Respected ex-cop addresses Genpact
By Nitin Paul 

Delhi’s former top female cop, Dr. Kiran Bedi, made the day for the women staffers of BPO Genpact with her intelligent, lively and humorous talk during an interactive session with them in Cyber City Gurgaon on May 26.  Titled as the ‘GenWIN-WILL OpenRoundtable’, the seminar was held at the packed auditorium of Hotel Crowne Plaza.  Genpact President and CEO Pramod Bhasin and NASSCOM Chairman Som Mittal were also present on the occasion. 

Genpact Women’s International Network (GenWIN) is the CSR wing of Genpact aimed at the professional development of its women employees across the globe. GenWIN joined hands with the Forum for Women in Leadership (WILL Forum) to organize the seminar and to discuss issues related to women leadership in the corporate world. 98 percent of the participants were women staffers and executives of Genpact. 

Though majority part of the discussions revolved around equal rights of the women at the workplace, the center of the discussion was former IPS officer Dr Kiran Bedi who attributed some of the plight of the women towards lack of home support system.  She said that due to the  lack of home support systems, the working women were victimized and were  overworked. Dr. Bedi said that home was the biggest consumer of energy for the working women.  “After reaching home from her workplace, already exhausted women have to oblige her husband, in-laws and children and get into daily chores. Husband and others do not support her by sharing the burden on mundane household affairs.”

“It is because of this that marriage for men results in a boost to their success, while for working women it was often the reverse,” said Dr. Bedi advocating a level playing field for men and women. She was all praises for the American men who, she said, were more supportive to their working wives. As many as 16-20 percent of American men were supportive of  their wives,  while in India the percentage was a low 5-6 percent. 

Dr. Bedi also shared her agony at not being appointed as the Police Commissioner of Delhi last year.  She said that it was because she was in competition with a male Home Secretary of Delhi government that she was refused the post of Police Commissioner and a  male police officer was appointed as top cop.  “We will have to strive hard with sheer resolve and hard work to excel in this male-dominated society,” she asserted.  However, NASSCOM chairman Som Mittals said that the percentage of women employees in ITeS sector in India is almost at par with the world average. Genpact has a good balance of men and women, with the ratio being  50 percent for both sexes.

Techgoss note:  Kiran Bedi is one of the most admired women in India.  A tennis champion,  she was the first woman to join the IPS.  Kiran has had a very distinguished career and was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award which many consider the Nobel Prize of Asia.

Genpact is the biggest and most successful BPO in India