George PaulDirector, Synthite Industries

V P NandakumarChairman, Manappuram Group

Mervin AlexanderCEO, Technopark

Kochouseph ChittilappillyFounder & MD,

V-Guard Industries Ltd

Dr. V A JosephMD & CEO

South Indian Bank

Shivdas B MenonMD, Sterling Group

Passline News Service

There is a new theoryrunning around that LehmanBrothers would never havehappened if it had been LehmanSisters. This is put forward bymany in the corporate world in thecontext of the recent financialdisaster that shook the globe tostress the point that ‘womanlyqualities’ are becoming ever morevaluable in business. The financialcrisis, they argue, proved that the

sort of qualities that men pride themselves on,such as risk-taking and cut-throat competition,can lead to competition and ultimately to crises.

What are these ‘womanly qualities’? “Womenare less aggressive and more consent-seeking,less competitive and more collaborative, lesspower-obsessed and more group-oriented,” saysocial scientists. They insist that women excel at‘transformational’ and ‘interactive’ management.They are ‘better lateral thinkers than men’ and‘more realistic’ into the bargain and that some ofthe best companies are favouring ‘collaboration’and ‘networking’, skills in which women have aninherent advantage. It has also been establishedthat, on average, women have a ‘higheremotional intelligence quotient’ than men.

There are also companies using the unique managementwisdom of their female employees. Several consultancies, atleast in the US and Europe, teach firms how to listen to womenand exploit their special abilities. Many of the most successful

women are to be found in hard-edged companies, it is pointed out,rather than the ‘soft’ organizationsof the feminine imagination. Areva(nuclear energy), Anglo-American(mining), Archer Daniels Midland(agribusiness), DuPont(chemicals), Sunoco (oil) and Xerox(technology) all have femalebosses. Among the very few ‘soft’companies headed by womenstands out PepsiCo, whoseChairman and CEO is Indra Nooyi,an Indian.

Modern business firms haveseen a growing demand for

women’s labour. When brute strength mattered more thanbrains, men had an inherent advantage. Now that brainpowerhas triumphed the two sexes are more evenly matched. The

feminization of the workforce has been driven by the relentlessrise of the service sector (where women can compete as wellas men) and the equally relentless decline of manufacturing(where they could not).

Demand has been matched by supply: women areincreasingly willing and able to work outside the home. Theexpansion of higher education has boosted job prospects forwomen, improving their value on the job market and shiftingtheir role models from stay-at-home mothers to successfulprofessional women. The best-educated women have alwaysbeen more likely than other women to work even after havingchildren.

The trend towards more women working is almost certainto continue. In the meantime, women have certainly performedbetter over the past decade than men. In the European Union

women have filled 6m of the 8mjobs created since 2000. InAmerica three out of four peoplethrown out of work since the‘mancession’ began have beenmale. By 2011 there will be 26mmore female than male universitystudents in America.

A recent study shows thatwithin the next few monthswomen will cross the 50%threshold and become themajority of the Americanworkforce, Women already makeup the majority of universitygraduates in the Organization for

Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and they earnalmost 60% of university degrees in America and Europe. Theyrun some of the world’s best companies.

Women’s economic empowerment is perhaps the biggestsocial change of our times. Just a generation ago, womenwere largely confined to the kitchen, to repetitive, menial jobs.Even if they were employed, they were expected to abandontheir concerns when they married and had children. Todaythey are running some of the organizations that once treatedthem as second-class citizens.

India Inc is not lagging behind. Though substantial progressin retraining women on top has not been achieved, companiesare increasing representation of women at almost all otherlevels. Women in Leadership (WIL), a forum set up in 2007 by1,000 women professionals from 150 companies, finds thatIndian companies like TCS, Zenzar, Tata Steel and JSW Steelhad 5%-6% more women in senior positions in 2009 than in2008, and multinational companies in the country such asPepsiCo, KPMG, Citigroup, GE and Pfizer increased it to 15%-20%.

A recent report said that companies like Titan, where 10%of the employees are women, employ more women in seniorpositions. IT major Infosys has a woman heading its Australian

division. Wipro Technologies,another IT giant, has appointedMs Sunita Rebecca Cherian,General Manager of TalentEngagement and Development,one of the topmost positions awoman can aspire to occupy.

In Technopark,Thiruvananthapuram, there areabout 28,000 IT/ITESprofessionals working, out ofwhom nearly 45% are women,according to Mr Mervin Alexander,Chief Executive Officer. InThrissur-based South Indian Bank, out of the nearly 5,200

employees, the percentage of women is 35.46,says Dr V A Joseph, Managing Director and ChiefExecutive Officer. Mr V P Nandakumar, Chairmanof the Valappad (Thrissur)-headquarteredManappuram Group of Companies, feels proudthat women constitute 39.39% of the workforcein his companies. It is 30% with the SterlingGroup, Kochi, the total number of employeesthere being 80, says Mr Shivdas B Menon,Managing Director.

