Most male bastions have been shattered including board rooms of corporates. These days, you find women donning suits or skirts with stiletto heels clacking on polished floors, who are completely at home in top honcho positions. However, it is no walk in the park.
Sairee Chahal, founder and CEO of SHEROES, an online career firm for women, talks candidly about the challenges women continue to face in a patriarchal society. “There are challenges of all kinds varying from limited access to resources, support system at home to availability of opportunities. Initially, some women face lack of confidence, which in turn affects their ability to perform. Many need to talk to a mentor and in my case, my mother ensured we found our calling. Plus my father’s traveling job gave us an open outlook, a different perspective to things and access to a lot more opportunities. And somewhere that has helped me as an entrepreneur,” she states.
Neha Bagaria, co- Founder & CEO, JobsForHer, says, “We speak to companies every day about recruiting women who restart their careers after a break. There are companies that realise the benefits of hiring women who come off a career-break as they possess exceptional levels of maturity, an increased ability to multitask, a dedicated commitment to quality of work and meeting deadlines, the ability to stay calm and execute a game plan in the face of a crisis, extraordinary people management skills, excellent conflict resolution skills, and an acute understanding of financial planning & strategy.”Neha says she has seen women who often tend to hold themselves back because of fear.
