For doing business with heart and soul, women need to be put ahead of men

We often hear women are better off today and have achieved gender equality as they are taking up jobs traditionally done by men. Even women working in factories or call centers are happy to narrate their experience at the workplace as both liberating and empowering due to the impact of earning a regular wage.?

In a nutshell, they have more choice and independence than if they remained at home.?

However, the sad reality before us is that girls and women worldwide face the indignities of discrimination, harassment, and too often violence daily.?

Don't forget the ordinary woman

While sitting inside our homes, we often miss the picture of an ordinary woman living in a developing country. Instead, we imagine someone working in an office or the uncommon women who have broken the glass ceiling.?

This ordinary woman is poor, and so is her family and other women in her community. She has five kids and works in the fields or at a construction site for the entire day. She does the same heavy lifting like a man, but her pay is significantly lower at the end of the day. At home, she is also responsible for feeding her family. She cooks on a charcoal stove, mixed with the fumes, adding to her exhaustion.

Yet, she is always smiling and never feels like a victim. She, too, has dreams and excellent ideas for a business that will benefit families like hers. Perhaps it's with solar cooking stoves or a smartphone. But all her money is currently spent on survival – making two ends meet.?

This situation is the reality for millions of women around the world.?

Gender inequality undermines sustainable development

Regardless of the direction one looks, women bear the prime responsibility for holding societies together, whether at home, at school, in health care, or caring for the elderly. Yet, mostly, women perform these tasks without pay. And the recent pandemic has thrown these gender-based differences into even sharper relief.

Lowering gender inequality by ten percentage points can boost growth by two percentage points over five years. Bringing more women into the fold is beneficial to economies. Organizations can benefit from their talents, skills, and unique perspectives. Gender diversity can boost productivity and lead to enhanced welfare for all.?

The beauty of this is that still, men do not lose out.?

We are underachieving sustainable development by not factoring women in and supporting their engagement with the economy and society. And, this is at a time when we need to overachieve and overachieve fast. We need this growth boost to support the post-COVID-19 recovery.?

Still, we hear things like, "Women are taking over the world at work" and, "What does gender have to do with us?"?

Knowns and unknowns

Proponents holding such views need to look at "knowns" and "unknowns"!??

Donald Rumsfeld, the former U.S. Secretary of Defense, while highlighting the limitations of intelligence reports at the height of the Iraq war, stated: "Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say, we know some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know."

And Slovene cultural theorist Slavoj ?i?ek added a fourth category unknown knowns to Rumsfeld's logic tongue-twisting logic whose epistemology was sound enough – the things we refuse to acknowledge that we know intentionally.

These concepts of "known" and "unknown" are associated with a unique understanding of the opportunities and risks.?

As a result, they provide insights to businesses on overcoming barriers in any given situation such as access to finance, markets, services, social security, and public services and tapping the unleashed potential of women.

To elaborate further:

• Known knowns are the things that we are aware of and understand, e.g., women involved in repetitive tasks at a slow-paced corporate job or accessing a bank for a loan.?
• Known unknowns are the things that we are aware of but do not understand, e.g., switching from one business to another, jumping from a public corporation to a start-up venture, exploring a new market segment, peer-to-peer lending, or women accessing insurance benefits.
• Unknown unknowns are things we are neither aware of nor understand, e.g., women starting an online business, earning money during a sabbatical, or crowdfunding of business.
• Unknown knowns are things we are aware of but understand, e.g., encountering gender bias during the hiring process, preferences for color and taste, or using cash flow-based financing instruments.

"Avalokana"— the art of self-realization

Being aware of unknown unknowns is the first step on any learning journey. And the only appropriate response is to explore, experience, and investigate stuff that leads to the known unknown.

Known unknowns can be overwhelming, and from here, we have two options. The first one is regressive, where we can try to bury this new awareness and drive it back to unknown unknowns by forgetting about it. The second one is progressive. By investigating solutions, methods, best practices, or carrying out experiments, we can move to the zone of known known.

