What happened to the women who graduated from IITs in the 90s?

Sharing this amazingly researched article:

What happened to the women who graduated from IITs in the 90s?: link

I could so totally relate the findings from it with what Sheryl Sandberg had to say in Lean In - Women, Work and the Will to Lead: link (another recommended read) and also with what I have witnessed in life personally.

Sharing some excerpts from the article - I sincerely recommend reading it in entirety - link

// Yet, often after a few years on the job, they pulled back, completely changed their personal career paths, thereby stripping corporate India of a female presence. Again and again, women gave Quartz the same underlying reason: They were unable to scale the maternal wall. // - link

Because there is no support system to ensure that working women are not penalized for motherhood, either at work place or at home (because of the reinforcement of gender stereotypes):

// At Adobe India's office, she found the work environment way less flexible and accommodating of working mothers than it had been in the US. // - link

// "I think the major deviation in career trajectory comes after having kids... I could spend the day at work but not put in additional evenings and nights or weekend hours to continue a steep trajectory that some of the men who chose to could do" // - link

And why could these men always have the choice of affording to put in weekend hours and additional nights? The answer lies below - Quoting from the same article:

// Indian fathers still leave most of the childcare to their wives, these women also told Quartz. // - link

// There are three crossroads in a working woman's life: When she joins an organisation, when she has kids and when wants to transition to a senior leadership role, Singh told Quartz. Firms will continue to lose talented women, if they do not support, mentor and motivate them during these stages // - link

Also sharing some statistics and observations from a World Economic Forum report (link):

// India’s gender chore gap, the difference between the amount of housework done by women and men, is the largest of any country for which data is available, according to new figures compiled by the World Economic Forum. // - link

// “Indian women end up doing very badly in paid work and one of the reasons for that is that they are spending so much time in unpaid work,” said Saadia Zahidi, head of the gender parity program at the WEF and one of the authors of the report. // - link

Recommended reads:

From News Laundry - An article by Madhu Trehan:

1. We Let This Gen Down - link

From Indian Home Maker's blog:

2. Why do men NOT have to choose between being a CEO and a father, but women have to make this choice - link

3. Society benefits immensely from childbearing, childrearing, and caregiving work that currently goes unpaid. - link

4. How are mothers treated in Indian culture - link

5. Women you are not doing anybody a favour... - link

More from Quartz:

6. India's most famous stay-at-home dad still has to answer questions about his salary - link