India is a country where girls are told to be soft-spoken, shy, only to express their opinion when asked (or preferably not have an opinion)...
Being a man, and working in Delhi for gender sensitization in an office where the majority of workers are women, is a scenario not experienced by many. Interactions between men and women still follow the primitive norms of patriarchy in India. In fact, I should refer to it as the lack of interaction, and for the majority of the minimal contact we have with the opposite sex is on extremely uneven and uncomfortable grounds.
Now once one has grown up in the above constructed situation it is very hard to breakout of these barriers in ones professional environment. No matter how hard we try, professional space does find an overlap with the personal space and the more we enjoy our work the more personal it gets.
India is a country where girls are told to be soft-spoken, shy, only to express their opinion when asked (or preferably not have an opinion), to be adjusting, caring, most importantly thinking about the “MAN” first (brother/father/husband). This conditioning does play a major role in the professional space as well. Be it a conference table discussion, or a community presentation, making a point or disagreeing with one; it’s expected from the men to take the lead (not because of their intellect, or ability but because of the societal role provided to them). I have personally found my self at center of attention many times.
In the beginning I used to get forced into taking the lead, although with time I have learned the art of spinning this position to the most capable person in the room rather than the “MAN.” At first my team did revolt to this idea, as it was pretty much against the general protocol. I have faced so many shocked faces with the same argument, “But that’s NOT how it works!!!” although to date no one has been able to answer, “Why does it not work that way?”
Some times it’s a hard job being a “Man” at work.
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Being a man, and working in Delhi for gender sensitization in an office where the majority of workers are women, is a scenario not experienced by many. Interactions between men and women still follow the primitive norms of patriarchy in India. In fact, I should refer to it as the lack of interaction, and for the majority of the minimal contact we have with the opposite sex is on extremely uneven and uncomfortable grounds.
Now once one has grown up in the above constructed situation it is very hard to breakout of these barriers in ones professional environment. No matter how hard we try, professional space does find an overlap with the personal space and the more we enjoy our work the more personal it gets.
India is a country where girls are told to be soft-spoken, shy, only to express their opinion when asked (or preferably not have an opinion), to be adjusting, caring, most importantly thinking about the “MAN” first (brother/father/husband). This conditioning does play a major role in the professional space as well. Be it a conference table discussion, or a community presentation, making a point or disagreeing with one; it’s expected from the men to take the lead (not because of their intellect, or ability but because of the societal role provided to them). I have personally found my self at center of attention many times.
In the beginning I used to get forced into taking the lead, although with time I have learned the art of spinning this position to the most capable person in the room rather than the “MAN.” At first my team did revolt to this idea, as it was pretty much against the general protocol. I have faced so many shocked faces with the same argument, “But that’s NOT how it works!!!” although to date no one has been able to answer, “Why does it not work that way?”
Some times it’s a hard job being a “Man” at work.
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