However, a lack of further investment could lead to a loss of performance and risk falling back to the known unknown. It may be possible to stick in this zone by doing enough to remain good at something, but it will always require effort.?

While we choose to move on and work on our newfound faculty, we can move to what might be called a state of grace or self-consciousness — unknown known, with practice and experience.

In Jain tradition, Brahmayak?a says that when the self of consciousness makes an effort in the form of Avalokana or glimpse to acquire knowledge of an object as distinct from that of some earlier knowledge, then that self-realization grasps the object with all its specialties.?This state is known as 'jnana' or knowledge inseparable from the total experience of reality, especially a total or divine reality. 'Darsana' or a glimpse of the divine sight is said to exist only for a moment after which 'jnana' arises.

During the discovery of penicillin, Sir Alexander Fleming experienced one such moment. While describing this scientific breakthrough, he said, "When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer."

A brilliant mind experienced a flash of insight when he found that a mysterious mold had contaminated his Petri dishes and eradicated the bacteria colonies he was trying to grow. He isolated the mold and determined that it belonged to the genus?Penicillium. And the world changed forever.?

He understood penicillin's potential to serve the greater good and chose not to patent his discovery while humbly stating, "I did not invent penicillin. Nature did that. I only discovered it by accident." The antibiotic saved millions of lives – but his unsparing efforts ensured that it was freely available to the world's population.

By practicing "Avalokana"— the art of self-realization, we can seek the true being of self, and the performance is effortless. We realize that we don't even know what we know. We are unconsciously competent. To quote brand Nike, we 'Just do it'.

Thus by identifying the knowns and unknowns in any particular situation, one tends to have more information at disposal to take more imaginative action and remove the stigma against women.?

Identifying blind spots

The same concept can be further applied to become more aware of women's potential in business by considering their known strengths, unknown strengths, known weaknesses and identifying the blind spots.

The known strengths pertain to awareness about the knowledge and skills of women and how they can leverage them to benefit the organization. The known weaknesses help enhance awareness of women's shortcomings and build capacity to minimize any negative impact. A thorough understanding of unknown strengths can help organizations become fully aware of women's knowledge or skills, identified by practicing self-awareness.?

There are also different levels of blindness resulting from lack of awareness, faulty assessment, and failure to act. For example, organizations tend to be unaware of a woman's vulnerability and how much risk she represents. Although they are aware of the exposure, they do not understand its potential impact due to faulty assessment. And there are occasions when organizations fail to act as they are not adequately equipped with the requisite skills to address them while being aware of the vulnerability.

For discovering women's strengths and weaknesses and their unknown capabilities, it is helpful to assess the blind spots. Also, informing them of women's qualities that organizations are unaware of can make them realize just how wrong they are in their judgment.

Bias towards linear thinking

Another aspect of why we fail in successful gender mainstreaming is linear thinking in a nonlinear world. Our brains prefer to think linearly, in straight lines and hierarchies. This bias towards linear thinking often traps unwary decision-makers who fail to recognize the nonlinear relationships they are dealing with, leading to the failure of considering women for leadership roles.

Leadership is a big nebulous word for many people, one that can mean many different things to different people and across all cultures. Great leaders are not always in front. It is all about the situational need and timing.

At times, leaders lead from the front, which can be an excellent position for a short period, especially during a crisis, where there is an expectation to take charge and blaze the trail as a leader. In such a situation, there's no time to explain to the team members why they're doing something, and they need to follow the leader to survive. However, constantly leading from the front is exhausting. Eventually, the herd will tire of following blindly, disengaging from the work, and seeking out their path.

Sometimes, one can lead even from the middle. Leadership here is less hierarchical and more supportive. Individual team members may make decisions about speed and direction, with the leader having the flexibility to make changes when needed. This autonomy helps bind the team better and more closely with the leader because of the trust given and received.?

