Women Empowerment - A new buzzword
From Edward Bernays’ “Torches of Freedom” to Mary Barra (CEO of General Motors), empowered women have come a long way. They have had a long struggle in the business. It has been a tale of persistence and continuous struggle that earned women leadership roles in modern business. The number of women CEOs in the Fortune 500 is at an all-time high in 2017. Last year, it had just 21 women CEOs on the list, however, there are 11 more women CEOs working in the elitist club of the business. There are now 32 women CEOs working in Fortune 500. Moreover, a recent study says that Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women on boards financially outperform companies with the lowest representation of women on boards. These are the facts but from another world.
Corporate Gurus’ Opinion
Corporate sector has established some rules to run its operations worldwide. According to their charter, MNCs have to give a certain number of opportunities and roles to the women. They have to do it to maintain a balance in the system and to create a positive ‘word of mouth’ in the industry. For this word of mouth, we find seasoned professionals speaking about the importance of empowering women at workplace in various town hall meetings, seminars and mass media appearances. They share their experiences of having strong women in their teams. And that it had a positive impact on the business. They appreciate women’s ability to take critical decisions, their quality of developing a strong bond within the teams as they can empathize with their team members better than their male co-workers. They believe that women are emotionally intelligent, they are focused and multitasking comes to them naturally. They claim that women too understand the business well and run it professionally. And that they are giving better results in all of the domains of the business, including the areas where they were not being welcomed before. Ignoring women means, the organization is not using its workforce intelligently. And gender biasness is against the core values of almost every organization. With these arguments, “those seasoned professionals” suggest to empower women and to trust them more than the past.
Similarities in Women Empowerment and Movement of Socialism
This entire wave of glorifying women empowerment reminds me of Socialism of 70s. Supporting Socialism was in fashion then. Society would appreciate you for understanding international politics, business dynamics and especially for being a “pro-poor gentleman” who would raise his voice against the “cruel” capitalists. Socialism was in the print media, televisions, seminars, politics, legislation, and in the movies. “Mazdoor” was the hero. Businessman was the villain. It was a perfect formula for blockbuster movies. This is one side of the picture. The other side of the picture depicts that the biggest beneficiary of this wave was none other than the capitalist himself. He would pull strings of all of the channels and would earn biggest share from the blockbuster movies as a biggest investor. And “Mazdoor” would remain a “Mazdoor” after getting a couple of rights that would satisfy him but won’t earn him a comfortable life.
This is exactly what the case with Woman Empowerment is. Capitalist gets the biggest piece of the cake. What socialism did to the Mazdoors of 70s, women empowerment is doing to the women of the 21st century. Just like socialist movement, woman empowerment too has become a buzzword. Speaking for it is more of a fashion. Organizations and professionals are talking about it and getting fame, trusting their abilities, highlighting their success stories and earning positive word of mouth. They are being liked and appreciated by many for raising voice for women’s rights and offering them opportunities at the highest level.
Mainstream cinema of Bollywood too has shifted its focus to women empowerment. There is a long list of movies that revolve around women, their influence, role and strong will. Pink, Secret Superstar, Dangal, and Toilet are to name a few. However, Badrinath ki Dulhania and Inkaar are more about strong business women. This very movement of women empowerment hit Pakistani industry too and the likes of Verna, Punjab Nahi Jaon Gi, Mehrunisa V Lub U and Dukhtar are portraying powerful roles of empowered women. Conditioning the society is at full swing but for the right reasons.
Corporate Culture and Women
“Culture eats strategies for breakfast”, they say. And culture has almost eaten this new buzzword already. Unstructured strategy is there, word of mouth is there, volunteers are there, and C-Level go-ahead too is there however a conducive environment and a supportive culture are missing.
What this culture misses out on women empowerment is the dilemma that it has about women’s role at home, in society, and in the office. There are just a few exceptions in corporate sector where women are “somehow” being given empowerment in its true sense and that too in the three major cities of Pakistan, that include Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. However, women from rest of the cities struggle, even for the basic rights that a corporate employee deserves. Empowerment or empowered roles are miles away from them.
The Society
In a male chauvinist world, working women continue to struggle in various parts of their professional lives. There are many that are not being considered as an issue. Workplace harassment is something that most of the women face but in most of the cases they do not report and if they do, they are supposed to face a lot of unnecessary criticism on their character. There are fewer opportunities and those that are available to them are plagued with character assassination. Those who get promoted are not forgiven for performing well and are simply tagged as boss’ “favorite”. Even equality is missing and equity is a word unknown to many in the corporate sector.
Beyond Corporate
Apart from corporate sector, working women’s life is even more miserable. Work-life balance does not exit. There are absolutely no or very few daycare centers. Flexible hours are not really flexible, even if they are being offered. “Work from home” doesn’t work. Maternity leaves are either unavailable or absolutely insufficient and paid leaves are hard to find. Managers avoid hiring pregnant women, and some of them ask before giving an offer letter, if the candidate has any plans of having children in next couple of years. And if the response is positive then the candidate may not receive that offer letter despite being the best and 2nd in line would be offered job. Women with hijab are less likely to earn a job in most of the places. Coincidently, world economic forum data too indicates that women from the US, France and Germany are facing the same issues. Women in the entire world, except a few sectors, are not paid as much as males do, for performing similar tasks. In the US, women just 77 cents for each dollar that males earn in the same jobs and equal pay won't occur until 2056. Women get one third of the important assignments as compared to men. 53% women made it to the entry level employees, 40% managers, 35% directors, 27% vice president, 24% senior vice president, 19% as CEOs. In Pakistan, 28% of the total jobs are being done by women and 72% by men. The situation is even worst, in South Asia.
What to do…
From the women’s protest before Russian revolution to the women’s protest in Iceland that happened in October 2016, women are struggling for rights. The later one was against offering fewer wages to the woman for doing exactly same task as men do. Working women of Iceland left the office at 2:48pm to get their protest registered. They were heard soon however, Pakistani women too are struggling for the same rights (except a few corporations) but the destination is far and away. Before ensuring women empowerment, equity should be ensured for the existing lot. And society too, has to provide a conducive environment. Only a man raised in an ‘unbiased environment’ would be able to exhibit it in the office.
The article has been published in Daily The Nation on 31st December 2017