Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg tore apart the gender inequality which is prevalent across the globe. She urged women to wrest opportunities rather than sit back and wait for them. Darpan Mago reports
Facebook might have invited unprecedented wrath of its users globally for tampering with their news feeds for a psychological experiment, its COO Sheryl Sandberg looked absolutely unfazed as she addressed a gathering in the Capital. The cheerful lady, who was at her emotional best, not only defended her company’s ‘social study’ confidently but also expressed her views candidly on the diverse topics related to gender inequality, cyber privacy and women emancipation. In India on a five-day trip, she is meeting with women leaders from advertising and media to discuss the role of technology and how women can play instrumental role in driving economic growth and social justice.
Addressing a room full of mostly women from various walks of life, Sandberg shared inspiring insight into what motivates and sustains women in leadership position. She urged women to grab to opportunities rather than adopting a “lean-back” stance.
“Be it business or home, put gender on the table and discuss it. Then only will every single person be given equal opportunity and will be treated equally,” she said. Sheryl recalled how she was known to be bossy in her childhood. When other children used to play around her, she was the one conducting their activities. “Whenever a woman tries to make her own mark, she is often pushed away and called ‘too aggressive,’” she said. While introducing her subject of the book, that is women empowerment, she quipped, “We also have a few brave men. Gloria Steinem, a famous American feminist, had once said that if you’re a man and attend any event on women empowerment, you will be termed as a moderate man and a contributor to an equal world.”
Sharing her concerns about gender inequality, she said, “Many women have low self-confidence. I researched for one year trying to fathom this. Whenever a male succeeds, everyone around him credits his skills. But when a female fares well, people put it on luck or ‘help’ or hard work. We need to realise the contribution of women to society and human kind. Imagine a world without mothers, daughters and wives!”
Sometime back, Sheryl wrote a song for her daughter and she was stunned by the little girl’s reaction. “The song was about the presidents of America and the first question my daughter posed was ‘why are they all boys’. India on the other side has had female Prime Minister and President. Today many countries in the world have their head of states as women. While India has 11 per cent of its top CEOs as women, the figure comes down to meagre four per cent in US. There are places in the world where women are still paid less as compared to men for the same jobs,” she said.
Sheryl spent initial years of her career in India in early 90s while serving for a World Bank project.
“Many of my views on women come from the experience I had in India. I learned in the halls of Indian government and in the villages that if you want to make your wife, your daughter happy then you have to treat them with equality. I find Indian culture quite interesting. There is diversity but everything is bound by a common chord,” she said.
photo Pankaj Kumar