PROUD TO BE A WOMAN

As I sit and write this, I know that I am proud of my existence and of my womanhood and would not have it any other way. I am proud to be a woman.

But how many other women are there who share this feeling?

Today, I don’t want to talk about how women are subjugated in society or analyze their situation from a feminist view point but rather examine how women can improve their own social standing and be taken seriously. There are those circumstance which cant be changed and those that can be by a simple adjustment of reaction and attitude. Its time for some serious introspection and I ask all you women out there to recognize the opportunities in and around you - You can if you believe you can.

Be prepared to reinvent yourself as that beautiful force of energy, which is very much what you were meant to be. Make your presence felt, voice your opinion and speak you against those customs and norms that bind you. We, women, need to be proud of our gender and should identify ourselves with pride, while expecting to be treated with respect and dignity. As Janis Joplin nicely puts it “Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.”

As a mother, teach your daughters’ that they are no less than men and your sons’ that a woman is no less than him. We ourselves are guilty of propagating the current injustice against the girl child if we support discrimination. In many developing countries such as India and the middle- east, the girl child is still considered a liability and a lot of women abort the female foetus. These women have been victims of gender discrimination themselves and do not want their child to endure the same. Furthermore, it has been often wired into the heads of these women that “bringing a male child into the family will ensure them a better status in the family. They view the birth of a boy as an avenue to improve their self worth.

But do they realize that by doing so they are indeed supporting the discrimination rather than fighting against it? This behavior is a reflection of how by being oppressed throughout their lives, they have stopped taking pride in being a woman.

It is a vicious circle that needs to be broken somewhere. A lot of it can be changed by educating women and by empowering them to become financially independent. So that girls can be treated more fairly, ensuring them a happy childhood complete with education minus forced labour or abuse of any form.

As a partner, empower yourself and stand up and speak out against physical and emotional abuse. Women accept physical abuse from men who not only physically humiliate them, but also "brainwash" women into believing that they're being beaten because of something that she has done. It's never the man’s fault, the woman makes him do it.

The woman needs to know that she has the power to stop this. Financial independence may be one of the ways to break the shackles of domestic abuse. A woman may not have anywhere safe to go and may not have the financial means to leave, but if she is self-supporting, it will be a different ball game altogether.

As an employer, treat your employees without gender bias and as an  employee trust your female leaders. Women leaders tend to trust their male sub-ordinates with more responsibility than female ones. Furthermore men and women both view male leaders as more effective than female leaders. (Rosen and Jerdee (1974a & b) .They believe that women do not have desirable task abilities. This goes to show, that women do not trust each other with responsibility. This perception is harmful in the context of what we are trying to achieve. Women need to trust each other before we can change the male perception towards them.

And finally: As a teacher and a spiritual guru, empower your followers with the spirit of equality. Learning, discipline, accomplishment and wisdom— are all qualities a step in the right direction.  Teach them to be human.

I ask you all to believe that you can indeed make a difference.  I call upon all you women out there to improve your present and to contribute to improving the present of those around you, which in turn will create a better future for our descendents, who can look at themselves in the mirror and say, “I am proud to be a woman and I feel worthy; I feel worthy of life”

I implore you to believe that you yourselves can make a difference and to this end I quote Margaret Mead who says “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

By Kanika Jain Sah

Women in Leadership: The Labyrinth

As a working professional progressing on her career path, like many other determined young women, I have an ambition to become a leader some day.  However, the obstacles and challenges that women face in their workplaces are many and widespread. These intensify as women climb the corporate ladder and maintaining these positions at the top of the ladder can be an arduous task. The “glass ceiling,” has been accepted for the last two decades as the largest obstacle to female advancement in the workplace.

Let us take a look at status quo - While many women like Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and the CEO of Coca Cola Indira Nui have gained access to influential positions, the number of top female executives still falls far behind the number of men in the same positions. Statistically, while women boastfully occupy 40% of all managerial positions in the United States, only 6% of the Fortune  500’s top executives are female. Furthermore, of those firms, just 2% have women CEOs.

This observed scenario brings the followings questions to mind- Are men simply better, more natural leaders? Are women’s careers compromised by their family demands and responsibilities at home?  Or is a historically developed perspective of viewing a man as a leader, make the general populace place more confidence in a man than in a women? Or are women lacking efficacy in their leadership styles?

The problem is originating from discrimination present at all levels, not just at the top of the pyramid. Women aren’t dealing with a just a glass ceiling at the top, they’re facing a labyrinth.

With the necessity to conform to two, often conflicting, sets of expectations, women leaders are relentlessly held to a higher standard than their male counterparts. Given this situation, women empowerment is the need of the hour.

If women are to claim their share of leadership positions, and to operate effectively within such positions, it is imperative that they be aware of these differential expectations. One issue that mean need to address in their leadership is to do as the competitive culture demands and sometimes even act against their own values. Women time and again have struggled with the issue of morality and authenticity – basically identifying with the different persona that they may need to don while in their leadership positions.

Another aspect to examine is the fact that a woman leader is expected to lead with more compassion. While a man who is assertive and exerts power over people working for him, is considered a strong leader, a woman doing the same on the other hand is perceived negatively. Women who lead with an autocratic style are disliked more than those who enact a more democratic style. Additionally, Women who promote themselves and their abilities are viewed negatively. This stems from the fact that such agentic behaviour is perceived to counter the societal perception of the female who is supposed to be supportive and caring. This mismatch of expectations often poses a dilemma for women leaders who need to develop the ability to filter out the biased feedback on their leadership skills and construe their strengths and address the weaknesses in their leadership roles. It is thus key for a woman leader to be assertive and strong yet gentle at the same time. This will lead to a wider acceptance of the female leader.

