Free and Equal Workplace: where do we come in?

Several factors should come together for gender parity in the workplace. Let us start with that. As important as maternity & flexibility discourses are for women, so are conversations around social aspects affecting working women. The day-to-day sexist practices at work and gender-based discriminations somehow fade out in the big picture of equality discussions. If we put our minds to the whys of it- we get two reasons. First, is their subtleness granting the injustice immunity from being recognized as problems. Second is the dedicated patronage of our colleagues to the normalised sexist culture.

Dismantling sexism at work and levelling the playfield for women is a work that involves efforts across several layers. Besides gender sensitisation, leadership representation and special quotas, women can do well with a little support from their fellow workers.

Shattering existing perceptions of empowerment seems to be a nice place to start making things right for women. Archie’s gifts for Women’s day and the Barbecue buffet for Mothers day don't qualify for women empowerment. (Thanks to whoever identified women as pebbles-hoarding crows). Understandably, women want to revise the 'basic etiquettes' of discussion tables and meeting rooms.

Listen...and listen!

Almost all the women I know record “ideas dismissal” during discussions as one of their major workplace concerns. So how about we start letting women speak and actually listen to them? Celebrating fellow women colleagues' pitches and successes in the open makes way for smart innovations and better performance.

A matter of trust

Upon offering the right tools and training, women are capable of doing even the toughest and challenging of jobs. There is no harm in adding a chair to that all-men table during tea breaks. Including women in chat networks, is how women know they're trusted and feel qualified to take up challenging projects.

Checked your biases?

Sending mails to male colleagues isn't as easy as you think it is for a woman. Women across work strata constantly feel this pressure- while a 'Dear' can sort you into the easy-going club, a 'Hi' can easily categorise you as arrogant. But surprisingly, this 'tightrope walking' is something men never have to deal with. Simply put, women would feel a lot better if only people kept their biases in check.

Do away with 'Dude-bro'

Brushing aside women's grievances as 'harmless' sexism to honour the dude-bro discourse is hurtful to the abused. There’s no harmless sexism. Sexism in itself is damaging. So any grievances by women colleagues should be addressed head-on, making it clear that disrespectful behaviour won’t be tolerated.

By now, we can agree on the fact that it’s high time that we stopped accepting men entitlement, dude-bro discourse, and other sexist practices at work. To do away with these, women are asking for a fair and non-judgmental support system. When women ask for support, it is not to give them a voice. Women already have a voice. A loud one, of course. Women have the agency too. All they're asking us is to listen - to listen and amplify their voices. It isn’t difficult. If we’ve done it for men for years, we can do it for women as well, right?