I'm the leader, other women are inheritors: Maya

Tuesday, 22 January , 2008, 14:47

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati has classed herself apart from other women political leaders of the country, saying others have just inherited political power while she has got it through struggle for a change in the society.

In her autobiographical book released on the occasion of her 52nd birthday in New Delhi last week, She said she had set a "rare example in such a young age" of taking upon herself the burden of "the Himalayan task of bringing about a social change to ensure equality and dignity to the down trodden." The BSP chief, in the opening chapter of the book Mere Sangharsgmai Jeevan Aur BSP Movement Ka Safarnama (The Story of My Struggle in Life and Of the BSP Movement) talks in detail about the significance of the 'Mayawati phenomenon' in the 21st century India and the attack by all political forces to contain her.

There are several women who were playing political and social role in this country, but, says Mayawati, "it should be kept in mind that a woman who was just running government by inheriting political power was different from a woman who, like a crusader, was working for the great aim of bringing about revolutionary social changes in the society."

"If you think with a neutral and dispassionate state of mind, you will realise the truth of what I am saying," she adds.

Quoting British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that "History will judge us kindly� because I shall write the history," Mayawati said though she cannot claim to write the history, she has the passion and the courage to turn the course of politics of her country.

She also expresses her gratitude to news magazine Newsweek for "shaking people of her country into recognising her worth" by listing her among the eight most powerful women in the world.

"There are people who keep their eyes shut towards the ground reality and do not change their views with changing time. It is a bitter truth that the role I played in the Dalit movement and the sacrifices I made in the process of their empowerment were neglected in my own country until a foreign news magazine highlighted them," she said.

Mayawati frequently attacked the Congress, the BJP and Samajwadi Party in the book, saying that all these parties were status quoist and left no stone unturned to finish her politically and harm the Dalit movement.

About alliances with the Samajwadi Party and the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, she said she did it out of tactical reasons to speed up the Dalits' march to power in the State.

She, however, says that despite aligning with the BJP, she never let that party affect her programmes and policies. "Maine kabhi bhi Bhajapa walon ko apni neeti aur siddhant par haavi nahin hone diya, balki har prakar se unko jooti ki noke par rakkha (I never let the BJP people dominate my programme and policies, rather I kept them in their place)." The BSP supremo also attacks ''those parties which exploited the name of Dr Ambedkar while playing lackeys to the Congress.

She notes with glee the success of the 'social engineering' in the last Uttar Pradesh Assembly election in which she was able to "carry the high caste people too with her and set on a course of Sarvjan jan hitay, Sarvjan Sukhai." Mayawati also talks about the mental and social trauma she underwent during the illness of BSP founder leader Kanshiram. She says her rivals did everything to create a divide between his family members and her, but ultimately she came out of this situation as truth was on her side.

The book is the third and closing volume of the series. The earlier two volumes were released on her 50th birthday.

 

 

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The comeback women - a growing tribe

 

As more women take mid-career breaks, they find their return to professional life unusually tough. The New Manager speaks to a few women to find out why.

Back in the fold: Women returning to their careers after a break have to often deal with deep-seated doubts about their professional commitment

Anjali Prayag

Career comebacks are not easy. It’s obvious Indian audiences did not dance to the Aaja Nachle tune and 2007 was obviously not a memorable year professionally for Madhuri Dixit. The country’s biggest superstar just a couple of years ago, Madhuri is now struggling to return to films after a break in her career. Her story does not sound very different from that of thousands of other women who have faced difficult, sometimes hostile situations when they attempted a re-entry into professional life.

Dr Leena Chandran-Wadia, CTO, Netcore Solutions, who took a six-year break from her teaching career and attempted to comeback into work life in 1996 says, “It was the lowest part of my life, felt extremely crushed as most people could not even connect my qualification to the kind of job I was looking at.”

Dr Chandran-Wadia, a PhD in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, joined as a researcher at the National Centre for Software Technology and later IIT Mumbai before moving to Netcore in 2006. Comebacks are most difficult in India, she says, adding that a break longer than a year could be disastrous.

Settling for less

But, if women are willing to switch careers or go a few steps down the ladder, then it would seem there are opportunities.

Take the instance of Kiran Umesh, Team Leader, 24x7 Customer, who took a 10-year break in her career as a textile designer before knocking at corporate doors again. “I started at the L1G1 level, which is pretty low level work in a call centre, but at least I got an opportunity to get back.”

She opted for the midnight to morning (1.30 am to10.30 am) shift which meant sacrificing sleep but gave her an opportunity to be at home with her kids when they needed her. “Getting back into the groove has been tough, but I do not regret the decision to take a break.”

Vrinda Pai, Manager, CSPM, also with 24x7 Customer, has taken two breaks in her careers for her two kids and has managed to get back into working life. “The call centre industry is different and offers a lot of opportunity for women like us,” she says.

And if one thought most women took a break to raise a family, well, that is not true either. Deborah Ephraim, who was in telemarketing sales at 24x7 took time off for a holiday in the UK. “When I got back, they offered to take me back on the roles, but I opted for a training job.”

The market is huge with a lot of options available, but the trick is to stay in touch and not lose heart, say these women.

