Vanita Uppal OBE - Women in Leadership

Vanita Uppal OBE, Director of The British School New Delhi, India, talks about women in leadership, women defining leadership and women aspiring to leadership for International Women's Day.

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Hello, I'm Vanita Uppal, Director of The British School New Delhi here in India. For the next five or so minutes, I'm going to talk about a theme that is very close to my heart. Women in leadership, women defining leadership, and women aspiring to leadership, and more importantly, entering the field equipped, confident, and empowered. So let's start at the beginning. In reality, the nurturing of self-worth and self-confidence, essential for all leaders, regardless of gender, begins years before entering the workforce. A woman feels empowered when she has agency over her own life, possessing the freedom to make independent decisions regarding her education and career without being gently or otherwise persuaded to choose preferred familial options. And this starts at home and school and not at work. This freedom should not be seen as a demand or a thumping aggressive declaration of independence, but one which is normalized for young girls and women and not to be seen as an outlier or an aberration. This should be the norm, the expectation, and an entitlement for all women. It's equally important that once women enter the workforce, they do so on merit and they don't have to constantly work harder to prove themselves and earn their seat at the table. In the words of Safra Katz, the most significant barrier to female leadership is the actual lack of females in leadership. For this to happen, many barriers will need to be removed. To start with, there needs to be an ecosystem where women are mentored to believe in themselves, where they have equitable access to leadership opportunities, and where the sincere narrative is about belief and confidence in them. All too often, women suffer from self-doubt, the imposter syndrome, and hesitate to make bold and courageous decisions, fearful of being judged as brazel, ambitious, and maybe not ready for the seat they are demanding. Add to this the motherhood penalty, which needs to be fully discarded. A mother returning to work must believe she comes back stronger and enriched rather than having had a break in her career or having fallen off the bandwagon for a seat at the table. The Institute for Women's Policy Research reports that mothers work 300 hours more than they did 40 years ago. Evidence to show what we already know, I guess. All too often, mothers who find themselves between a rock and a hard place to choose between being a good and devoted mother or pursuing a leadership aspiration at work tend to choose the former. This is where society and policymakers need to come in and bring in a new system thinking approach and help debunk the myth that a working mother on the team will slow it down. The reverse has been amply proven time and time again. Multitasking, prioritizing, delegating, seeing the invisible, exercising the power of intuition, displaying empathy and vulnerability, the list goes on, attributes that women bring to their leadership styles go a long way in building high-performing organizational cultures. Investing in women leaders has the potential to impact the whole ecosystem. It's therefore counterintuitive not to do it. It is an established fact that compassionate leadership is the way forward, as it helps to create communities of equity, compassion, and mutual respect. This is not to suggest that men cannot and do not have these attributes, but maybe they tend to get far more access to leadership opportunities to showcase and hone these qualities much more than women do. What is needed is a fair, level playing field where there is genuine meritocracy and equity of access. And finally, a plea to all the well-wishers of women leaders. Please help us debunk the frightening myth of the super mom, the superwoman who can always do it and do it all the time. The celebration of the superwoman, don't get me wrong, women do need to be celebrated, only makes it harder for those striving for leadership. This image refers to the societal, often exhausting expectation that women can always successfully balance demanding careers, household management, caregiving, and personal development simultaneously. They definitely do so, but at a price and a sacrifice, most of which goes unnoticed or worse still, criticized. For the bar is set higher and there is intense pressure, no doubt at times this is self-inflicted, to excel in every sphere. I recall reading the autobiography of Indra Nui, the former CEO of PepsiCo, who said categorically that one of the reasons for her professional success was that she had great support both at home and at work. And she unabashedly sought that support from all possible quarters. The male partner, therefore, will need to be a willing and ardent supporter of this leadership journey, appreciating, chipping in, and cheering on the person who, despite many odds, has the courage and aspiration to dream and achieve big. In doing so, she's not only getting her own seat at the table, but probably inspiring others to follow her lead, who may inevitably convince the world that they don't just deserve a seat at the table, but that they indeed are the table itself. I end with the words of the Australian writer G. Anderson. Feminism isn't about making women stronger. Women are already strong. It's about changing the way the world perceives that strength. May each day be a celebration of womanhood and all the goodness it brings to humanity. Thank you so much for listening.