Many times, leaders lead from behind. Leading from behind offers a unique perspective about the team. The leader, able to keep both the goal and the team in her field of vision, can make minor adjustments sooner to reach the destination more efficiently. From the rear, the communication is clear, and the team makes their way. Being given responsibility for course corrections is highly motivating to the team. Engaging with them results in enhanced performance and greater productivity.?

Leading from behind is also the best position to take to develop future leaders. From here, one can see who is most effective at handling obstacles and influencing the rest of the team. Again, we have seen our mothers at home often assume this role without hogging the credit.

While building a compelling case for gender diversity, advancing women's leadership in the workplace should consider all these dimensions.

Lady wisdom joins the heart and soul

Few think one gender has a better leadership approach than the other. However, this is not true. Instead, what one finds is a difference in styles.

Generally, many view female leaders as having an advantage over their male counterparts, being more compassionate and empathetic. They also have an advantage over men in working out compromises.

After co-relating this perspective Jack Ma's famous quote: "No matter how smart computers are, human beings will be champions." "The world is not about smartness. The world is about heart. Wisdom is from the heart. The brain is about knowledge. If you compete with knowledge, the computer will win. If you compete with wisdom, the computer has no chance." businesses should realize that having lady wisdom is the beginning of wisdom.

But, then what is a business with a soul? A business that has a soul shares a passion and motivation with its customers. Instead of simply creating a corporate identity, a business with a soul can genuinely connect with all types of men and women out there and understand their beliefs, needs, and behavior, and accepts feedback. The business can also demonstrate its commitment to the community, e.g., by supporting a cause. For example, a discount on every empty bottle returned when a drink is purchased. Finally, businesses need to align their brand promises with how it delivers on its pledge, all with the future in mind.

Emerging trends

Empowered women are great entrepreneurs who understand their families and communities' multiple economic, social, and environmental benefits. Organizations that hire more women have been found to generate more revenue, probably due to the increased production of women-friendly products and services due to human-centric solutions. As we advance:

The rise of the SHEconomy will help overcome missed opportunities.?As a market, women represent an opportunity bigger than China and India combined. They control $28 trillion in consumer spending.?

Irrespective of whether women are at home or work, women drive 70 to 80% of all consumer purchases. Due to the multiplier effect, even if women are not making the transaction, they will still be impacting the decisions as primary caregivers of children and the elderly.

Given the power of this audience, women have to be at the front and center of content and product development. Beyond just seeing themselves in advertising a product, women's needs should be key in developing it.

Women will make FEMProducts for women.?Businesses wanting a piece of the pie of the $28 trillion female economy needs to start with a gender bias, albeit a positive one.

And those who realize this fact can truly move market shares, win votes, foster values, and strengthen the bottom line. Women's growing economic and political power will determine how we perceive business, products, and politics.

ECOFeminism will drive sustainable development. The pandemic crisis has triggered a domino effect and has revealed inherent flaws in our current development and business models. Women are closer to nature when compared with men. Therefore, this closeness makes women more nurturing and caring towards their environment. The shift in focus presented by ecofeminism holds the key to truly sustainable and inclusive development.

According to Amartya Sen, "Advancing gender equality may be one of the best ways of saving the environment." He also advocates that the voice of women is critically important for the world's future – not just for women's future.

Educating and actively involving women in discussions on climate policy can also have a quantifiable effect on reducing a country's emissions and promote more sustainable development.

SHEcosystems that will support women to take a step beyond "micro".?Conscious efforts are needed to promote ecosystems that support female entrepreneurship. Some 70 percent of women workers are employed or self-employed in informal jobs, insecure, unprotected, and poorly paid.

Areas where significant gender inequalities in the economy are observed, include women's predominance in the informal economy, occupational segregation, and discrimination in recruitment, career progression, and reentry after a gap. Gender pay gaps, lack of ownership of assets, unequal and inadequate access to productive resources, finance, and capacity building are also present. In addition, a heavy and disproportionate burden of unpaid care and domestic work, and sexual harassment at the workplace remains a challenge.

