‘The moment we start thinking of gender, it starts creating a bias’
Published on : Monday 30-11--0001
Neelam Pandey Pathak, Head – Purchasing Functional Excellence at Cummins India. This interview is part of a series conducted by Industrial Automation on the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2018, to celebrate the success of women entrepreneurs and achievers in the industrial automation domain.
Do workplaces of today provide equal opportunity in the true sense gender wise?
Yes, workplaces do provide equal opportunities today. In fact nowadays there is more focus on ‘Diversity Hiring’, having it reviewed by the top leadership of the company and a constant focus to improve upon it. But due to legacies of the past, there still exists a gender gap as we climb up the ladder, and it will take some more time to have the workplace gender neutral. But surely the efforts are on!
Do women in general expect to be treated differently or are they ready for any challenge?
This varies from person to person, but I believe women must be treated equally. Rather than gender diversity improvement, we should be talking about gender equality and take them as professionals and not male or female. Because the moment we start thinking of gender, it starts creating a bias. Women today are very much ready to take on challenges and prove their mettle in every field.
For a woman, is a career in engineering more demanding than other streams?
I believe that for women in general any career choice is demanding – as they have to achieve that balance between the workplace as well as running a home. If you observe, for women life cycle and career cycle are inversely proportional. As they start taking up higher role at the workspace, there also begin major life cycle events like marriage, family and kids. And that is why it is important to have a balance of it. I always feel more than balance it becomes the prioritisation of the event, there are times when one must prioritise the family and sometimes work.
Since Engineering/Manufacturing in India are core industries with more male domination, at times it requires women to make twice the effort to prove she is equally capable. However the thought process is changing now and acceptability is quite high compared to what it was 10 years back in the core engineering streams.
Many successful career women have on record stated that often they have shied away from challenges and regretted that later. What is your experience?
I have taken challenges as they came, as a professional and never shied away from trying new things or taking up challenging roles. During my career journey I have taken multiple roles in various organisations and proven the point that if we believe in ourselves we can do it! I have taken roles in Engineering, Marketing, Purchasing, Manufacturing and Product Development and I believe it helped me become a better professional and added to my learning and experience curve. I have worked in various sectors in with companies like Tata Motors, M&M, Suzlon, John Deere and am currently with Cummins; everywhere I had a great learning experience.
I believe many a times as women we think a lot and start putting a brake on ourselves before the situation really calls for it. Like I have seen many women colleagues shying away from critical projects either for marriage or later maternity, citing these as reasons. This certainly creates a doubt at the workplace that women are not ready to take up critical tasks. If we all can change this thought process it will really help us and many of our female colleagues.
How does India compare, in your view, with other developed countries in this respect?
In India traditionally it is women who manage the household, but now this whole workspace is changing as we all know the benefits of having diversity at the workspace. One thing I have seen in other developed countries – I see equal number of women on the shop floor as there are men; while in India still in core industry that is not a common scenario, though some industries are now making that mark.
Gender neutrality is easily seen in new age industries like IT, banking, FMCG, etc., but in core engineering, it will still take time to fill this gap. It is important to make the workplaces gender neutral, so that those work can be done by anyone male or female; that is how we will have in true sense equality for women.
Another thing is the flexibility of working – it is quite common in many countries – which is now seen in India too, but still many industries need to practice is a genuine manner. We still have very handful of women leaders in top positions to aspire to, and that gap still exists, but the industry is now making lot of efforts to fill these gaps.
What would be your message to young women entering the corporate world?
I wish them all the best and want to reiterate that take up the challenges, do not stop before the actual break event comes, and face the world with determination and confidence. Above all, believe in yourself. Aspire to achieve your dreams and go the whole length to do it! Be the support for each other to grow, learn and dream.
Would you like to share any achievement which is close to your heart?
I take pride in describing one of the projects very close to my heart and that was the successful delivery of an armoured vehicle to the PMO. It was one of the prestigious projects in my previous organisation and I really feel proud to have the project started from scratch, knowing the target deadlines are frozen, and one that was for the top office in the country. There was no scope of delay and mistakes and I was directly connecting with important officials for the projects. And when those vehicles were included in the march past during the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi, I felt really proud to show that to my family that this was delivered by me. Serving your nation and realising that everyone can support the country in whatever smaller contribution we can do, makes you feel proud. Jai Hind!
Neelam Pandey Pathak is a Mechanical Engineer with post-graduation from IIM Lucknow, and has 17+ years of experience mainly in the automotive industry, having worked with Tata Motors, M&M, Suzlon, John Deere and now, Cummins India Ltd. A certified Project Management Professional from PMI and certified Value Management Associate from INVEST India, Neelam has worked at various leadership levels and focused on Talent development , new product development and technology road map development for auto majors. She has published two papers in the PMI National Conference and has been an active PMP since 2010.