Women in leadership
(And men are barriers)
“There will be a resistance to your ambition. There will be people who say to you, ‘You are out of your lane,’ because they are burdened by only having the capacity to see what has always been instead of what can be. But don’t you let that burden you.” — Kamala Harris in a speech to young black women
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On 25th May, 1961 John F Kennedy proclaimed that by the end of the decade, the US would put a man on the moon. To his promise, Neil Armstrong did actually set foot on the moon on 16th July, 1969. In complete irony, it took more than half a century after putting a man on the moon to put a woman in the White House. (Not entirely, but almost there.)
In 20–20 hindsight (pun unintended), Armstrong’s famous words “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” ring hollow given that the US could not make that leap by acknowledging the rightful place for women in its political leadership.
Till November 2020, the US ranked dubiously alongside Russia and China as a global superpower that did not have women in the highest echelons of power. A partial atonement happened with Kamala Harris’ ground-breaking win.
A story of firsts
It is a seminal moment. For the US and the world.
First woman. First woman of colour. First black woman. First woman of Asian descent.
Think about the odds of the journey of Harris’ mother. A Tamilian Brahmin woman landing in the US at age 19, earning her PhD, marrying a black man and raising two daughters as a single mother, one of whom becomes the first woman vice president of the US. Harris’ life’s arc is strikingly similar to Obama’s own journey.
There is much handwringing among the conservatives and the loony right for the perceived disruption of the natural order. Black man president. Black women vice president. They worry about the next cataclysm — black president and vice president at the same time?
This hour marks a belated shift in US politics. My nineteen and half year-old daughter was breathlessly calling out elements of her victory speech — ‘I may be the first, but I won’t be the last’. And Harris’ paid a tribute to women in very deliberate order — black, Asian and white.
The world is ahead of the US
Several Asian and European countries are well ahead by electing women heads-of-state.
Mrs Indira Gandhi as PM and Pratibha Patil as President in India. Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh. Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Chandrika Kumaratunga in Sri Lanka. Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan. Corazon Aquino in Philippines. And Myanmar with Aung San Suu Kyi as de facto PM. In the Middle-East, Israel had Golda Meir. In Europe, Britain had Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. Germany has Angela Merkel. Gro Harlem Brundtland in Norway. Mary Robinson in Ireland. Édith Cresson in France. Kim Campbell in Canada. Julia Gillard in Australia and the hipster, Jacinda Ardern, in New Zealand.
In today’s context, countries with female leaders like Merkel, Ardern and Sheikh Hasina have been widely acknowledged has having handled the corona virus pandemic significantly better.
What changed?
It took a man with a character of Joe Biden to mount this insurgency. Harris acknowledged this in her speech — “he had the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exist in our country, and select a woman as his vice president.” (Italics are mine.)
This is my deepest and abiding conviction — the stumbling block to women achieving greater success have been men. Singularly, without exception.
It is the male’s inherent insecurities and toxic machismo that has prevented one-half of the world from progressing at a pace they rightfully deserve. There are men, and then there are men. And Biden is clearly the latter. He paid a fulsome tribute to his wife being a life-time educator, a full-time working woman and now the only first lady to hold a full-time job.
Now, that’s a role model worthy of emulation.
Men are the barrier
Are (most) men intimidated by women in leadership?
The answer is an unambiguous yes. Men fear women in power. Through history and across the world, strong-willed women have been pilloried and burnt at the stakes. Watch here the evisceration of US Attorney General William Barr by Kamala Harris in a Senate hearing. The piercing and steely decimation of his obfuscation is a performance to watch. I suspect Barr went home and cried a Potomac on his pillow.
In the same vein, sample Stacey Abrams’ incredible leadership in stitching a coalition in Georgia — after losing the Governor’s election — where she built a network of organizations that inspired 800,000 residents to register to vote. Biden’s margin of victory — 14,000 votes. One way of looking at the 2020 US elections is Abrams, a black woman, put Biden in the White House.
Given the unfair and historical vice-like grip that men have exerted on the levers of power, it is men who have to let go and create a more equitable world that gives women their rightful place.
So, where does change need to begin?
The answer is in every individual home. And in every workplace.
How do men treat women? How do they recognise and acknowledge their contributions? When will women be paid equal to men? When will women’s job promotions equal men? What is the tone men adopt when addressing women? Are women shadowed in the background and taken for granted? Are they truly equal partners and equal decision makers? At home, how do men treat their spouses? What signals are they sending their daughters on their gender acceptance? What signals are they sending their sons on acceptable male conduct?
But let’s widen the argument a bit.
How is it that men decide the fate of women’s lives? Let’s stick to the US as an example. Large swathes of the US are regressive with men still controlling decisions on women’s lives. Women often do not have pro-choice options and Roe V Wade is still not settled law. Supreme Court appointments are made on ideological leanings by the male dominated Senate and House — without so much as a care for the long struggles of women rights.
It’s men who continue to be the problem but change is coming.
Men will be required, if not compelled, to step aside. Even step back to make way for women. Years of dominant conditioning will require weaning and male egos will be bruised. Bob Dylan, in his epic 1965 Tombstone Blues, seemed to have written these lines as a balm to hurt male pride when he said — “Stop all this weeping, swallow your pride / You will not die, it’s not poison”.
Man Smart (Woman Smarter) — Harry Belafonte said that
I work in an environment where women are majority numbers in its most important segment (students) and equal numbers in two others (faculty and administration) — and are significant outperformers in both. Women are natural born leaders. They are authentic. Empathetic. Possess superior emotional intelligence. Can multi-task. Exhibit greater soft-skills. Are more ethical. Build superior trust and can problem-solve admirably.
Swami Vivekananda said more than a hundred years ago: ‘There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. 500 males can win India in 50 years, which can be done in a few weeks by 500 women’.
Cho Ramaswamy, the irrepressible editor of the Thuglak, author, satirist, actor, playwright, had the below exchange with a journalist.
Journalist: Mr Ramaswamy, who is more powerful, men or women?
Cho: Women of course!
Journalist (puzzled): Why did you say that?
Cho: Simple. Because men are born to women.
That should be the settled and default gender dynamic. And all conversations need to start from there.
(Disclaimer: This article reflects my deepest, personal convictions and is not my intention to appear patronizing towards women.)
Venkat Eshwara is Vice-President, Development and Alumni Relations, Ashoka University. Venkat has been with Ashoka for eight years and prior to that, spent 21 years in building and growing start-ups in financial services and related sectors.
