“Every day is Women’s Day,” quipped my colleague when I wished her on March 8. Neither was she impressed with the roses one of the colleagues had got for all the women.

Many women colleagues even told me that the special lunch on that day could have been avoided.

When we stepped out for lunch, we found most restaurants jam-packed with women. It looked like many organisations had organised lunch for their women staff. I saw residential apartments also celebrating Women’s Day. Social media was exploding with organisations showcasing their attention for women. And yet, this year, we ended up debating the need for this specially designated day.

I found this pushback from women amusing. I wondered, if we hadn’t done any of these gestures, what would have been the reactions? Would they be pleased with no celebrations next year? Although it may be politically incorrect to criticise the intent of organisations in celebrating the day, it is easy to see why it could be deemed optics by some.

Beyond the optics

It is quite obvious that on a day-to-day basis there are organisations that don’t live up to the spirit of equality at work. So, when women say they don’t want celebrations, are they actually asking us to live up to the spirit and reduce the annual photo-op?

It is difficult to disagree with them as we still struggle to hire, retain, promote an equal number of women. I am not even talking about pay parity here after reading that the highest earning woman sportsperson in the world, Serena Williams, earns less than the 100th highest paid male athlete.

I don’t know if the walk the talk should start with the number of women direct reportees a CEO has, or the board composition of the company. Organisations also dress up certain functions like HR, Marketing, by having women in those roles as though women cannot don other roles.

There is no denying that we need to look harder to get women in many functions across the world. But, it isn’t a pipeline problem. It’s a byproduct of many years of how we lead organisations with a myopic, short-term view.

Once, we had our global CFO visiting us. When she concluded her town hall she noticed that there was not a single woman in our large finance team. She expressed her disappointment with the local CFO.

The first reaction from all of us was, “don’t you know there are fewer women in finance? Moreover, accounts roles have many stretchy moments like month-ends, annual audits, budget sessions where women may struggle.” Fast forward that to two years later. Out of the CFO’s six direct reportees, three were women. Goes to prove that intent can beat any challenge.

Yes, you have to stand up to the sceptics to set the ball rolling. There are people who have cheekily asked me if I want to meet my annual targets or want to hire more women in their team. So, beyond the talent pipeline, we need to beat the mindset for us to get over any execution challenges that may exist.

Let’s woo men

Yes, rather than wooing women on Women’s Day we should win over the men who are leaders of large enterprises. For example, when we interview men, we talk about their professional capabilities, qualifications and then fitment to the role.

When it comes to women, we start by putting them in the boxes of daughter, wife, mother first. Only after those ticks, we tend to consider their professional capabilities and potential. Hence it is time to sensitise men on how they would like their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters to be treated at work. I am sure they would start with the word respect. If that happens, then I guess we don’t need Women’s Day celebrations to highlight the cause of equality and trust.

Easier for start-ups

The new Pied Piper creating jobs is the entrepreneur funded by cash-rich VCs. Investors too are investing heavily on getting the right set of leaders. In fact, they take an average 6-9 months to hire senior talent. Hence, they can definitely invest in hiring women from day one. This ecosystem has to find its balance right now than get into a correction mode after attaining a certain scale.

Yes, start-ups need to stretch and have very little resources for all the boxes to be ticked. But the funded start-ups should make a beginning on the culture of nurturing an equal workforce from the beginning. It would be great to see the VCs talking about the equal culture they are creating in their portfolio companies than just the ROIs to their limited partners.

Every Day is Women’s Day?

An HR Manager in Delhi narrated to me her story of why she joined her current organisation. She was called for an interview in the second half and as she met various stakeholders, the interview got stretched till evening.

When she was finally leaving for home, the hiring manager escorted her till the cab and asked her to text him when she reached home. She felt touched by the concern they showed and eventually joined them. She claims her employer lives by that spirit every day in many other ways even today.

What I hear is that women are not seeking goodies like those doled out on Women’s Day but trust from their employer, as well as meeting their unvoiced needs — Let’s not frown when women leave for home early or seek a creche at work or a ‘work from home’ policy. Let’s give them that atmosphere of trust every day than the once-in-a year optics.

Kamal Karanth is co-founder, Xpheno, a specialist staffing company

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