Are women better workers than men?

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New Delhi: At a time when IT companies are going out of their way to woo women into their workforce and women in management are pushing the envelope and have never had it so good, the armed forces report is playing a bit of a party-pooper. It says women just don't measure up.

While IT companies are devising innovative HR strategies to retain the women workforce, saying they are more productive and don't jump jobs easily, an inter-services report rules women are unfit for permanent commission and says no to females in fatigues.

The question that was being debated on India 360 was: Are women better workers than men? To try and answer the question on the panel of experts were former high commissioner to Bangladesh, Veena Sikri; Major Gen (Retd) Afsir Karim; and Vice-President and HR Head, Infosys, Nandita Gurjar.

Education is the starting point

Nandita Gurjar felt that women being better workers than man a phenomena of the new economy.

She stressed on the fact that women folk have been making their way to the top and that it was about time that the proverbial glass ceiling was broken by them.

Women are playing a more important role in the new economy which includes sectors like finance, media and IT sector as opposed to in the old economy like in the manufacturing sector.

"It really starts with education. The fact is that women are now being educated in areas that were earlier classified as typically male bastions. After this was accomplished, women moved into other areas and finally made their way to the top," said Nandita.

Do women have it in them?

Most of the Inter-Services Report of the Army said 'no' to women in fatigues, women in combat zones do not measure up and that they become a liability after getting married.

Major Gen Karim tried to defend the report saying that it seemed as if the armed forces were simply uncomfortable with having women around. "They are not saying that women are unfit to be in the combat zone. There are various jobs that women can do within the Army. They do not have to be in the combat zone."

He said that there is an old-fashioned mindset in the Army and that this would take some time to change.

But is it only a matter of mindset or is there also the problem that the Army does not give women any incentive to work, considering that they work for 10 years without a promotion.

Major Gen Karim said that he was sure that the Army could come up with incentives given a little time and that these were simply teething problems. He said he was certain that things would change - just that it may take some time.

"Army has been a male dominated field completely for a long time and it is not easy for them to digest the fact that women are invading their space. But I feel that slowly they will get adjusted to women amidst them," he said.

Women good at multi-tasking

CNN-IBN correspondent Marya Shakil spoke to girls studying in Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University and the girls said that women have been multi-tasking for a long time now.

They feel that being emotional, women are able to endure more.

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"Women can do a good job inside the house as well as at work," said a student.

Another student added that it was simply a wrong belief in society that men can do certain kinds of work and women cannot.

"Girl children are told from the beginning that she will excel at rearing and so are encouraged to take up nursing and teaching professions. However, this is simply a notion in society which can be broken and one can see that there are male nurses now who are better than women and women are better at some jobs that were earlier considered male bastions," she said.

Another student said that there is always a double burden on women - of jobs and families. "There are many women who get no help from the men at home."

Is the Government guilty of gender bias?

The Government has an apparent commitment to gender equality and providing equal opportunity at the workplace, but it is guilty of gender discrimination.

The All India Services Performance Appraisal, for instance, asks female officers some very blasphemous questions including a brief clinical history, including menstrual history.

So what is all this about?

To this Veena Sikri said, "I think the issue of gender bias particularly in high level appointments in the Government is certainly a very strong one and a very existent one. It's also an issue that needs to be tackled. The issue of women in the civil services and the armed forces has to be looked at in a much broader perspective."

She said when she joined the civil services, married women were not allowed to join the foreign services. If one wanted to get married, one had to apply for permission. There was a difference in the allowance structure when a woman was posted abroad as compared to men.

She said that these issues have now been overcome. The new issue that has cropped up in the armed forces have to be looked into equally seriously and have to be solved.

"One must also look into the issue of the glass ceiling of high level appointments. This is what will give women the real incentive to work hard and be more sincere. By nature and nurture, women are very sincere and they want to do well. However, they do not want to deal with the issue of gender bias when they reach the top or in reaching the top," said Veena Sikri.

However, in India, it is true that women are over-looked when it comes to the issue of promotions and reaching the top. This was the case when the Chief Secretary was to be appointed in Maharashtra, where a senior IAS officer was over-looked because she was a woman. Veena Sikri said that she had asked for information on the issue under the Right to Information Act.

"Unless this gender bias is looked into, the real conditions for working women can never improve. If there is gender bias at the highest level, it will translate down the entire order," she said.

Performance level of women in the Army

Many people who are in the armed forces feel that unless women are brought out into the combat zones, no one is going to respect them.

To this Major Gen Karim said that the combat zone is the real test of a soldier, but every soldier in the Army does not reach there. He said that the real issue was what was the performance level of the women who had joined the Army.

"Have these women adjusted well, has the Army accepted them. These are some of the questions that need to be answered. I cannot believe that the Army is prejudiced against them simply because they are women," he said.

He said that it was hard to believe that top officials would sit and reject officers simply because they were women. "There has to be some reality that these people are referring to, which needs to be looked into," he added.

Is the fight worth it?

Veena Sikri said that the fight was definitely worth it for women. "Women are joining various fields in large numbers and they must be given equality right from the top," she said.

Nandita Gurjar said that 80 per cent of the people working in her team were women and that sufficed to say whether women were better workers than men.

As former UK prime minister, Margaret Thatcher said, "Being powerful is like being a lady."

And as former prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi said, "There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be the first group, there is less competition there."

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