Raisina Dialogue 2018: How internalised gender bias makes women undermine themselves

Union minister Smriti Irani was supposed to speak at the recently concluded Raisina Dialogue, at a session titled ‘Policy, Politics and Gender.’ She asked five women, who are not yet in an administrative role but are hoping to soon be a part of decision making, to read the Observer Research Foundation’s (ORF) brief for the session, and come back with some points for her speech. The brief was about justifying why women should have an enhanced role in either administration or policy making. She said that strangely, each one of them just produced statistics on how women spend more on social issues or focus on education and healthcare and how men come in when money comes in. In short, ‘Compassion’ and ‘Mone’y were two keywords differentiating men and women’s roles. None of them said that women can become the focal point of an economy because they are competent, Irani added. [caption id=“attachment_4316427” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The panel for ‘Policy, Politics and Gender’. Image via Twitter/@raisinadialogue[/caption] This is precisely where gender inequality stems from. Irani’s anecdote reveals the dismal reality of women, and the lack of them at positions of power. It not only highlights the dearth of self-confidence in women but also explains why very few of them are able to break that proverbial ‘glass ceiling’. This unconscious bias, or internalised gender stereotypes, doesn’t just prevent women from moving up the work ladder but also pulls them back and gives them a disconcerting feeling of being inept. However, this gripping problem is not exclusive to India. It permeates borders and boundaries to affect women on a global scale. Riina Kaljurand, a research fellow at International Centre for Defence and Security, said that very few women in Estonia reach top positions. “It is easy to become a diplomat but not easy to become an ambassador.” There is a weird self-selection in women. Some of them have the ‘glass half-empty’ attitude when it comes to applying for jobs or even recognising their skills. The under-representation of women in policy making is not just a result of the ‘male gaze’ but, also comes from a woman’s self-bias. Rachel Rizzo said that women often hold themselves to extremely high standards and are overly critical. “Men are not nearly as self-critical,” she added. When self-bias seeps in the mind of a woman, it makes way (unconsciously) for a man to slither in and establish his territory. It undermines the efforts by many others who are pushing for equal participation and more rights for women. Pascale Fung, a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, explained at the Dialogue that computer science was historically a female-dominated field but when it started becoming more dominant in economies, men began driving out women. The participation of women in computer science peaked around 1984 when there were about 37 percent women. Today, she said, we have about 18 percent women in the field. It all comes down to power. As Robin Gorna, global co-lead (SheDecides), explained that when others decide for ‘her’, she faces violence, forced marriage and oppression. “She faces risks to her health, her dignity, to her dreams, to her life,” she added. What women need to learn is to keep and at times take back that power to trounce gender discrimination and the idea of ’traditional masculinity’. Rachel Rizzo thinks that men should be a part of the conversation as well. Irani echoed this view. She said we must pause for introspection and ask if women consider their gender to be the problem solvers or if we view men as an equal participant in administration of applying themselves to solutions that men and women are equal. Despite these arguments, here are some numbers to ‘justify’ greater women representation in decision-making positions:

• When girls are educated, it is the single most important factor in rising GDP: Wendy Ruth Sherman, senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group
• Gender parity can boost India’s GDP by 27 percent: WEF co-chairs
• Advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to global growth: McKinsey Global Institute

If a woman’s skills, talents and competence are not reasons enough to work towards a gender neutral world, perhaps the above-mentioned numbers can give a push to gender parity.