Having your voice heard is the biggest challenge women typically face
Published on : Tuesday 08-03-2022
Scindia Balasingh, Head Of Marketing – Global Tech Partnerships, Freshworks.
What was the inspiration that prompted you to pursue this career path?
I love working in an environment that could pose challenges and keep me engaged. I love to interact with people and be dynamic always. I believe that it’s those traits of being strong, courageous, and self-motivated – instilled in me at a very young age – that have helped me be a dynamic and creative marketer today. That coupled with the long-term goals and clarity of thought has helped me excel in my career today.
Can you recall your early days – say the first few days at work – and anything you would like to mention about that?
As an MBA student, I had always believed that once I join an organisation, I will immediately start working in the decision-making process, like how they depict in cinema, a few serious-looking people dressed up nicely in suits, sitting in larger than necessary boardrooms and going over files and folders. That assumption was completely shattered in the first few days at work. It was a period of a reality check; the corporate game is different. Besides, I also struggled to get time with any of my managers or supervisors. I was rather spending exorbitant amounts of time looking at the company website. But none of that disappointed me or made me lose hope. It just gave me a newer perspective, one that was practical and propagated a hands-on approach to the task present. And that coupled with the excitement of learning something new really helped me start to fall in love with what I'm doing now. So in a nutshell, myths about the corporate industry were broken, which forced me to unlearn a lot of things to prepare myself for a lifetime of experience, but most importantly to get to the boardroom, a tremendous amount of growth, patience, and hard work is required.
For a woman, it is a matter of finding the right balance between the jobs and managing the home – how do you manage this?
Strong support system. That's my answer. Without a strong support system, it is impossible to strike a balance between work and home for a working woman to witness any growth in her career. I'm emphasizing the word woman here because nobody ever asks a man how he can strike a balance between jobs and managing the home, as traditionally managing homes is seen as a woman's job. In fact, a woman who does strike a good balance is seen as an exceptionally talented person.
Even though the source of a good support system can come from multiple places, mine is my family. My parents had always insisted on everyone having financial independence irrespective of gender. And in my family, there was no specific work that is gender-defined, everyone has to contribute to everything. This attitude inculcated by my family helped me tremendously during my marriage. I was very clear about my expectations and my aspirations with my future family; even when we had our child, we sat and talked about how we are going to handle the responsibilities that come with raising a child. We to this day respect each other's work and commitments and are supportive in each other's journey.
It is one thing to have support and another to make full use of that support. Oftentimes, external forces will try and subdue you. I have had neighbours who used to ask me how I can travel with a toddler at home, should not I prioritise my kid first over my work. You have to be mentally strong to shut out the noises that always crop up when a woman steps out to go to work. I did that with the support of my family and I have never looked back.
What challenges (or privileges) do women stereotypically face, based on their gender?
At the beginning of my career, and also, especially when I was moving to mid-level positions, I faced adversity as a woman. And the worst part was, it was often from my fellow women colleagues who mostly discouraged me from moving up the ladder. Most of them tried to dissuade me from taking up more responsibilities, the increasing workload, and the stress that usually comes with taking up a bigger role. That’s because stereotypes would tell us that women should prioritise taking care of the family and making more time for children. While it does come from a good place, it’s at the cost of career growth, so that doesn't mean it is right.
For instance, when I was pregnant and turned up to work, questions were raised as to who I was trying to appease and impress. And every time I wanted to travel (as travelling was a primary part of my work), I was advised to take some rest and my work will be taken care of. My desire to work during my pregnancy was seen as a ploy to create a good impression among the senior leadership. So those were some of the few stereotypes that women prominently face among many other everyday challenges.
Have you ever missed a career opportunity or promotion due to gender?
It’s a common assumption that women don’t get promotions because they're afraid to speak up. I never had any trouble with getting promotions, but even as a young leader, my voice was discounted. Early on in my career, I was not taken seriously and I was ignored in meetings. Or when I made my points, they were overseen in favour of an older male's perspective.
Having your voice heard is the biggest challenge women typically face in the workplace. Don’t be discouraged. Swim against the tides and do not drop the ball – you will go on to accomplish your dreams and goals.
Are workplaces today more sensitive to gender issues than say, a decade ago?
It is now a proven fact that a diverse team contributes to the bottom line of the business, every company wants to capitalise on this. In fact, most companies have a separate board for diversity, where hiring a considerable percentage of women employees has been made mandatory. Hence today companies are well aware of how to bring a feasible environment for women to grow to a leadership position. But having said that, the implementation process is still in nascent stages and only a few companies are beginning to show success. This is not something that should be solely aimed at women. More men need to be coached to treat fellow women colleagues as their equals.
