Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Mentor Her

Mentorship is critical. As a small town girl, I have always craved for mentors. I seek guidance from my teachers, friends and their parents. Their advice and encouragement played an important part in choosing my majors and shaping my career.

Once I landed in Engineering college, I felt lost. Looking back I realize, the college was predominately filled with boys with less than 10% girls. While, boys socialized and received the appropriate guidance from their seniors. It was not available to girls unless you have support from boys. I remember joking to my friends that how having a boy friend actually helps you so much in getting through the assignments and exams.

In my first job, many design and career discussions happened over breaks. I told my boss that soon I may start smoking to participate in those discussions. Over the years, things have not changed much. Men still strategize more over the drinks or social gatherings. I secretly wish to be part of those informative discussions. But men feel uncomfortable and hesitant to invite the female counterparts.

In today's time of #Metoo moment, it is feared that hesitation will increase further. But we need men to involve women, guide them and encourage them. So don't exclude her, but mentor her. Mentor your friends, daughters, wives or yours colleagues. #MentorHer, #LeanIn   
leanin.org/mentorher
https://www.wsj.com/articles/dont-avoid-women-mentor-them-1517776842 

2 comments:

Ranjana said...

I happen to tumble upon your blog. It’s a nice piece of writing. But somewhere I feel that the thought of having a boyfriend to clear exams and assignments is not that great. Also being an independent women , you really don’t need a man to mentor you... a women can be a great mentor too ... even better I would say. And a women doesn’t need to start smoking or drinking just to be part of strategy discussions of men. You can very well be part of the discussions by merely bringing in your knowledge on the subject and adding value to the discussions.

Of course this is my viewpoint and need not to be in line with the rest.

You write well... keep writing. Take care

Neeru Gupta said...

Thanks Ranjana, for spending time to read and comment. You are absolutely right, I do not need to smoke or have a boy friend to clear exams. As a matter of fact, I never did. Point was; how boys have unfair advantage to socialize informally and be part of valuable discussions. To go by the sheer statistics, most ideas are generated on coffee table than in meeting rooms. Women loose on important information by missing out on opportunities to go for post office drinks or dinner.
Having a female mentor is awesome. But at the same time, we need to be aware that it is still not 50 -50 world. While we work towards bringing equality, we need to make sure we (Men and Women) do it together. Thats why it is important that we seek and encourage men to #MentorHer.