Thursday, March 12, 2009

Bleddyy men...

Its not about husband ji .. I work in an extremely male-dominated area. I over came employee trouble with a woman boss with relative ease but of course took some time. It wasn't hard because I expected it. The employees come from low to lower middle income group, some graduates and some not even that. I knew it was hard for people with such limited exposure to accept a female boss.
We are basically dealers for a certain product. And there is a small but extremely competitive dealer community for this particular brand in Delhi. I had never interacted with any of these people in about 2 years of working with my father. Papa attended all the meetings and dealer meets and if he couldn't, no one would. I was very aware of the fact that he didn't want me to go out there and meet these people, but I knew this could not go on forever.
Finally an opportunity came when all the dealers were supposed to give an important presentation about their business to some important people from the parent company and papa could not make it due to some personal commitments, he informed them that I would prepare the requisite stuff and send it across so someone else can present it on our behalf (actually an uncle of mine who's also one of the dealers).

I worked very hard on the whole thing and once it was done, I couldn't bring myself to let anyone else present it. It was my hard work and about my business. So I somehow gathered courage (thanks for husband ji's constant pumping) and convinced papa that I had to do this myself.

So I went, and most people had a fair idea who I was, but bloody businessmen choose to ignore me. I met who I knew and sat quietly through most of the day. There was a Jap consultant from the parent company's side who was screwing everyone with questions and remarks about their business, none of which were polite. I was terrified. I went with shaking hands to finally present my thing to 20 men. It went well. The Jap send "Thank you" in the end and that was that. I went back to my seat and sat.

This was my first time there and so was my cousin's (the uncle's son). Everyone congratulated him for doing so well and welcomed him to the family. No of the dealers uttered one word to me or even acknowledge my presence.

I have faced such behaviour in my corporate career too and there also it took a lot to stand out and fit in. But it was somehow much worse here.

I couldn't resist so I went upto the Jap in the end to ask why he did not comment on my work. Can you believe his answer "oh.. you female...how can I?".. I was just stunned beyond words.

Here I slog and have managed to achieve the highest growth rate amongst all the dealers in our city and they don't let me participate on equal terms 'cos I am a female....

I was extreme hurt and decided to not stick to this line of business for long. But then why would I let a bunch of idiots scare me away. Let them not accept me now. They all know we are doing better than them. They will have to look my way sooner or later. I have done better than I expected or anyone expected in 2 years.. most of them spent in pregnancy and baby and home.. So nothing can stop me from reaching greater heights in the coming years. These people don't matter.

The good thing is that I formed a good rapport with the company people who matter and one of them even called papa to tell how well I had done at the meeting. I have papa's work ethics and rich experience to guide me. I have nothing to worry about..

I know this was more of an "affirmation exercise" than an interesting post.. But I am an insecure person and this helps ... :)