MUMBAI: The first woman chairman of State Bank of India (SBI) in its 210-year-old history may not have been born at all. In her book, ‘Indomitable: A working woman’s notes on life, work and leadership’, Arundhati Bhattacharya says dire straits and unemployment had forced her father to have second thoughts about having a third child when her mother was expecting her. However, her mother’s belief that the newborn would come with its own destiny resulted in a change of plans.
While Bhattacharya’s appointment was celebrated as the coming of age of woman empowerment, not much has been written about the challenges on the way. Bhattacharya’s book, published by HarperCollins, has pointers to how ingrained the bias against women was and continues, albeit to a lower extent. The bias is engraved in the legislation as the SBI Act refers only to a chairman, which is why she had to scrap her first batch of cards that were printed as chairperson.
SBI did not have a woman as a probationary officer until 1960. However, decades later, the bank’s offices continued to have washrooms segregated for men, women and officers. Sixty years after the first woman officer joined, if woman bankers have better terms of employment, they have Bhattacharya to thank. Much of the bank’s policies towards woman employees and customers were based on the impediments she experienced in her career.
Her first brush with gender stereotyping was when celebrated alumni in her school mocked her ambitions for becoming a biochemist, saying, “You’re sure? Not a kitchen chemist?” One also gets insights into why women were not present in professional courses in the ’70s. Bhattacharya, who qualified for a medical seat following the joint entrance examination, could not pursue medicine as hostels for women were not there.
The challenges continued, from the absence of washrooms in the early years to not getting tough departments like credit (seen as a career kick-starter) because of her gender. Even after she was in a position of power, Bhattacharya found that the temperature in the board rooms was regulated keeping in mind men wearing thick suits and not women in sarees. This created in her the habit of using the teacup to warm her hands. “So, on becoming chairman, I thought I needed to assert myself on behalf of the women in the boardroom and requested my male colleagues to leave their coats and ties behind in their rooms,” said Bhattacharya.
As chairman, Bhattacharya is credited with introducing a discount of 5bps (100 basis points = 1 percentage point) if the woman was the first holder of the title in a home loan. This feature not only popularised the loan but also ended up reducing defaults. And the success was copied by others and extended to more products, including Jan Dhan accounts where more than half are held by women. She also introduced a two-year sabbatical initially for women, but later extended to males, which has helped retain more women in the bank’s workforce. It was again Bhattacharya, who pushed for a five-day week but had to be content with two Saturdays off in a month.
While Bhattacharya’s appointment was celebrated as the coming of age of woman empowerment, not much has been written about the challenges on the way. Bhattacharya’s book, published by HarperCollins, has pointers to how ingrained the bias against women was and continues, albeit to a lower extent. The bias is engraved in the legislation as the SBI Act refers only to a chairman, which is why she had to scrap her first batch of cards that were printed as chairperson.
SBI did not have a woman as a probationary officer until 1960. However, decades later, the bank’s offices continued to have washrooms segregated for men, women and officers. Sixty years after the first woman officer joined, if woman bankers have better terms of employment, they have Bhattacharya to thank. Much of the bank’s policies towards woman employees and customers were based on the impediments she experienced in her career.
Her first brush with gender stereotyping was when celebrated alumni in her school mocked her ambitions for becoming a biochemist, saying, “You’re sure? Not a kitchen chemist?” One also gets insights into why women were not present in professional courses in the ’70s. Bhattacharya, who qualified for a medical seat following the joint entrance examination, could not pursue medicine as hostels for women were not there.
The challenges continued, from the absence of washrooms in the early years to not getting tough departments like credit (seen as a career kick-starter) because of her gender. Even after she was in a position of power, Bhattacharya found that the temperature in the board rooms was regulated keeping in mind men wearing thick suits and not women in sarees. This created in her the habit of using the teacup to warm her hands. “So, on becoming chairman, I thought I needed to assert myself on behalf of the women in the boardroom and requested my male colleagues to leave their coats and ties behind in their rooms,” said Bhattacharya.
As chairman, Bhattacharya is credited with introducing a discount of 5bps (100 basis points = 1 percentage point) if the woman was the first holder of the title in a home loan. This feature not only popularised the loan but also ended up reducing defaults. And the success was copied by others and extended to more products, including Jan Dhan accounts where more than half are held by women. She also introduced a two-year sabbatical initially for women, but later extended to males, which has helped retain more women in the bank’s workforce. It was again Bhattacharya, who pushed for a five-day week but had to be content with two Saturdays off in a month.
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