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In 2003, a prominent Indian corporate honcho remarked that businesses couldn't be run by women, especially in India, as our system did not allow them to run multi-crore companies.

Ironically, just a year later, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw became India's wealthiest woman with a personal net worth of Rs. 1,920 crore. Her company, 'Biocon', was valued at $1.11 billion. Vidya Mohan Chhabria, Chairperson of the $2 billion Jumbo Group, and Naina Lal Kidwai, Vice-Chairperson and Managing Director of HSBC Securities and Capital markets, feature on the list of the 50 most powerful women in international business by Fortune magazine and so on.

Yet, a majority of Indian women business graduates do not pursue careers. Many start out positively, but find it difficult to navigate a terrain, which is designed for and by men. Women are seldom trained for this task in B-schools or at home. Men feel awkward at times while interacting with women, and women themselves feel threatened and isolated as they move out from the security of home and college in to an environment where they have to handle themselves independently and decisively.

Women must not let patronizing attitudes or remarks deter them and must let their work do the talking. Women must also guard themselves from playing helpless waifs or overdoing the 'femme fatale' persona in order to shirk work or get it done by 'chivalrous' male colleagues. It is a ground rule that women must separate their personal and professional lives. Unduly making gender-related excuses or using female sexuality to promote themselves pressurizes other women to follow suit and strengthens popular stereotypes.

The 'glass ceiling' phenomenon, which finds women world over stuck at middle-management is a result of men at the top hesitating to disturb the 'boy's club' atmosphere in boardrooms. They would do very well to realize that if a competent woman with the right credentials is available, she is very likely to be an asset to the corporation and not a hindrance.

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* Contributed by: -
Remya Mohan,
Alumnus of SCMHRD, Pune,
Currently preparing for the Civil Services Examination,
Published work in PIONEER and THE INDIAN EXPRESS.