Women's economic empowerment requires that market-based approaches and financial gains and incentives must go hand in hand. In addition, the entrepreneurial ecosystem should enable women to realize their rights and level the capacity and opportunity playing field.?

For economic empowerment, entrepreneurship and decent work are the bedrock. And they support the economic empowerment of women and men, families, communities, and countries.?

Historically, systematic discrimination against women has constrained their full and equal participation in the economy. And this necessitates adopting special measures, both by governments and the private sector.?

FEMinization of risk management will drive firm performance and corporate governance.?But, unfortunately, leaders who seek guidance from the old paradigm of??Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus?paradigm are likely to get fooled about risk and gender.

Using old gender stereotypes about risk aversion and tolerance to inform any decision can lead to unintended consequences.?

Ninety-five percent of the risk preferences of men and women overlap. Yet, it will be erroneous to say that there are no differences at all between the genders. There's a wide variation among men and women within each gender depending on whether they are single and married or young and old.?

It's also important to understand the context and type of risk that explain any behavior. Research shows that when under stress, men make riskier decisions than women. Women are better at evaluating their behavior in hindsight — which can better inform future decisions surrounding risk.

Evidence points to the relationship between gender and risk-taking during decision-making in the board. Organizations with a critical mass of women board members tend to approach risk more holistically. As a result, in some ways, they can squeeze a little more value out of decisions.

According to the International Monetary Fund, incrementing a company's board by just one woman member can be linked with a higher return on assets while keeping the board size unchanged. In addition, having women on corporate boards can also reduce the risk of fraud substantially.?

The future of technology is FEMTech.?In recent years the technological field has taken revolutionary steps to balance out gender disparities. The tech world needs the perspective of more women tech founders if we're going to tackle some of the biggest challenges impacting us, from 'Food Systems' to the 'Future of Family,'

It has led to the emergence of a female-centric technology market or FEMTEch, with the development of tech solutions to respond to the specific needs of women. Therefore, there is merit in considering how increasing the involvement of women in the workforce might lead to a wholesome digital product and better human-centric tech solutions.

With the increasing participation of women, the problem-solving abilities of teams can improve. In addition, greater diversity of experience and new perspectives can translate into more human-centric approaches while solving problems.?

Men, too, must benefit

The response to the feminist movement from men has been a rather mixed one. Some are supportive, while some are antagonistic. Many times, the feminists, too, have taken a hardline, sometimes even a separatist stance. However, if we see the challenge of achieving gender equality as resting exclusively with women and ignore the socialization with men within the patriarchal system, we would make a grave mistake.?

Gender inequality remains a significant concern for both women and men as it strongly impacts their daily lives. However, it should not be contextualized mainly as a "women's issue" – solely because women have been at the forefront of gender equality struggles.

And striving for equality alone won't just improve society's treatment of women and girls: Men, too, must benefit.

We still live in a man's world. Research reveals that when men advocate for gender equity, their efforts are taken more seriously. To change the status quo, men may have a greater responsibility to work towards it, as a group with more power, influence, and capital than women.?

The way together is the way forward

The general perception that women's rights are gained at the expense of men's is far from the truth. There's now plenty of evidence demonstrating that quality of life improves for everyone in more gender-equal societies, not just for women. Men also benefit as they are half as likely to be depressed, less likely to commit suicide, and have a 40 percent lower risk of dying a violent death.

It is also true that the way together is the way forward. And men, as allies working alongside women, need to act by placing women ahead of them – to signal not only that they are the good guys or because it is just morally but also because it is in their enlightened self-interest.

By standing up and being vocal about the rights of girls and women and fulfilling the aspirations of the ordinary women on the street, men will truly measure up as gentlemen.

?(Excerpts of my address delivered at International Research Summit AVLOKAN on "Redefining Social Responsibilities and Ethical Leadership" organized by Centre for Management Studies, JAIN (Deemed to be University) on 3 August 2021. The views expressed are personal.