Some positive moves

In a talent-starved economy, are companies attempting to capture this pool of women waiting to open their second innings?

Nina Nair, Vice-President, HR, 24x7 Customer, says the company has put in place a recalibration programme for women on the comeback track. “We have 10-12 women in the learning and development team who have made a comeback. We evaluate and certify them.” The learning curve in the new environment may be longer, but they do get into the groove with a little training, she says.

There are companies that facilitate people to take a break and make a comeback after a year. At MindTree Consulting, for instance, every six years of service entitles an employee to take up to a year off from work. Puneet Jetli, Head, People Function, MindTree Consulting, says the company realises that employees need time off to start families, look after dependents, or opt for a sabbatical to pursue studies or be with a spouse who is travelling overseas. This HR policy implemented a few months back is open to both men and women.

As there are no strings attached (such as a bond or an agreement to come back), how does the company tackle the risk of losing employees after one year. “We’re confident that with such good HR practices, we will have employees coming back to us, not leaving us,” he says.

Saundarya Rajesh, who runs Avtar I-win, the country’s first flexi career service for interim women managers, is of the opinion that women’s careers in India have to undergo a whole transformation.

“Why is it that we have women’s careers being force-fitted into the clockwork of male careers? And that too the clockwork of Western male careers?” she questions.

Having taken a break in her career when she had her child, she says she had to search ‘far and wide’ for a flexi career to enjoy the best of both worlds.

She talks of the stigmas attached to a ‘gap in a resume’: The stereotype of a mother leaving important projects hanging and rushing to be at the bedside of a sick child. Then, there is an absolute lack of awareness among corporates that the flexi way of working is not a compromise and that flexi-workers are not secondary citizens.

Indian corporates, in her opinion, have to create a stigma-free environment for flexi-professionals to pursue meaningful, economically productive careers and develop policies and processes that can allow a healthy measure of growth, assessment, mentoring and progress.

They could do this by unbundling jobs into smaller units of activity to enable a parallel workforce — this would reduce attrition, add to the bottomline and create a more mature workforce.

 

 

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Wombs for rent

Wombs for rent

FOR RENT: Perfect home for a growing family. small, but very warm and cozy. Nine-month lease only, cash in advance. Call Dr. Anoop Gupta at Delhi IVF.

A variety of news reports like this one have highlighted the way surrogate motherhood has become a growth industry in India, proving that tech support and accounting are not the only candidates for outsourcing to that burgeoning nation.

Women who seek a surrogate mother but face delays and mountains of red tape in America or other countries -- not to mention fees upwards of $70,000 -- can find healthy women in India who would much rather bear children than harvest rice, and at a lower price. The practice is supported by an established medical community and clinics such as Delhi IVF, mentioned above, whose web page includes the assurance that"We have arrangements for egg donor/rent womb."

While I can imagine a host of ethical questions that might be raised about the practice, it seems to be a win/win for all concerned. Though some would argue that the practice is inherently exploitive, there seems to be no lack of willing surrogates who see the process as a positive thing.

On the one hand, women who can't conceive or bear a baby, but who want a child that shares their genes, have a ready option available. The cost is considerably lower than in the U.S., there are fewer restrictions, and there's a much smaller likelihood that the surrogate mother will start hanging around or wanting joint custody.

From the surrogate's position, she gets the equivalent of 10-15 years' income for a peasant woman for less than a year's labor, and almost certainly gets better medical care than when bearing her own progeny. The practice is not without risk, but long days in sweatshops an rice fields are not without risk, either.

Though we often think of surrogate motherhood as something new, the deep desire for children and the practice of using surrogate wombs is an ancient one, though pregnancy had to be accomplished the old-fashioned way rather then via test tubes and petri dishes. The concept of surrogacy is attested in the Bible as far back as Abraham, who fathered a child by the servant woman Hagar. Genesis 16 asserts that it was Sarah's idea, and quotes her as telling Abraham "You see that the LORD has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her" (Gen 16:2, NRSV).

We know from reading the rest of the story that it didn't turn out as Sarah expected, but it didn't stop the practice. Both of Jacob's official wives (Rachel and Leah) reportedly asked him to foster multiple children by their handmaids (Bilhah and Zilpah) who would count as their own (Genesis 30). Rachel described the practice of having the child delivered "on her knees" in the cultural language of adoption: "Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees and that I too may have children through her" (Gen. 30:3, NRSV).

The Hebrew Bible even attests to surrogate fatherhood through the practice of levirate marriage. If a married man died childless, his brother was supposed to marry the widow and father at least one child to inherit the brother's estate and carry on his name. As the unfortunate Onan would learn ( Gen 38:1-11), that didn't always work out well, either.

The most memorable example of biblical surrogacy, and one that did turn out well, is Jesus Christ. The gospels claim that Jesus was born of a virgin, fathered by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:26-35). That scenario clearly puts Mary in the role of being a surrogate mother for Jesus.

I'm sure the current practice of outsourcing motherhood to countries like India will have its share of problems, but it does offer hope for many women who otherwise could not have children. And, if those children discover later in life that they have an inordinate taste for curry, perhaps it will help India's farmers, too.

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