Issues related to women’s security are not unique to India and each company should devise a way to deal with such problems, said Nora Denzel, a trainer and Board Member at Ericsson. Ms. Denzel was conducting a workshop for women employees during ‘M-Power’, an event held at the Microsoft India Development Center (MSIDC) in the city.
Women will have to swim against the current in any country to establish themselves as professionals. Hence they need to evolve special strategies to deal with the problems they face, she said.
“Companies should create systems like mentoring programmes to guide the new employees. The need for mentoring is particularly more for women employees,” she observed.
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During a two-hour long connect programme involving both men and women employees of Microsoft, Ms. Denzel shared numerous anecdotes to highlight the different issues concerning women at work places.
“Women often say that they have to deal with the glass ceiling. But most often, women themselves fail to understand the dynamics of work and hence succumb to the pressures,” she explained.
When a woman reaches the level of a manager, she will have to tackle similar type of stress that a male manager faces, and hence there is not much of a difference between the genders at the higher level. It is in the lower rungs that women need proper mentoring to tackle their specific problems and to ensure that they integrate with their new environment, she maintained.
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“When a man asserts himself, people tend to see the trait as a desirable one. Whereas when a woman asserts herself she is deemed to be bossy. To tackle this problem, women should evolve their own strategies that are unique to their situation. One response cannot fit all situations,” she said.
Ms. Denzel also addressed questions posed by the participants. Sanjay Anand, a senior executive at MSIDC, participated in the event and enumerated the steps taken by Microsoft to enhance women’s security and promote diversity in the company.