‘Women are outshining men in many places’
Published on : Monday 30-11--0001
Bharathy Rajabaskaran, Joint Managing Director, Nagman Instruments & Electronics Private Limited.
Do workplaces of today provide equal opportunity in the true sense gender wise?
Workplaces certainly provide equal opportunities gender wise in today’s scenario. However the opportunity depends more on the ability of the person and his/her attitude and interests towards the job and how eager he/she is willing to climb up the ladder.
Do women in general expect to be treated differently or are they ready for any challenge?
Women in general do not expect to be treated differently most of the times but there are always avenues or challenges for them while juggling between family and work and so obviously it may appear sometimes they are expecting some special treatment. But they can always overcome that situation wherever needed and face the challenges.
For a woman, is a career in engineering more demanding than other streams?
Not at all – now the scenario has totally changed and there are so many avenues and platforms which are more demanding than engineering and women have started to think out of the box options in career and have proven that with dedication and interest, they can be successful in any stream.
Many successful career women have on record stated that often they have shied away from challenges and regretted that later. What is your experience?
Of course this does happen to career women whenever they have to handle family pressures like family welfare and upbringing of children. I have the experience of taking lesser responsibility jobs at the peak of my career when my children were in their final years of education and it has had an impact on my career growth. Not a great regret though when compared to the satisfaction of achieving responsibilities I accomplished on the family front – but I did regret that on a few occasions.
How does India compare, in your view, with other developed countries in this respect?
I believe that many corporates and multinational companies having their wings all over the world including developed countries have been creating great opportunities for women and have brought a drastic change in creating a better atmosphere for women at work, to enable them to realise their potential and rise up their career graph. It is only the external conditions in India, irrespective of major or minor cities, that are still not favourable and pose danger to working women unlike in developed countries abroad for women. In spite of all these external challenges and risks, women are outshining men in many places.
What would be your message to young women entering the corporate world?
Women are bold enough to face interviews well, they are technologically and academically sound and get placed easily in the corporate world in their dream jobs nowadays. There is nothing that they expect to receive new from the elders as messages or advise. They can take their own decisions at any time and maintain a great work/life balance. The only message we can give is that they should always have the courage and conviction to prove to the world that they are capable of anything and are in no way inferior to menfolk.
Would you like to share any achievement which is close to your heart?
I have been handling banking and finance for more than 15 years apart from my general administration activities and I represent our organisation before the bankers to get the financial requirements sanctioned from time to time. We had recently gone in for an additional financial facility towards the end of last year and the bankers tried to impose a new rule to curb the sanction without giving consideration to the overall financial performance and years of business and reputation of our organisation with the bank. I had been able to convince up to the highest level in the bank for making an exception to that rule and get that financial facility sanctioned in our favour as I felt that rule is not relevant to us and it was an obstacle in our growth. This is an achievement close to my heart in the recent past as I was able to convince the highest authority of the bank to consider our case favourably.
Bharathy Rajabaskaran has a basic degree in Mathematics and is a Post-Graduate in Management, and is serving the organisation for close to 29 years. She joined the organisation as a Management Trainee and slowly rose to handling a small unit independently during the first few years of her career. She then worked in various Divisions of the organisation to gain diversified experiences like Marketing Division, General Administration, etc., before being appointed as one of the Directors in the year 1996. She had served in various positions during her career – Production, General Administration, Banking & Finance, etc., and even with the Sales and Marketing Division for a couple of years. She is now looking after Finance & Banking in addition to General Administration and Commercial Activities including Payment Collection, etc. Her strengths are excellent communication skills (spoken & written) and a pleasing demeanour.