In Synthite and V-Guard Industries, Kochi,the percentage of women employees is less thanthat in the companies quoted above. WhereasSynthite has only 12% women, V-Guard has stillless—only 11%, according to Mr George Pauland Mr Kochouseph Chittilappilly, Director and

Chairman, respectively, of the companies.A frustrating factor found by the WIL study is about the

pace of women’s progress in business at the middle and thetop levels. This is to say that women are still unrepresented atthese levels. The study found thatthough the entry-level inflow hasbeen as high as 40%-50% in firmslike Wipro, the number wasdecreasing towards the middle andthe top, driving organizations tothink why women were leavingmidway. “Women constitute just5% of the boards of companies inIndia. This means that at the9,000 listed firms in the country,there are only 400 women boardmembers. These figures may notpresent a complete picture as 200of them belong to family-ownedfirms. So, the number of womenwho have actually climbed the ladder is just a sad fraction,”says the report.

To page 5

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The economicempowerment ofwomen has been one ofthe most remarkablerevolutions of the past50 years: millions ofpeople who once weredependent on men havetaken control of theirown economic fates. Itis remarkable alsobecause it has producedso little friction as ithas been widelywelcomed by men aswell as women.

Aug 31-Sept 30, 2010 PASSLINE

2

By Biju John

The Seventh Global Conference of theWorld Malayalee Council and the 15th

anniversary celebrations in Doha were heldfrom July 28 to 31, 2010 under the patronageof Mrs Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, Ambassadorof India to Qatar, and the guidance of Mr C KMenon, industrialist, as Chairman. Thecharismatic Global Chairman, Mr Soman Babyand the local organizing committee under theable leadership of Mr Varghese Chacko asGeneral Convener had been making all effortsfor many months to see that the functionbecame one of the most memorable andsuccessful ones in its history. The continuous

stream of feedback we still keep receiving fromdiverse sectors gives us great joy and immensesatisfaction as they are proof that the variousevents held as part of the conference werewell received and appreciated by the delegatesand guests alike.

First of all, on behalf of the WMC DohaProvince and the Global ConferenceOrganizing Committee, we wish the re-electedChairman and his new team of global office-bearers all the very best to take forward theideas and ideals of WMC. We are quite surethat under the able leadership of the new teamWMC can achieve greater heights of communityservice and their commitment to the younggeneration will result in bringing up a new brigadeof socially committed young leaders.

About the commitment to the younggeneration, the highlight of the GlobalConference was the interaction between 16young people flown in specially from Kerala(thanks to the generosity of Mr C K Menon)and the students from various schools in Qatar

for showcasing what they gained throughAltius training camps in Kerala followed by theAltius seminar. All those who witnessed theAltius sessions firmly believe this is a greatstep in the right direction as any attempt tobe a guiding light to our children is a service tothe future generations.

The goal of the Altius programme is tobring in changes in the spheres of knowledge,skills and attitude thereby making our youngpeople “globally competent and sociallycommitted”. The visionaries behind thisprogramme have well thought about India’sposition in the international arena and what isrequired to bring the new generation ofMalayalees to its forefront, contributing in a

major way to the new world order evolvingtoday. One of the guiding forces behind theAltius programme in Kerala, Mr T PSreenivasan, talked at length about theattitude problems inherent in Kerala societyand what is required to be done to overcomethese issues. Addressing the seminar, Mr JosePanachipuram talked about the presence of‘enthios’ (the God within/the strength within/the spirit within) in every human being andthe need to light it up so that greater potentialis achieved by our young people.

The seminar also highlighted ‘Samanwaya’,the work done by Altius among theschoolchildren to bridge the gap between urbanand rural children. To page 24

The initiatives of the DohaConference should benurtured and developedfurther for the benefit ofKeralites all over the world.It was a team effort to holdthe conference in Doha andall of us in the OrganizingCommittee are very pleasedto hear that all thedelegates had a fruitfuland memorableexperience in Doha.

