Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) It’s not easy to step into the shoes of a father who is a corporate leader, particularly when you are his daughter — since the shoe, in this case, pinches that much more.

This was the general refrain of second- and third-generation young businesswomen while sharing their experiences in the corporate world at a session at the Young FICCI Ladies Organisation here Thursday on “Fathers and Daughters in Indian Business Families”.

While some felt professionals, more than family members, resisted their entry into the world of business, others said their presence at the shop floor was viewed as inappropriate.

“I entered the factory and I was completely lost because there were 3,500 men staring at me…asking where she is from? I would say I got a lot of resistance from the professionals than the family,” said Shradha Suri Marwah, managing director of Subros.

“It was our collaborators (Denso) who are Japanese and I don’t even want to tell you what they think of women in business. One of their managing directors told me three years back that when you first walked in I thought, let me see how long she lasts,” Marwah added, whose father Ramesh Suri founded the auto airconditioning company.

Others also felt that the glass ceiling very much existed for women in corporate India, even if they were daughters of the owner of the business.

“Acceptance is more difficult at the professional level than at the family level,” said Future Group founder Kishore Biyani.

Agreed Ashni Biyani-Didwania, who said people working in her father’s organisation initially looked at her with some amount of resentment.

“Firstly, it was because I was a woman and then because I am his daughter,” said the second generation Biyani. She added that she in turn did not do much to change this perception but rather concentrated on her work while her colleagues’ mindset gradually fell in place.

But the fact still remains that a whole lot of families do not want their daughters to join the business or at times would compensate them monetarily than give them a stake in the firm.

“This thinking is still there,” said Ramesh Suri, adding that ownership issues should be sorted out earlier by the parents who own the business so that there are no power struggles later on.

Agreed Kishore Biyani, “Culturally India has been a patriarchial society and hence the thinking comes from there. Corporate empires are not much different from traditional kingdoms where the prince got the throne.”

Women business leaders also don’t have it easy on the home front. Many of them being wives and mothers, there is a sense of guilt when work pulls them away for extended periods of time from their families.

“There is a sense of guilt, which is mostly self-imposed,” said Sangita Reddy, executive director of Apollo Group of Hospitals and the third daughter of the founder Dr.Prathap C. Reddy.

Dr. Reddy has four daughters who are all involved in running the Rs.2,600 crore healthcare major.