by which our sense of who we are, is socially constructed. Gender is one of them. The others are age, race, culture. Attitude is different as it is malleable while the others are not. You are born a woman or an Indian, you can’t change that.
There is no question that a younger woman will have a harder time dealing with an older male leader than an older woman who has more experience. Race intersects as well. The reason I talk about gender is it is sometimes overriding, that deep down people do believe that the world works better when men work and women stay at home with children. We are not just looking at the difference between a man and a woman but at under what circumstances they matter. Gender is an important demographic variable but again it is not so much demographic as cultural. It is not man or woman but masculine and feminine and it is the cultural pieces that are the differentiators. For example, for an American woman in business, to manage her successful career and personal life is really a big deal. I understand that in India for many women there is a greater need for a sense of balance and more time with family. Again there might be a woman in America who thinks of her work and personal life in the same way more like an Indian woman and vice versa. That is why I emphasise that it is more socially and culturally constructed and not based on mere demographics.
Do women lack hard skills and analysis?
I don’t think women managers

lack hard skills and analysis – some do, some do not. The new head of Pepsi Cola is an Indian woman and my guess is that she is pretty good at analysis and hard skills. When you have to deal with biased managers and play on uneven playing fields you can either strategise to work around such biases or you could internalise them, lose self esteem and get impaired by such stereotypes. Sometimes this internalisation is dangerous as women start seeing themselves as incompetent. I think it is more of a cultural problem that ingrains such biases. One may ask why is it that a woman has to strategize around, why can’t a man change his mind set. Well the consequences are going to be greater for her at the end of the day. That is why.

Confidence, aggressiveness and decisiveness – are they gender neutral traits?
They are all coded masculine. Not so much confidence, but rationality, aggressiveness, decisiveness are all privileged traits of people who occupy positions of leadership and power. For a woman, these traits create double binds. Traits like collaboration, nurturance, intuitiveness etc are coded feminine. If she takes up the masculine role, it is seen as not fit. When she acts in the feminine ways, her efforts are devalued. Successful women have found ways to work around it. They have found ways to be decisive and assertive without being aggressive.