When Aruna Jayanthi got married and went briefly to her husband’s place in Delhi, her mother-in-law took her around the neighbourhood to introduce her to friends. Jayanthi, who was working in TCS then, says she still remembers one of them asking her pointedly: “Abhi tak tumne naukri nahi chhoda? (You haven’t left your job yet?)”
“I just smiled and got out. There was no point in getting into an argument with this opinionated, old-fashioned lady. But women feel a lot of such pressures. You can’t be just strong, you have to be superstrong and be extremely determined to overcome these challenges,” says the Capgemini India CEO.
Jayanthi heads an organization of over 40,000 people, the largest operations of Capgemini in the world, higher than in the IT company’s home base of France. She routinely figures among lists of the most powerful women in India. Prior to assuming this role in January 2011, she was the global delivery officer for the company. Before becoming part of Capgemini in 2000, she worked at Ernst & Young, Hexaware and TCS.
Jayanthi tells us with a laugh that till three years ago, she had no appreciation for women’s issues.
“May be because I never really faced them. I come from an environment whereyou are treated as an individual — you do what you have to do. So I have no nice story to tell you about how I overcame anything.”
Till three years ago, she was very reluctant to even do any women meetings. “But then I realized there was some merit in talking to women, people who are thinking of leaving for family and such reasons, and tell them it was high time they stood up for themselves.”
She says southern and western India are less conservative, “But I have seen women in our offices in Bangalore and Chennai also feel the family pressure”.
Long maternity breaks are often a reason why women fall back in their careers. Jayanthi avoided that pitfall. She says when she was pregnant, there came a time when she couldn’t travel. “So I worked from home till one day before my daughter was born. And three weeks after she was born I was back at work, in the office. I had worked two months from home and I was going nuts. I had to see my colleagues. I was sick of being in conference calls and on email.”
Wasn’t it painful to leave her baby behind? Jayanthi’s response will surprise, to say the least, traditional Indian women: “My daughter may be the greatest looking thing on Earth, but you can’t spend 18 hours a day looking at her. It’s also social conditioning that makes you feel that the baby needs you. I figured out that the baby doesn’t even need you. They just need someone to wash them and take care of them.”
Creating more women mentors Aruna Jayanthi introduced a coaching and mentoring
programme last year for women in Capgemini India. There
was first a coaching programme of three-four months for mentors. And then the mentors were assigned to high-potential women. One of the objectives of the programme is to see that the women don’t drop out of work. The women are also given roles they are comfortable with
“I just smiled and got out. There was no point in getting into an argument with this opinionated, old-fashioned lady. But women feel a lot of such pressures. You can’t be just strong, you have to be superstrong and be extremely determined to overcome these challenges,” says the Capgemini India CEO.
Jayanthi heads an organization of over 40,000 people, the largest operations of Capgemini in the world, higher than in the IT company’s home base of France. She routinely figures among lists of the most powerful women in India. Prior to assuming this role in January 2011, she was the global delivery officer for the company. Before becoming part of Capgemini in 2000, she worked at Ernst & Young, Hexaware and TCS.
Jayanthi tells us with a laugh that till three years ago, she had no appreciation for women’s issues.
“May be because I never really faced them. I come from an environment whereyou are treated as an individual — you do what you have to do. So I have no nice story to tell you about how I overcame anything.”
Till three years ago, she was very reluctant to even do any women meetings. “But then I realized there was some merit in talking to women, people who are thinking of leaving for family and such reasons, and tell them it was high time they stood up for themselves.”
She says southern and western India are less conservative, “But I have seen women in our offices in Bangalore and Chennai also feel the family pressure”.
Long maternity breaks are often a reason why women fall back in their careers. Jayanthi avoided that pitfall. She says when she was pregnant, there came a time when she couldn’t travel. “So I worked from home till one day before my daughter was born. And three weeks after she was born I was back at work, in the office. I had worked two months from home and I was going nuts. I had to see my colleagues. I was sick of being in conference calls and on email.”
Wasn’t it painful to leave her baby behind? Jayanthi’s response will surprise, to say the least, traditional Indian women: “My daughter may be the greatest looking thing on Earth, but you can’t spend 18 hours a day looking at her. It’s also social conditioning that makes you feel that the baby needs you. I figured out that the baby doesn’t even need you. They just need someone to wash them and take care of them.”
Creating more women mentors Aruna Jayanthi introduced a coaching and mentoring
programme last year for women in Capgemini India. There
was first a coaching programme of three-four months for mentors. And then the mentors were assigned to high-potential women. One of the objectives of the programme is to see that the women don’t drop out of work. The women are also given roles they are comfortable with
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