These women have built their careers brick-by-brick at Nuvoco

Landing on the moon or flying an aircraft may seem tough, but women in construction material manufacturing companies will tell you that surviving in their industry is far tougher.

The cement industry is dominated by men not by design but due to the nature of construction activity, which requires hard labour and dealing with less educated people.

Nuvoco Vistas Corp (formerly Lafarge India) seems to have broken the barrier, putting women power on top.

Munmun Dandona, Head (Projects), Nuvoco Vistas, said the biggest challenge is dealing with male colleagues who mostly come with patriarchal backgrounds. They often do not take their female colleagues very seriously.

It takes a strictly professional approach, and wide knowledge, to penetrate the preconceived barriers in their minds and gain respect, she said.

Now a veteran, Dandona had faced several challenges when she started out in the industry. “When I started visiting construction sites in the early 1990s, there was no washroom for women,” she recalled.

The situation remained more or less the same for almost two decades. She worked her way around by sensitising people about the value of having such facilities. Today, there are separate washrooms in many sites across the country, she noted.

Though Nuvoco provides equal opportunities, it is not easy to gain respect and manage leadership positions in the building materials industry, said Shruta Sanghavi, Vice-President and Company Secretary, Nuvoco Vistas, now part of detergent brand Nirma Ltd.

Traditional barriers

The gender biases in terms of pay, position, designation and authority remain a major concern worldwide. A successful and career-focussed woman is still labelled as ‘conceited and authoritative’, observed Sanghavi.

Breaking these stereotypes and managing responsibility on both personal and professional fronts is always a challenge, she added. “Determined women are problem solvers. It is important to work in tandem with your team. Once the synergy is in place we can all manage various situations and challenges together at the work place,” she said.

“If you really want to get somewhere, you have to work smart, not just hard. That, coupled with the right kind of support on the home and work front, can help women go a long way,” she said.

Unisex issues

Madhumita Basu, Chief of Marketing, Innovation, Strategy and IT at Nuvoco Vistas, believes that challenges at the work place are not necessarily gender burdened.

Finding time for meaningful networking and self-development between work and home responsibilities are the biggest challenge, she said. She found some relief by adopting social media and catching up on the phone.

With a job that calls for frequent travel, Basu follows a strict diet to keep her energy level high and overcome the stress caused by travel.

When at work, Manisha Kelkar, Senior Vice-President - HR, Nuvoco Vistas, forgets she is a woman. “You have to deal with all assumptions that are associated with being a woman. It takes conscious effort to help your colleagues see you as a person. It takes time, but it is doable. The degree varies with every new person you meet. And this bias is present in both men and women,” she said.

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