The Indian School of Business Weblog » Women in Business Club http://isbweblog.com The ISB Students' Blog Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:09:44 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Women in Business http://isbweblog.com/2009/07/24/women-in-business/ http://isbweblog.com/2009/07/24/women-in-business/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:33:30 +0000 Class of 2010 http://isbweblog.com/?p=1425

“One day, during my last semester of MTech in Bangalore, I came across a notice in college which read: Telco Pune wants young, bright, hard working engineers. Lady students need not apply.

The last line jolted me. Why this discrimination? I bought a post card which I addressed to JRD Tata and wrote: ‘I am surprised and ashamed at your attitude toward women students’. A week later I received a letter asking me to attend an interview at Telco at their expense.

The creditable panel interviewed me for 2 1/2 hours asking purely technical questions which I answered. At the end, one of the panel members, Satyapalli Sarvamurthy, who later became my boss, explained why they did not want ladies at Telco. ‘We spend considerable time and energy training people. This is wasted when a girl trainee gets married as she quits and goes to live with her husband’.

Yes, I will leave to live with my husband when I get married but unlike a boy who might leave them if he gets an additional 100 rupees at a rival company, I will not quit Telco even if I am offered huge sums of money. I assured them my loyalty.”    - Excerpts from Sudha Murthy’s interview to SAVVY, August 2000.

Though it would not be accurate to typecast based on gender, men and women typically have different motivations and different expectations.

  • Why is it important for managers, strategists, and policy makers to understand and appreciate these differences?
  • Would an understanding of these differences help managers motivate their teams better?
  • Would a corporate policy that addresses these differences help in retaining talent within the organization and avoid ‘Diversity hiring’?
  • How serious an issue is gender discrimination in organizations and what are its impacts?
  • Why does the percentage of women decrease as we move up the corporate ladder?

Looking for answers? So are we……

- Malini Krishna SS (class of 2010)

Women in Business Club

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