(In) Equality in the Corporate World
The Sri Lankan corporate world is a known cess pit – it’s lack of professionalism is obvious to anyone who has waded in its unfortunate quagmire. Though first name basis and casual Fridays are now the norm, the glass ceiling and general thuggery, pettiness and politics still reign supreme.
When discussing with two ladies recently – both top professional in their fields – we were talking about how most men are fine with equality as long as the women are secretaries, PAs, HR, Legal or some Accounts executive. The moment they realise that a woman can challenge them at senior management level or even dare be competent to be CEO, that’s when the talons come flaring out. The self declared sanctimonious humbugs band together with their sycophant stooges to play some of the dirtiest politics one can imagine – it would put the local politicians to shame. The blatant lying, the feigned concern and the absolute disregard for basic decency is truly mind boggling and scary. It explains why this country is wallowing in its own shit these days – thanks to the likes of those in the white collar networks. And mind you, these dirty games transcend social class, ethnicities and religion. It is pure, primitive, male ego in action. And it has gone unchecked for far too long.
What is worse is that these men are married and have children, including daughters. One begs to ask the question – do you not know that the sins of the father are visited upon the child? It’s Newton’s Third Law of physics in its most basic form – each action has an equal and opposite reaction. Perhaps these egotistic fools somehow believe that their running to church, temple, kovils and mosques will balance out the sin with the merit.
Another reason is that they are spoilt at home by the mothers no less – 30 year olds whose underwear is still washed by the mother and 40 year olds who still eat only what their mother or maid cooks. These are not men – these are overgrown babies. They take offence for the simplest things and cannot handle situations that challenge them – the Little Prince syndrome that never dies. And for some demented reason, we as a society have convinced ourselves that they who cannot handle a challenge or manage their personal lives, can manage a company and its people. Oh the irony.
To add insult to the injury – there are the women in top management who have got there by becoming female versions of their male counterparts – complete with the philandering, pettiness and bullying. It is truly amazing that they seem to lack that awareness or even if they don’t, they see it as an option to be – like a thug – because that is what wins.
There are plenty of studies that show that women in senior executive levels help increase revenue and profitability of a company. Hence arguing for bottom-line alone is a load of hogwash on the age old arguments that women get periods, get pregnant and need maternity leave blah blah. Cupcakes, massages and gifts on women’s day are useless if the company does not actively look to encourage and allow women to reach the top tiers of their management cadre and pay them equally well. Most companies are now compelled to pay lip service to the Rainforest Alliance, GMP and other similar bodies by feigning gender equality when there is none.
It’s high time we took a good look at ourselves in this sphere and started looking at fixing some of these issues to reap the long term benefits which would be a win-win for everyone. This would require self-awareness and acceptance of criticism – yes, it won’t be easy but it must be done.