A memorable experience for all

Aug 31-Sept 30, 2010 PASSLINE

23

RN 65561/94 Reg. No. KL/EKM/116/2009-2011

Printed and Edited by Varghese Paul for Keethara Publications Pvt Ltd. 6802, Convent Road, Cochin-35Tel 3294564Email:pasline@hotmail.com and Printed at Ayodhya Printers Pvt Ltd., Cochin-26 Design & Layout by Vinosh Ponnurunni

PASSLINE24 August 31-September 30, 2010

Youth told to find the light withinFrom page 23

Addressing the seminar, Kerala’s EducationMinister, Mr M A Baby, who has been involvedwith Altius since its inception, exhorted theyoung people to always ask questions and toldthem not to go by who said what but look atthe acceptability even if something is said bysomeone who opposes our views. Mr AbdusSamad Samadani at the seminar reminded theyouth that the memory of society is historyand remembering the past will help the youngpeople to fight the erosion of our value systemand become the watchdogs and ambassadors

in preserving and promoting our values. Toovercome the emotional weakness in oursociety, emotional education is required todayand that can be achieved by nurturing thebasic values of our society in our younggeneration thereby recreating the humanbeing. Saudi-based writer and critic P J JAntony called upon parents to inculcate valuesin their children and bring them up as goodhuman beings.

Going forward, we need to spread themessage of Altius in the Middle East region, aswe have a new generation of children growing

up in this part of the world, far away from therealities of life in Kerala. Probably theircompetence levels are high, but what is thelevel of their social commitment to their homeState? We need to think of ways and meansto stimulate the sense of social belonging andcommitment in our children growing up outsideIndia, as by doing so our ultimate reward isthese young people themselves and theircommitment to their home country and thelarger interests of society. In a society whereevery move is based on selfish motives, it isessential that we have a new generation ofsocially committed people to care for ourhomeland and be its ambassadors in promotingits global competence all over the world.

The central theme of the literary and mediaseminar was ‘Changing faces of literature andmedia’. The seminar was inaugurated by actorMukesh, who is the Chairman of the SangeethaNataka Akademi, Kerala. As Chairman of thesession Mr Samadani underlined the fact thatimmortality is the essence of literature. Mr Jose

Panachipuram suggested that the theme canbe rephrased as ‘Changing faces ofcommunication’. About the changing faces ofliterature, P J J Antony took us through thehistorical development of modern literature inMalayalam starting from O Chandu Menonthrough Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai and VaikomMuhammad Basheer till the contemporarywriters. Mr T N Gopakumar shared thedilemmas of the visual media and the rulesimposed on them while others do not observethe rules. Mr Abraham Mathew highlightedKerala society which encourages negativism.

Mrs Nirmala Jose requested mediapersons tokeep the family and child perspective in mindwhile covering events and incidents.

The business seminar attracted theattention of a large number of Keralites doingbusiness in Qatar, in addition to the attendeesof the conference. Inaugurating the seminar,Kerala’s Minister of Industries ElamaramKareem showcased the various opportunitiesin Kerala to start new industries. Kerala’sprofessional institutions produce over one lakhskilled graduates every year and we need toemploy them in Kerala. If not, the exodus ofyoung people in pursuit of employment willcontinue and Kerala will become a State of oldpeople by 2030. While targeting to bring morelarge-scale industries, we should not lose focuson social justice as well as agriculture and publicsector enterprises. Kerala’s Revenue MinisterK P Rajendran promised that problems of landacquisition will not stand in the way of startingnew projects in the State. Through his keynoteaddress, Doha Bank CEO R Seetharamanpresented a model for the development ofbusinesses in Kerala and he detailed the

initiatives required to achieve this goal. Mr TBalakrishnan and Mr Alkesh Sharma, StateGovernment officials, spoke about the nextphase of growth in Kerala which will be broughtabout by infrastructure development whichhas lined up investments to the tune of Rs1,50,000 crore for the near future. MrMohamed Ali of the Galfar Group stressed thattimes have changed from the days when theGovernment started PSUs and today theGovernment needs to disinvest and hand overthe industries to the private sector and usethose resources for infrastructuredevelopment which is the need of the hour.

The valedictory function was inauguratedby Education Minister Baby. He exhorted theyoung people to search and find the lightwithin. The dais was adorned by many leadersfrom Kerala’s political, social and culturalspheres as well as WMC global leaders. Themeeting was followed by various culturalprogrammes, the highlight of which was thetantalizing dance performances by MethilDevika and Rajashree Warrier which broughtthe curtains down on the conference.

The initiatives of the Doha Conferenceshould be nurtured and developed further forthe benefit of Keralites all over the world. Itwas a team effort to hold the conference inDoha and all of us in the Organizing Committeeare very pleased to hear that all the delegateshad a fruitful and memorable experience inDoha. It was our proud privilege to host all thedelegates in Doha and we sincerely hope thatevery delegate, guest or attendee hadsomething to take back and cherish thosememories for many years to come.

(The writer is General Secretary of theWMC Doha Province and was the GeneralSecretary of the Organizing Committee of theWMC Doha Conference)

Revenue Minister K P Rajendran releasing the Passline WMC Special Issue by handing overa copy to Indian Ambassador to Oman Anil Wadhwa in Doha, Qatar. Indian Ambassadorto Qatar Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa and former Union Minister O Rajagopal are also seen.