That ceiling is ‘crass’, not glass

Society owes it to everyone that this ceiling is brought down at once, writes Preethi Nagaraj

With March setting in, summer’s officially upon us. The sun is more like burning than shining. The not-so-pleasant summers here in India are not as half romantic as the West makes it out to be. Also, come March, in the last decade or so, we have a lot of companies and organisations planning their Women’s Day ‘package’. Much like all other rose-tinted and feeding-the-mighty-consumerism ‘days’ such as V day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Friendship Day so on and so forth, Women’s Day has been deliberately and conveniently painted pink. And oh, add glitter too!

Forget the struggles women fought for better work conditions and equal wages; ever since Women’s Day was first introduced to the corporate world it has predictably turned it into more about chocolates, spa, and roses, than reality.

According to the recent list of Women CEOs heading Fortune 500 companies, just about 7.4% women held the top roles. Mid management may have better participation, but that’s again a very small solace. To be happy at that would be a crime mostly. And the worst news is these numbers are rapidly shrinking. The numbers of brown and coloured women affected by gender disparity owing to this are nothing short of alarming.

Globally, Covid-19 has dealt a heavy blow to the percentage of women in corporate companies and the unorganised sector. Gender parity has slowed down owing to the pandemic-induced crash of markets. But a study relating to this topic by McKinsey speaks about the opportunity to create (all) gender-balanced and flexible workplaces.

About 13% lesser women are now looking for work as opposed to pre-pandemic days. Urban women have suffered considerably as well. By November last year, when phased reopening started, 13% of women didn’t return to jobs because the jobs didn’t exist for them. While this number was a mere 2% for men.

But hang on. While this data may be telling us the grim picture of how the workplaces would work for our girls and other gendered persons in the future, the post-pandemic world will have to take a relook at how it has remained consistently anti-women in its work environs.

All this has been much discussed and will continue to be discussed for several decades more. As younger generations become aware of how their chromosomes defy their potential because society cannot better itself, things will have to be questioned.

In rural India, a woman’s gender makes her a pair of breasts, butt and a vagina. In urban India, it still works the same, except urban India uses technology to send nudes.

How else would you celebrate the acquittal of a journalist Priya Ramani who was allegedly harassed by her super successful former boss who wrote the fates of powerful politicians? It’s a minuscule milestone. She had many voices echo her words. But then here we are. We need to celebrate this feat. Sexual harassment is another ‘ceiling’ that blocks the road for women.

Because in the real world, that ceiling is a rock that sits between women and the high chairs. I have no complaints against those who would employ their gender to get what they want. Men need to be careful, just as society tells the women to ‘watch out’.

Hey, that ceiling above is not glass. It’s just crass. Society owes it to everyone that this ceiling is brought down at once.

(The author is a journalist deeply seeped into the theatre of (&) politics.)