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They nodded and laughed. The applause, too, was hearty. But few of the 200 women would have resolved any dilemmas they had walked into The Oberoi with to hear the chief operating officer of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg talk about gender disparities, especially at the workplace.
The hour-long session by Sandberg organised by the Ficci's Ladies Organisation on Tuesday was engaging to say the least. The celebrated author of Lean in: Women, Work and Will to Lead, peppered her speech with statistics and personal anecdotes to touch upon various aspects of gender differences common across cultures. Sandberg's book has sold a million copies.
Those who felt Sandberg very charmingly stated the obvious may want to turn towards PepsiCo chief Indra K Nooyi for help. David Bradley of The Atlantic recently interviewed Nooyi at the Aspen Ideas Festival on work-life balance and the India born-mother of two daughters gave some frank answers.
If Sandberg believes - and almost managed to convince the audience - a world is possible where men and women are equals, Nooyi admits she doesn't think "women can have it all".
Around four per cent of companies in the US are headed by women, the percentage in India is a much higher 11 per cent, but it still doesn't represent women, Sandberg said. A nation can't achieve its full potential unless it utilises the potential of its women. The world needs to ensure security and safety of the fairer sex. Organisations have to be more open about gender issues and need to be more flexible in their approach towards women executives.
And there needs to be, of course, more balance at home, which means men should do more diapers, prepare more meals. "Instead of buying flowers for their women, men should do the laundry," she laughed. Everyone joined her.
But how? That's a question most of the audience would have liked to know. How to get men to do the laundry apart from ensuring that organisations become more understanding and countries more responsible?
Here is a snippet of the conversation Nooyi had with Bradley as published in The Atlantic. "I don't think women can have it all. I just don't think so. We pretend we have it all. We pretend we can have it all."
"When you have to have kids you have to build your career. Just as you're rising to middle management your kids need you because they're teenagers." And that's the time your husband needs you too along with the parents who are ageing.
She suggests developing coping mechanisms.
"If you don't develop mechanisms with your secretaries, with the extended office, with everybody around you, it cannot work. You know, stay at home mothering was a full time job. Being a CEO for a company is three full time jobs rolled into one. How can you do justice to all? You can't…" Nooyi candidly admitted.
The takeaways from Sandberg's session were of a different variety. Have more self-confidence, she said. Women executives with strong leadership skills were often branded "bossy". "Have you ever seen a man being called too aggressive? Even if they are, they are just doing their duties as leaders," she stated. Point well made Sandberg. Meanwhile, lets try some coping mechanisms.
