BREAKING BARRIERS, BUILDING LEGACIES

Women leaders working in unconventional sectors are breaking industry norms and driving business transformations.

- Manoj Sharma

The Six Triple Eight, a film on Netflix, is a true story about the first and only women’s army battalion of colour that was stationed outside the U.S. during World War II. The all-women 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion sorted a three-year backlog of mail (over 17 million letters) that hadn’t been delivered to American soldiers. The story is about how 855 coloured women facing discrimination, in an alien country, brought hope to disillusioned frontline American soldiers and their families, many of whom had given up hope that their loved ones would ever get back home.

If one were to connect the dots of this film with the corporate world (currently caught in the dilemma of balancing diversity and meritocracy), there lies an important learning—the gender of talent hardly matters, it is the situation and opportunity that make a difference. For the women of the 6888th Battalion, equal opportunity was a far-cry though. They performed and proved themselves in the midst of unimaginable adversities.

The corporate world is riddled with gender biases—a woman can’t work in factory locations, it isn’t safe for her, the working hours are too long, it is not fair to put her on night shifts, and so on. But women have always been used to long working hours. If one looks at the agriculture sector, it is the women who spend longer hours on the fields. Over 60% of the work on farms that involves drudgery is done by women.

So, what prevents organisations from hiring women on shop floors or in remote factory locations? If security is a concern, organisations can take care of it by ensuring they are picked up and dropped home after work.