What are the issues that women professionals face in their organizations? What are the benefits they bring to the organization? How can organizations bring out the best from their women professionals? Here is my take.

© Priya Narayanan, Assistant Professor of Marketing, IIM Kozhikode. Views are personal.

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Now that the Women’s Day hoopla is done, it’s time for sensible views on women in business. This article is a collection of lists: the real issues faced daily by women in business; the real value that women add, over and beyond what regular employees aka men add; and the real action that everyone in business can take to realize the potential of women for their business success, and for justice in its most modern form. The article does not provide any advice to women, as most women are already taking several steps on their own, and non-contextual advice is often less than helpful.

Here are some real issues faced by women in business, daily and cumulatively, presented as quotes modified from my observations:

• “She does some really great work.” “Who?” “You know, that thin girl with long hair, always comes in pants?” “Ah, that one… I know her. Very thin. You say she does good work?” [All I have to say is: Talk about her work, she has a name, a department, a designation, she is more than her looks. What is that great work she did, tell us that.]
• “Let’s put her on the team, it’s all men now, can’t have that.” “Oh, yes, we need a woman there.” [No, she doesn’t want to be on the team because she is a woman. She reached here on her professional capabilities and that is how she will move forward. Not by being pushed forward because she has the right/wrong gender.]
• “Ask her for the venue, she must be the secretary.” [Try asking the male boss whether he is the secretary. And stop making assumptions on who’s the boss based on who is wearing the pants, to use that crass old cliché.]
• “Let’s do it this way: you can do the overview, you have a commanding presence. Then she can give the preliminary explanation. You can then explain the analysis, better that the numbers come from the guy.” [She can command even better, if you will just let her. And if she did the analysis, she very well knows how to present it.]
• “Oh, don’t give that piece to her. She can’t do it. It needs an all-nighter.” “Oh, yeah, I forgot that. Her kid is just three!” “Exactly. Let’s save her and ourselves the headache.” [Did you ask her if she could do it? Did you check if it could be done without an all-nighter if you, as the leader, plans better? Did you ask what her ways of peak effort are? Most importantly, did you ask what support from your part will enable her to do this piece?]

Next, here are some real benefits that women (to that extent, anyone from an out-group) can bring to the table. To make sense of the below list, it is important to note that (as research shows), in general, women are more other-oriented (less self-oriented), less risk loving, more empathetic, and more collaborative (less competitive) than men. Note that I do say, in general.

• Novel perspective: Academic research shows that in-group members are more likely to engage in group think, and out-group members think differently, leading to novel views during old discussions. However, if yours is an organization that thrives on the comfort of artificial consensus, and/or prevents novel views from women, it is difficult to appreciate and gain from this benefit.
• “Both” instead of “either-or”: Women (also out-group members and people who have had diverse and difficult experiences in life) see the world as more complex (as I learnt from Prof. Joseph L. Badaracco of Harvard Business School, during a leadership talk held by IIM Ahmedabad recently) and bring a different stance as negotiators: they are more equipped to see how a middle path is possible.
• Empathy: Their other-oriented nature makes women more empathetic, and enables a more positive and supportive organizational culture for everyone. Women also help build relationships better, be it with customers, suppliers, partners, or other stakeholders. Of course, this argument is built on the premise that the organization enables women to perform their tasks well.
• Lower risk appetite: That women are less risk loving is well-known. For organizations, this means that women leaders take more calculated risks, especially under stress. Consider, for example, the finding that “males take more risk and females take less risk under stress.”

So what is the real action that organizations can take? Many organizations are taking laudable measures, and this list is intended to be a reminder rather than an exhaustive set of possibilities.

• Ask her what support she needs. Childcare, relocation needs like finding a home, and flexible work hours are just basic commonsense support. Go beyond this and ask how you can support the women in your organization where it matters: networking meetings (beyond all-women lunches), mentoring, sponsoring, and active career support.
• Put the women where the action is, then support them. Take risks with your women, some will disappoint but some will fly beyond your limited imagination.
• Develop in your organization a space to make mistakes and learn, for everyone.
• Do not interrupt soft spoken women (particularly in virtual meetings and phone calls), it’s easy and surprisingly acceptable in many organizations, but it’s impolite and makes all talk of women empowerment an eyewash.
• Respect her style. Yes, even if it’s a style of work you have never seen before. It’s her way of doing things. She got here this way, she will go far this way, if you let her. Which means she might not be loud, she might not do an all-nighter, she might cry, she might worry about her baby, she might be hysterical, she might be anything that you haven’t seen. And yet, she might do better than anyone who has held that job before.
• View your women professionals as individuals. The stereotype of a woman professional is just that, a crude approximation that is useless at best and harmful at worst. The woman who is good at taking decisions might not be great at delegating, but that has nothing to do with being a woman. Every person brings a mix of skills. Stop viewing her as just another modification of the woman stereotype.

There’s an old Malayalam saying which loosely translates to: anything that a disliked child touches is cause for blame. If your organization or team is not ready to appreciate the real benefits that a qualified woman brings to the organization, do not rot her life by taking her onboard and then leaving her to figure it out on her own. And dear woman professional, if you have a choice, give of yourself only to those organizations where your value is recognized and your pathway is supported in multiple ways.

The final word: figure out, as an organization or team, what the business benefit of having women on the team is. If you can figure out the benefit, recruit women and help them bring the best of themselves. If you want to play a role in carrying out justice in its most modern form, justice to a subtly but heavily marginalized section of society, support your women professionals. Otherwise, stay away! Women are not for you, regardless of what your posters say on Women’s Day.

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