Working women's woes in India

New Delhi: Manpreet Bawa accepted the offer of setting up a training division for a multinational in California months before America formally plunged into recession. Two years on, her husband is yet to find a job and the burden of managing life in a new country rests on her shoulders.

Cracks are appearing in her marital life as equations in the relationship change. She is in a Catch 22 situation. Neither can she return to India in the immediate future, nor is she sure as to where her personal life is headed. The only thing she is certain about is that she does not want to jeopardise her very successful career at any cost.

As she argues: "At least one thing has to be right in your life. In my case, it is my job and I intend to maintain that. For the rest, there is only so much I can do and no more."

According to International Labour Organisation's report on Global Employment Trends for Women, 2007, more than 40% (1.2 billion) of the global labour force is represented by women, 18.4% (200 million) more than a decade ago.

While 36.1% of these women work in agriculture, 46.3% are in services, driving employment trends, plugging gender gaps in labour force participation and leading strong entrepreneurial initiatives.

The big question according to Seema Khanna, President, Association for Social Welfare and Human Development, a Delhi-based NGO, is this: While women are doing much more than ever before, have they achieved gender equality? Are things better for them professionally and personally, more so since success is supposed to lead to higher self-esteem and happiness?

The study

A recent study undertaken by the NOIDA-based V.V. Giri National Labour Institute (VVGNLI) on Working Women in Urban India: Concerns and Challenges by Seema Khanna and Shashi Bala, Associate Fellow, examined the psycho-social aspects of a working woman's life in metropolitan centres.

It has covered the education, media, aviation and hospitality sectors in its first phase. Nearly 200 exhaustive interviews mapped the respondents' career growth, pay scale, nature of job, challenges and personal life equations, analysing and probing challenges, insecurities and vulnerabilities in their new work schedules.

The survey was carried out from February 2008 till March 2009. It tracked the entry and middle levels of professional women in the age group of 20-40 years, though there were about 20% from the senior bracket who were 40-plus.

While the study – a collaborative effort of Association for Social Welfare and Human Development and the VVGNLI – looked at women in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata, its main focus was on Delhi since it has a large number of IT and media professionals.

There are plans to elaborate on the study with more exhaustive surveys being worked out for other cities as also work sectors, to get a more in-depth understanding of the issues that working women face.

In current survey has tackled equal remuneration, access to training, night work, promotions and maternity protection and sexual harassment.

Also, safe working conditions, gender friendly policies, flexible timings, crèche facility, existence of trade unions (men and women's role) and addressing complaints and grievances have been highlighted.

Making a mark

According to Khanna: "Women are putting to good use their education, experience and ambition to make it big in their professions. But parallel to this success are two things: Concerns over safety and security and a not-so-smooth personal life."

Women in the media, especially television, felt that if there was lesser gender bias in their profession it was not because men had got more evolved, rather because women were more visible, handling all functions of production, direction, conceptualisation and business development, besides anchoring.

A few years ago, one could have attributed a lone woman's success to sexual favours granted to the boss, but not today.

"There will be women, just as men, who exploit their sexuality to skip rungs of the corporate ladder. But one can no longer make such politically incorrect accusations," says Kaveri Tritha, anchor with a regional television channel.

Safety of women reporters zoomed into focus with the murder of the Delhi-based television journalist, Soumya Vishwanathan of Headlines Today, earlier this year.

The study pointed out that while women had the flexibility of coming in to work by noon, their return could be anywhere between 8 pm and 2 am, making them vulnerable to attacks from anti-social elements.

The balancing act

This also puts considerable strain on domestic relationships. In some intimate discussions, respondents shared concerns on condition of anonymity.

Here are some findings: Balancing the home and work front as they took on leadership roles at work at a young age was ruffling feathers; the institution of marriage was taking a backseat, with the age of marriage having gone up from 22-24 to 28-34 years; and women were postponing having children.

Husbands were increasingly insecure, with most arguments being around late working hours and the manner in which the woman was running the house and managing the children.

According to Bharti Vadhera, 40, a twice-divorced advertising professional: "Men have always been uneasy about a woman's economic independence. The only difference now is that women are no longer prepared to live with it. So while some end up taking a divorce many are moving back with parents, taking a transfer out of the city or living alone and/ or getting involved in other serious relationships with married or single men, usually at the work place."

Safety and security

However, safety was the paramount concern of all the working women interviewed. Most insisted that organisations ensure their safety – especially that of women working the late night shifts. But another thought was expressed in this regard.

Asked Meera Menon, a retired principal who resides in Siddharth Enclave, Delhi: "Though making the city and workplace safer for women through responsive and innovative systems is the need of the hour, what about crime that emanates from familiar ranks in the lives of independent working women?"

Two recent cases in the capital chillingly highlight how a working woman is an easy target for anyone - her employer, friend and, of course, the auto driver, chowkidaar, and local hoodlum/ criminal.

A girl working for Salient, a BPO in Delhi, was raped by her team leader in August while being dropped home in the company cab. They both stayed in the same area. En route she felt thirsty and he offered her a glass of water laced with sedatives. She had no recollection of what happened subsequently but medical tests confirmed rape.

In another incident, a reality show aspirant killed a family friend who refused to fund his modeling portfolio. Both hailed from the same town in Punjab. She had a good job in Delhi and allowed her friend to stay with her until he found a place of his own. He moved out but kept returning for small sums of money. Just before the murder he had taken up a house in the same area as hers and was pestering her for a larger sum of money. On being denied this he attacked her, forced her to surrender her debit card and then, in fear of being exposed, strangled her to death.

While both these women lived alone, confident that they could manage independently, the fact is they were violated by people they knew and trusted.

"So perhaps it is not just about employers and local police departments spreading a security net, it has also to do with women being vigilant themselves," said Mayuri Shah, President of the Resident Welfare Association in Mayur Vihar, Delhi.

Unless women become cautious and learn to handle their independence, no amount of corporate or local security intervention is going to secure their lives.