(Author: Snehil Basoya is a second year PGP student at IIM Ahmedabad)
A leadership society, by students in IIM Ahmedabad, for students of IIM Ahmedabad, seems almost an irony. The best management institute of the country is fostering leaders for the world for more than 50 years, isn’t it? The inception of a leadership society as a student-run club might be perceived as doubting the very existence of IIM Ahmedabad, wherein harbouring leadership is an intrinsic objective of the teaching pedagogy!
When it boils down to a leadership society for women, questions increase manifold. Is Women Leadership Society meant to focus on women as a special need-based group? Are women a ‘group’ that need to be taken care of separately? Agreed, that there exist theories and perceptions about lesser opportunities for women in Indian corporate environment. But is it actually true? Even if the answer is yes, is it not because of lesser number of women in top institutes of the country in the first place, rather than a seemingly observed dearth of opportunities?
Though women are a minority in B-Schools and work, are they actually being marginalized? To say they are not, it requires actual research and data. To say that they are, well that simply requires an acceptance of a common perception. If this phenomenon does occur, what will a student society achieve in an institute which is made to foster leadership in the first place? They talk about sensitizing the campus. Aren’t the brightest students of the country already ‘sensitized’?
The requirement of WLS was first felt through responses by women in the campus on questions asked about the issues faced by them at workplace and college campuses prior to joining IIMA. In the context of Indian businesses, the share of women in the workforce is still at a nascent stage, where women are either in minority or primarily in non-leadership roles. The social aroma in the country has, over the years, led to a male dominated corporate set-up, which is gradually changing and is trying to evolve rapidly. That is a major reason why women are being treated as a separate entity to focus upon.
As more and more women enter the crystal offices in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore, there is a need to understand the possibilities of changing dynamics. India is in a learning stage, and IIM Ahmedabad, as thought-leaders, should take the responsibility to facilitate this learning.
There are hundreds of questions which curious and sensitive minds across the campus think about, but these questions need to come out in the open and be discussed! Why do women stop themselves during their way up the corporate ladder? What is their future, their dilemmas, trade-offs and choices after marriage? Are women being treated as a different species in Indian offices with respect to men, or is it just a self-assumed myth – a result of male dominated cabins and board rooms? How are women treated in jobs? Is there discrimination? Are they treated too sympathetically instead? Or is the management indifferent to their gender?
What do women want from their jobs?
And more importantly, what do Indian jobs want from women?
Leadership starts from the individual, from the dorm rooms and from the campus itself. Why has the institute never had a woman general secretary? Why are women unwilling to take up leadership positions within the campus itself? If it is true, then what are the reservations behind their decisions? If it is false, then why is such a perception present? Do men in the campus perceive and accept women around them as future leaders? And are women ready to accept themselves as leaders?
WLS does not aim to ‘fight’ or ‘argue’ for equal rights for genders. Such a doubt of equality does not exist in the first place! We presume that in a campus like IIMA, opportunities and infrastructure are undoubtedly equal and the issue of genders and their equality, if it exists, does not lie within the purview of this society. What it aims to achieve is a sensitization towards changing needs and opinions of women, who are willing to be the future leaders of the country. The sensitization needs to be achieved through a dialogue which has been, ironically, absent in the campus for years. And this dialogue has become absolutely crucial in the most premier institute of the Indian economy, an economy which is transitioning every day!
The society aims to bring forth platforms where the inhibitions and aspirations of students merge with the opinions and views of the community on such issues of relevance.
A leadership society, by students in IIM Ahmedabad, for students of IIM Ahmedabad, seems almost an irony. The best management institute of the country is fostering leaders for the world for more than 50 years, isn’t it? The inception of a leadership society as a student-run club might be perceived as doubting the very existence of IIM Ahmedabad, wherein harbouring leadership is an intrinsic objective of the teaching pedagogy!
When it boils down to a leadership society for women, questions increase manifold. Is Women Leadership Society meant to focus on women as a special need-based group? Are women a ‘group’ that need to be taken care of separately? Agreed, that there exist theories and perceptions about lesser opportunities for women in Indian corporate environment. But is it actually true? Even if the answer is yes, is it not because of lesser number of women in top institutes of the country in the first place, rather than a seemingly observed dearth of opportunities?
Though women are a minority in B-Schools and work, are they actually being marginalized? To say they are not, it requires actual research and data. To say that they are, well that simply requires an acceptance of a common perception. If this phenomenon does occur, what will a student society achieve in an institute which is made to foster leadership in the first place? They talk about sensitizing the campus. Aren’t the brightest students of the country already ‘sensitized’?
The requirement of WLS was first felt through responses by women in the campus on questions asked about the issues faced by them at workplace and college campuses prior to joining IIMA. In the context of Indian businesses, the share of women in the workforce is still at a nascent stage, where women are either in minority or primarily in non-leadership roles. The social aroma in the country has, over the years, led to a male dominated corporate set-up, which is gradually changing and is trying to evolve rapidly. That is a major reason why women are being treated as a separate entity to focus upon.
As more and more women enter the crystal offices in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore, there is a need to understand the possibilities of changing dynamics. India is in a learning stage, and IIM Ahmedabad, as thought-leaders, should take the responsibility to facilitate this learning.
There are hundreds of questions which curious and sensitive minds across the campus think about, but these questions need to come out in the open and be discussed! Why do women stop themselves during their way up the corporate ladder? What is their future, their dilemmas, trade-offs and choices after marriage? Are women being treated as a different species in Indian offices with respect to men, or is it just a self-assumed myth – a result of male dominated cabins and board rooms? How are women treated in jobs? Is there discrimination? Are they treated too sympathetically instead? Or is the management indifferent to their gender?
What do women want from their jobs?
And more importantly, what do Indian jobs want from women?
Leadership starts from the individual, from the dorm rooms and from the campus itself. Why has the institute never had a woman general secretary? Why are women unwilling to take up leadership positions within the campus itself? If it is true, then what are the reservations behind their decisions? If it is false, then why is such a perception present? Do men in the campus perceive and accept women around them as future leaders? And are women ready to accept themselves as leaders?
WLS does not aim to ‘fight’ or ‘argue’ for equal rights for genders. Such a doubt of equality does not exist in the first place! We presume that in a campus like IIMA, opportunities and infrastructure are undoubtedly equal and the issue of genders and their equality, if it exists, does not lie within the purview of this society. What it aims to achieve is a sensitization towards changing needs and opinions of women, who are willing to be the future leaders of the country. The sensitization needs to be achieved through a dialogue which has been, ironically, absent in the campus for years. And this dialogue has become absolutely crucial in the most premier institute of the Indian economy, an economy which is transitioning every day!
The society aims to bring forth platforms where the inhibitions and aspirations of students merge with the opinions and views of the community on such issues of relevance.