Women professionals meet every Saturday. Dilip Kagda Women professionals meet every Saturday. Dilip Kagda Written by ALEYA DUTTA CHOUDHURY AMID A generational shift in the workspace where women increasingly view their careers as a matter of choice rather than one of circumstance, a group of professionals gather on the last Saturday of every month in suburban Mumbai to discuss the complex intricacies of being a 21st century career woman. ‘Lean In Mumbai’, the city chapter of the global ‘Lean In Platform’ that was inspired by Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg’s 2013 book of the same name, serves as a networking platform for women, providing them with a space outside of the office to discuss professional and personal issues in order to overcome challenges at work. At the very first meeting, the group listed a series of issues ranging from financial planning to sexual harassment, picking one subject every month. The first half of the meeting usually features a talk by a successful woman illustrating her experiences with the issue under deliberation. This is followed by a networking session, where women share advice, tips and contacts. One issue that came up recently was equal pay. “I have never negotiated my salary though I work in sales, which deals primarily with negotiations. At a certain point, I had two competing offers that I didn’t use as leverage to bargain for better conditions because there was always a part of me that felt indebted to my employer. Now, I tell other women to demand more because negotiating at an early stage will lead to them compounding their earnings,” says Priyanka Pandit, sales manager at LinkedIn India. For another, the transition to married life was especially difficult. “My in-laws think that working after marriage is unnecessary and a woman can always dabble in social work if need be. They don’t really understand the concept of women having their own dreams.” One of the founders, Jaskirat Kaur, followed an unusual career trajectory. Starting off as an engineer from IIT-Bombay, she switched to modelling and the fashion industry and has now co-founded a start-up that deals with cosmetics. “Working in different industries has helped me understand the dynamics of women at the workplace. The basic problem is that girls are brought up to think they are the ‘weaker sex’. More than pointing fingers at men, women themselves don’t support each other much.” she says. “A platform like Lean In steps attempts to bring about a change in this fundamental flaw in societal thinking.” The attendees range from young women just starting off in their careers to women who have taken a break from their careers to give birth and now wish to re-enter the working world. There’s never anything like too much support. “It makes a difference when you have people on the same wavelength as you,” says Pandit. “Lean In Mumbai has the features of every networking group, offers a medley of contacts and help to women in different stages of their careers. But it also goes one step further and offers a strong support system to women who navigate the complex dynamics of the workplace every single day.” For all the latest Mumbai News, download Indian Express App

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