Which women's 'cause' needs to be challenged and changed, first?
Women returning to work after a career break is a 'cause' that needs to be challenged. The very idea that women need to take a career break during the time of pregnancy or other personal issues should be challenged.
A study by the Centre for Talent Innovation (CTI) shows that nearly 36% of women in India take a break due to various life situations, and the majority of them don't come back from the break. They are forced to abandon their career in favour of taking care of the family. To solve this problem, every company should have a proper system in place, because, at the end of the day, it's a loss for both sides if women don't come back to work – employers lose out on incredible talent, while women lose out on opportunities to advance their careers.
That is why companies like Freshworks have created a return-to-work program for women who have been on a career break for more than a year. 'ReStart with Freshworks' recruits women who took a break for various reasons such as family commitments that led them to pause their career ambitions, choosing to focus on being full-time mothers and now feel ready, or being widowed during the pandemic or other unforeseen personal crisis.
Are there areas at work that still restrict women when it comes to a leadership role?
Tech Support. Now here is the thing about tech support – they demand a 24/7 presence. So the stereotype that women are the domestic caretakers of families for centuries greatly dents any prospects of them climbing up to a leadership role in this area. Why? Because how can one expect them to turn up to work at midnight if something goes wrong. Therefore to break this myth, organisations should start a conversation with women.
What women-related myths or taboos need to be broken?
There are two major women-related myths in the corporate industry that need to be broken. The first is that they lack focus because they have multiple responsibilities, and therefore unreliable. And the second is that women with kids will not have time to meet leadership obligations.
Both the aforementioned myths, however, are proven wrong time and again because, in terms of demonstrating leadership skills and the ability to make effective decisions, it turns out that the quality matters more than the quantity of time a person spends at the office.
Do you have a mentor or a role model? If yes, you may state briefly how it inspired you.
I don't have an official mentor yet, but Ramesh Natarajan, CEO of Redington (and my boss from my previous organisation), acts as a mentor in advising me when I make any important career decisions.
And as for role models, Freshworks' CMO Stacey Epstein, who has transformed the marketing strategy effectively in such a short period of time, is awe-inspiring in terms of what a female leader can do. As a multifaceted personality, she is not only an able manager under whom nearly 400 people work, but also a great spokesperson, a key decision-maker of a huge organisation, and a wonderful mother of two daughters. She is an example of how compartmentalising various aspects of your life successfully is possible irrespective of one's gender.
What would be your message to the youth who are just starting their career?
Every step matters. Concentrate on the process, not just the result. Make sure you add value to every role, team, and organisation you’re a part of. Learn from people around you and emulate those learnings, to do the right thing for your team and organisation. Do not go behind the monetary benefits, choose the field where your interest or passion lies, and success will follow you. Don’t be a victim of your own success.
After spending years learning all the rules of the game, you will learn how to play it with precision, and this is exactly when it is so easy to fall into the trap of mediocrity and your comfort zone. Keep playing, but equip yourself and learn new techniques to stay relevant and ahead of the curve.
Describe yourself or your aspirations, dreams in 3 words.
Learn. Implement. Grow.
Scindia is a passionate technology marketer with rich experience in Partner Marketing and currently heading the Global Technology Partnerships Marketing in Freshworks. Under her leadership, the ISV Marketing team has emerged as one of the upcoming revenue engines at Freshworks. Prior to joining Freshworks, She was the head of marketing at Redington (India) Limited dealing with IT Product Lines.
She has been recognised as Top 20 Women Catalyst in the Indian IT ecosystem by SME Channels. Recently she got the Women Super Achiever award from the World Women Leadership Organisation; also a proud owner of Tech Marketer 2021 award by CXOTV, CMO leadership award, Top100 Asia's powerful leaders. Scindia is the host for MOV LeadHERs podcast and also an active speaker for a lot of podcasts, events and industry interviews. Also she is known as a motivational and industry speaker and guest lecturer across colleges and corporates.
As far as her educational qualification goes, she has a bachelor's degree in B Tech IT and an MBA with Marketing & Operations specialization.
In her free time, Scindia loves listening to AR Rahman songs, reading Tamil Classics, and writing Tamil poetry. She has been fortunate enough to visit more than 30 countries around the world.
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