Analysis: Human, Above All

Are men and women similar? My answer to that is, yes. Men and women are more similar than different. All men want a sense of purpose, want to be included in the decisions regarding their lives, to belong to groups, and be treated with dignity. I have not met a woman who does not want purpose, dignity, control or belonging. We live in a world that has to accept this universality. But unfortunately, our world — be it within our families or our organisations — does not accept this universal equality of rights. It places the rights of men above the rights of women, and this way of thinking creates a gender gap.

Gender gap is nothing but a measure of what women face in their everyday lives. The discrimination decreases women's access to health, decision-making and education, and places them at a risk for exploitation. The same discrimination that ignores foeticide, human trafficking, sexual abuse and violence at home also places lesser number of women in boardrooms of organisations. It is the same discrimination that Kartika is facing now.

Kartika, you are not alone. It is not your fault that your child was born prematurely. It is true that you were not allowed to really participate in this decision, but even that non-participation is not the cause of your child's difficulties. You do not have to justify anything to anyone. You are person, and you have the strength to cope with difficulties that you and your child face. You have a right to be angry with those who forced you into some decisions. But please do not reflect this anger unto your child. It is not his fault that he is born with difficulties. You have the right to expect support from your husband and from your organisation at this stage of your life. Your husband has an equal duty in care-giving, and your organisation will benefit from sustaining you as a resource. No one is doing you any favour.

Are men and women different? My answer to that, too, is yes. While men and women must have similar rights, how these rights are ensured will be different. There is uniqueness in the way our needs are met. This uniqueness is also a right.

Also, centuries of discrimination have left women exploited and unequal. If equality has to be achieved now, differential measures would need to be taken.

I agree with Amrita that American policy on gender diversity may not serve the purpose in the Indian context. An organisation is after all a microcosm of the society that it lives in and has to build the cultural sensitivity of the society into its policies. However, I disagree with Srini that this is the reason to delay a gender diversity initiative. No cultural tradition should come in the way of challenging discrimination of women. Teffer India needs its own process to ensure that women in Teffer India are able to pursue their rights. The company should work towards becoming an engendered organisation. Such organisations are not just women friendly; they enable all humans and humanity.

Engendering is a process that correlates positively with the effectiveness of an organisation. Engendering is a process that derives from a mental model that respects people by addressing them as people, and by accepting them. The mental model of acceptance is important for effective use of resources. Acceptance implies that every person has certain strengths and abilities that they bring to the organisation.

The start point for an organisation has to be accepting these strengths, celebrating them and creating avenues for these to be expressed. An engendered organisation accepts people's limitations and sees them in the context of their abilities, and reframes them as agendas for growth. Such organisations listen to people about their needs and experiences, and help them integrate these with their work.

Engendered organisations do not prejudge people on the basis of their singular labelling identities as man, woman, disability, race, creed, caste, the institution that they trained at, etc. In an engendered organisation each person is valued for who they are beyond their labels. What they bring to the organisation is less important than the fact that they are human.

An organisation that values being human recognises that people have domains of life beyond work and respects them.

Accepting people, not judging them; learning by listening; respecting people's abilities and identities as diverse are linked patterns. The pattern in such an organisation could be: "All people matter by just being." This pattern has as element of trust in people and thus an acceptance of them. This nearly ideal pattern coexists with many other contradictory patterns of mistrust, thoughts of doubt, and thoughts of control, helplessness and fear.

Why don't you audit your organisation? Are you an engendered organisation?

The author is a consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He is director, division of mental health and quality of life, at Medanta The Medicity, Gurgaon; and chairperson of NGO Saarthak

(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 16-07-2012)