Happy Women's Day!

First of all, Wishing all of you a very happy Women’s Day! On this special day, I would like to express some of my thoughts on Empowering women at Workplace. Why do women fail to express themselves, in forums where it actually matters? Why do women opt out of their careers, for the sake of spouse relocation/kids/marriage? Why do we have so few women leaders at the top? These were just a few questions, brewing in my mind. Recently, I happened to read a very good book by FB COO, Sheryl Sandberg. And this awesome book acted like my talisman, an answer to all my queries. In this book, she has mentioned that a mentor/sponsor is what every woman needs today at workplace, to guide her through all the turmoil associated with juggling work with home. And a supporting eco-system at home, be it a spouse who is open minded enough, to share the home work load with a smiling face and proactively or parents who encourage their daughter to fly high and move out from the comfort zone and give wings to her dreams. Without these two essential ingredients, it would be a difficult task for women to succeed at workplace. Another important point that Sheryl stressed upon is “The need to please people”. Women often, find themselves at the backseat of important meetings or programs because they have this inherent desire to please people, and hence refrain from making difficult decisions, that is crucial for the well being of the organization but might end up annoying some segment of folks. So women choose to “please” people at the cost of having a successful career. This constant war in her head, between popularity versus success, makes her hesitent and retrogressive. They would rather be popular and liked by everyone, than make tough decisions. We as women, should come out of this mental block and be fearless and assertive enough to make our presence felt and never be afraid to make our voices heard. Those were some of my thoughts, on Women’s day! Have a superb weekend!