Wei Wong - #2

It’s been three days since we left the states and I think that everyone, including myself, is quite exhausted. But it’s wonderful to be able to take all of this in – when we arrived last night at Mumbai International Airport, it was surprising to see all of the palm trees and people instead of paved cement and TSA officials directing cars away from the fire lanes. It was also refreshing to see so many welcoming faces, even though many of them are still strangers to me (not so much today, though).

The culture here is incredibly diverse. From the readings, I was able to understand the concept of vast identities in India, but the immersion experience just from landing at the airport has made a very deep impact on my experience here. Despite the fact that the official languages used in the Indian government are English and Hindi, only 50% of the country is able to truly understand the latter. I’m still adjusting to the idea that most people are minorities here.

We are staying at a student hostel at Somaiya University, which is about 20 minutes away from the airport. This morning and afternoon, several professors and students presented on the history of the university and on women leadership. Dr. Patricia Gokhale’s presentation was very informative; she explained the vision and mission of the founder of the University, which center around the tradition of strong values. The founder believed in giving back to the community multi-fold after taking in any learning, and the University is doing just that by providing education to disadvantaged cultural groups (and to people of all races, genders, etc.). By working with the community to get them to see the value of education, the University was able to lower the dropout rate and improve the students’ quality of life.

I noted some conflicting beliefs of women leadership during our tour today. While many of our hosts felt that women are moving more towards the corporate sector, obtaining and maintaining their leadership positions there, some still believe that women belong in the “home sciences sector.” One professor explicitly stated this (amongst our all-women student group, of course), and I immediately wanted to rebut his comment. There were no special programs for women in engineering, as one principal stated strongly as well. Yet, in the engineering college, where many of the majors are geared towards males, women make up 30% of the computer science and information technology fields, which shows the growing interest of women in sciences and their potential for leadership within these fields. When the presenter was asked about why women preferred these fields as opposed to computer science, she stated that “women in India prefer to work in offices” and that men are not very receptive to a female supervisor, especially on the factory floor. In observing these opposing beliefs, I wondered about the lengths that Indian women still had to travel in order to be accepted as capable and inspirational leaders.

Work-life balance is another issue that women face in India. While family support is important to a woman’s decision to have children or continue with her career and educational goals, she may still feel pressure from her in-laws to start a family. Moreover, her neighbors may question her health and ask her why she is not yet having children. The group panel also highlighted the generational gaps of having children at the age of 35 versus having children at a younger age, such as the psychological conflicts that the parents and children may face. The situation is similar in the U.S., especially amongst the Baby Boomers, where the effects can be seen in Generation Y.

I was intrigued by how many similarities there were between the U.S. and Indian cultures, but this is bound to change once we visit other areas, such as Coimbatore and Kolhapur. I’m excited for the next few days, but I’m also hoping to get some more rest.