Unpacking Gender and Gendered Leadership

Faculty Members Present: Asha Kaul (AK) Navdeep Mathur (NM) Shruti Sharma (SS) Sharon Barnhadt (SB) Pavan Mamidi (PM) Ankur Sarin (AS) Kavitha Ranganathan (KR) Neharika Vohra (NV)

Here is a brief overview of the hour long event that was conducted successfully. Minutes of the meeting: The session was opened by Participant 1 at 6.05 pm with a brief introduction why WLS and why is there a need for the discussion Participant 2 extrapolated on the introduction - unpacking gender. The first comment was initiated by a participant who asked the house on the reason why the discussion was limited to the ambit of women only? Why not transgenders? We have not defined the problem properly. Another participant argued the need to discuss means of achieving gender equity. Women have preconceived notions in their mind. AK: Its not that women cannot, but they have to choose when it comes to family/work. KR: There is a need for an enabling environment AS: Where do we locate this discussion institutionally or at another level? SS: Lets discuss about experiences P5: Resistance from student community for the formation of the club unbelievable! P6: Fear of speaking out in the first year. Linked to Stereotyping AK: How to help women in class discussions? One suggestion is that the faculty members should ask the students to respond only after thinking for a while. NV: Womens apprehensions in class participation may be more to do with being in a minority. P7: No responses from girls during one of the placecom presentations, which was noticed by the recruiters as well. P8: Why are we correlating CP with gender? It may be more due to an individuals abilities rather than a gender issue. P9: Probably women are more image conscious. So they hesitate to speak, since they think that others might perceive their points as foolish.

P10: (interrupting P9) Do women speak more during interviews? AK: No, both men and women equally blabber! P11: Is there an issue with the enabling environment? Has CP been a biasing factor? P12: Bias is not due to systems. AS: The ratio of male: female who apply for CAT is 70:30. NV: Not sure if girls not getting education at the primary level has anything to do with girls who enter IIM. P9: Many a time, points made by women are brushed aside during discussions (quotes an example from the ongoing discussion). AK: Why cant girls assert themselves? AS: Why are we imposing this burden on women, that they should assert themselves to be heard? P13: How many women make a cartel in organizations to help other women? Men are quite good at that. SS: Women mentors helped in my university. Networking with women can help. P1: This was one of the objectives of WLS. But this need was questioned during the club formation. P14 asserted on the apprehensions women have about standing in elections P15 responded saying that the issue may be just in the minds of women. Institute is a good enabler. CP and being a general secretary may not be a gender issue. Not just women, even men have these issues. P16: Why are you trying to hide your apprehensions that you had while canvassing for votes? You told that there was definitely a gender bias during election time (in some male dorms). NV: Two women told me that they talk only in my class because I gave them more time to speak. P10: Even I had confidence issues during first year elections, so cant attribute it to gender. P17: Could we include women who are not confident? WLS should focus on including them in its activities. P18: WLS should not become like SPCDC. P19: WLSs activities are on a broad scale and not at the micro level. P20: WLS is required. Research suggests that reverse discrimination occurs when minority groups raise their voice for example, men might feel they dont have a men leadership society. P21: Read about a research where people were asked to describe the characteristics of healthy young male, female and adult. Surprisingly, the characteristics of a healthy young adult matched with that of the healthy young male and not female. AK: Is it possible for gender sensitization? On a monthly basis?

P22: This might be a systemic issue. Groups allotted during slot 1 where only one girl is put in a group may have restricted the participation of women on an even platform. Even the random seating arrangement could have had some impact (several professors agreed with this point). P1 closes the session at 6.58 pm by thanking all those who attended the event. The discussion brought, for the first time, both faculty and students together for an open conversation on gender dynamics in the campus. The motive was to allow people to open up and the selection of a broad topic of discussion probably helped to achieve that objective. WLS is planning similar panel discussions on specific topics from next month onwards.