It’s also a woman’s world

By Dipshikha Ghosh, Opinion Editor

GRAPHIC: LIM PEI YI

When I was doing a short stint at one of the top advertising firms in the country, I was put under the wing of an enterprising young woman named Emily.

I was in awe of how Emily was such a competent team leader. In a male-dominated work environment and industry, she could more than hold her own with the best of them.

It was perhaps unsurprising that Emily rapidly rose through the ranks. According to a 2012 Harvard Business Review report, women scored higher than men in 12 out of the 16 measures of outstanding leadership. Women were found to be more nurturing which led to stronger relationship bonds with both colleagues and clients.

Women, it seems, are wired to succeed in the workplace. And yet, women like Emily remain among the minority in modern society.

This disparity is particularly pronounced in Asia. An article published by BBC in November last year hit close to home when it reported that more women in Singapore take up Chief Executive positions than anywhere else in Asia. The statistic, as it turned out, was a paltry 15 per cent. Furthermore, only eight per cent of female employees make it into the boardrooms.

A possible reason for this phenomenon is that Asian women are still measured against traditional moulds of success as dutiful wives and nurturing mothers.

We have not shaken off the notion of a collectivistic society
where the role of the woman is in the house with her children. When a woman leaves the house to make her dreams come true, she is often considered bossy, intimidating or my personal favourite — selfish.

Against this backdrop, it is no wonder that while more women are now moving up the corporate ladder, the majority of top positions in the world are still overwhelmingly held by men.

Growing up in a traditional Indian family, I was told that success lay at the end of the road most taken. I wondered whether my mother would have been happy for me if I had become as successful as my lady boss. She probably would have — Emily was objectively doing very well for herself. But my mother would also have wanted me to get married and start a family.

My success in the corporate world cannot come at the cost of
me performing my duties as wife and mother.

In a meritocratic society like Singapore, this presents the modern Asian women with the illusion that they can have everything if only they work hard for it. This makes failure to juggle both home and work even more crushing. Inability to balance both demands is often perceived as a personal failing.

This is why when an Asian woman makes it in a male-dominated position, her existence in itself begins to feel like activism — against the patriarchy, against stereotypes and against all those times we were made to believe that we were not doing enough.

But until Asian women are freed from the persecution of social norms and expectations, our achievements will continue to be measured by our novelty — and not our ability.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Nanyang Chronicle on March 7, 2016, with the headline ‘It’s also a woman’ world’. Print Edition