However, this same compassion can sometimes lead to a position of disadvantage in the competitive work culture. The more involved style of leadership can be in direct conflict with a highly competitive culture and jeopardize their credibility as a leader. Eagly and Carli (2007) explained  “men, more than women, can succeed merely by ‘being themselves’ because they match other people’s concepts of what leaders are like. Women face more complexity because they initially don’t seem as leader-like to others and may also have somewhat different values and attitudes than most of their male colleagues” (p. 173).

Women are sometimes perceived as loquacious and people like to use that as a justification for ignoring much of what women say. People do not listen to or take direction from women as comfortably as they do from men. Women struggle with not getting enough attention when they speak in meetings and their comments and suggestions. They may be ignored or belittled, while the same words coming from a man’s mouth may have more of an impact.Given all this, it is not surprising to learn that, in order for women leaders to be accorded any credibility, they need  by legitimation by another established leader.

Women in leadership positions, specially in male-dominated contexts are well aware of the Trojan task that they have undertaken. Nevertheless, they are driven by a sense of competence and of positive impact and the opportunity to empower others.

The actual number of women leaders can be increased over time. Organizations can accelerate this by increasing awareness among their employees.  Established leaders can endorse women who seek leadership roles. Influential journalists and feminists can help this cause by trying to change the perception of people. And last but not the least, as individuals; we can give these women leaders a chance by abandoning our hypocritical stance and by believing in them. A combination of development efforts made on women leadership in conjunction with a slow but steady societal perception change will hopefully bridge the gendered leadership gap.

Revolution: The new question mark on women's rights?

Samira is a nine year old girl in post-revolution Egypt who is deeply influenced by her mother’s stories. Her mother was an active participant in the protests that mobilized the revolution and ousted Mubarak from power. Samira turns to her mother and voices a dream which is the hidden aspiration of many Arabic women - 'Mother, when I grow up - I want to become the prime minister of Egypt.' 

Will Samira's dream ever come true? This is a question that is facing several women in these Arabic countries where the recent revolutions and the ensuing rise of the empowered Islamist parties are threatening to consume the rights of women and their contribution in a political capacity. What is promising to pose serious complications for women is the conservative outlook that these parties hold towards women. They contest existing pro-women laws on religious grounds. This brings us to the eternal question - Will the revolution actually erode women's rights rather than improving them? 

While activists hoped that with the ouster of the dictatorship of Mubarak in Egypt and Zine Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, patriarchal customs would recede, women would find a new political stature and that they would active members in the new democracy - recent events promise otherwise.  

Case in point is Egypt, where the post revolution period has shown women being targeted. As early as March last year, on International Women's day, women demonstrators on Tahrir square saw resistance from men who claimed that the women' demands were against Islam. The day after this demonstration, seventeen women were taken to the Egyptian museum where they were verbally and physically abused and given electric shocks. They were later also subject to forced 'virginity tests' which have been condemned by feminists all over. The most recent and insulting of these sexist abuses took place on Dec 17th, when a woman demonstrator was assaulted and dragged across Tahrir square, while the armed forces tried to pull her clothes off, while physically assaulting her.. These appear to be a series of targeted attacks on women to terrorize them and to keep them out of political protests. While women had bravely fought along with men during those eighteen days of uprising last January, their rights are being ignored in the post-revolution period. 

The story is no different when it comes to political elections. The Muslim Brotherhood and the Al Nour - the conservative Salafi party, though required to have women as their party representatives, have stated that this representation is anti-Islamic. Women's political participation appears to be targeted as the military has decided to eliminate a 64 seat quota that existed in the Mubarak era. 

Another interesting aspect is that a lot of pro-women laws which address issues such as marriage, custody and the like, are being called into question - the argument made is that since they belong to the illegitimate regimes of Mubarak and Ben Ali, they need to be changed.  

Let’s turn to Libya, where on Liberation day, Jalil pledged to uphold Islamic laws , specifically to legalize polygamy. Many women in Libya have expressed resentment towards this - the fact that a man no longer needs to seek written consent from his wife to marry another woman, undermines their dignity. They also feel that there were far more important issues that needed to be addressed on Liberation day rather than polygamy.  

Even Tunisia, where women have historically enjoyed more rights than their counterparts in other countries, seems to have an ambiguous future.. It is unclear what connotation the Islamist party Ennahda's coming to power holds. While Ennahda promises to respect women's rights, many secularists doubt these promises and believe that the party is trying to appease both the progressive voter as well as the conservative thinkers. There have been political debates on previously silenced issues such as polygamy and forcing women to stay at women, but there is a marked absence of women from these debates. What signal does that send? Is it a warning sign that the extent of liberty women have enjoyed in Tunisia is in danger? 

The impact that the Islamist rule will have in each of these three states will be very unique and determined by the culture and political bend of mind of the common populace. There is no better time for activists and feminists to come together and to speak out. 

Given the fluidity of the situation, it is only when each individual voices their opinion that the Arabic woman will be able to boast of sustainable rights in these emerging post-revolution countries - something that will determine their fate not only in the political world but in the society as a whole. Over the last couple of years, women have passionately led public demonstrations, launched social media campaigns and been a significant element in the upheaval of the illegitimate regimes. To sum it up, they have fought to overthrow their dictators, but the question of the hour is - Can they overthrow male dominance?

By Kanika Jain Sah