"
After thought - I was a bit pumped up thinking we as a society are doing better in bringing more women in STEM- Prospects of a high paid specialized job. We are on our way to achieve gender equality. But soon I got some stats through Google. And that says - The countries with more gender equality and better economic status has lessor and lessor women in STEM ! I am still scratching my head to reason this out.. I am close and finding the rationality it it. May be yet another blog when I am thoroughly convinced with my reasoning..
