A discussion on the role of women in shaping work environment set the tone for the second day of the Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest here today.
A panel discussion "Skirting the Issue" focused on whether women create a work environment, which is more collaborative than competitive.
Chaired by R Gopalakrishnan, Director of Tata Sons, the discussion panel comprised Karine Bates, anthropology professor from Canada; Usha Sangwan, Managing Director, Life Insurance Corporation and independent management consultant Rama Bijapurkar.
"Women are game changers with their strong attributes that include intuition and collaboration. They weigh the situation and accordingly compete. They balance between being collaborative and competitive," said Bijapurkar.
Advocating for a more gender-neutral attitude, she urged women, who enter the corporate world through reservation, to carve their niche and prove their mettle.
Bates, said, "In today's age of neo-liberalism, there is a paradigm shift of the theory of evolution. It is no longer about survival of the fittest but rather survival of the most adaptable. The reason women are moving up the hierarchical ladder is not only because they are competing aggressively but also because they are adapting to the changing professional norms."
Sangwan cited reasons that factor a mutually exclusive relation of competition and collaboration that women bring to the table in a corporate world. "The contextual priority between family and profession is inherently balanced by women as they are mature and flexible to adapt according to the situation," she said.
"The competitiveness in women is circumstantial, they can be competitive yet collaborate harmoniously when required.
They succeed in their lives because they are highly intuitional and flexible," Gopalakrishnan said.
"In terms of equality, the focus should rely on social norms as opposed to biological dichotomy. Women should be employed not because the corporate world has to comply to reservation code but basis their legitimacy and their merit," Gopalakrishnan said.
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