‘It’s more about competence than being a man or woman’

BENGALURU: Amajor stereotype I faced when I joined was that in any riot or law and order situation, my seniors were not comfortable sending a women officer to handle a mob. But despite them being reluctant, I would always be a part of these operations. It’s more about professional competence than being a man or woman,” said Isha Pant, IPS, DCP, Command Centre, Bengaluru, as she spoke about the stereotypes she faced in IPS during a recently-held panel discussion. Organised by 315Work Avenue, the event, Womenia 2020, saw other speakers like actor Sujatha Akshaya, Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy, Kathak dancer Manasa Joshi, Rasika Prashant, CMO Soulfull, and more discuss gender parity and their experiences in various fields. 

“Women do face discrimination but how we handle it is up to us. We can either get discouraged or challenge it. And I chose to do the latter,” Pant told CE. Agreed Sujatha Akshaya, an actor with two decades of experience, who said the entertainment industry has seen positive changes over the years. “Back then, we didn’t have social media. Today, new entrants have more opportunities and if anyone asks them to compromise, social media enables them to voice their concerns louder,” she explained. 

While there was consensus about the positive initiatives, the speakers also spoke about how things can still change for the better. For Prashant, going from being the only woman in her team to today being accompanied by nine others is the biggest testament of this change. “Organisations today prefer quality over quantity of work.

Women need to give them the confidence of being able to handle the work,” she said. Politician Sowmya Reddy talked about how she has been an activist since childhood and took the plunge into electoral politics six or seven years ago, because she saw a huge disparity.

“In the assembly, 11 out of 225 MLAs are women, that’s about 4 per cent. But outside, we are 49-50 per cent of the population. I’m glad there is reservation at gram and zilla panchayat. Women need to make use of the opportunity. We still have a long way to go in terms of pay parity and violence towards women,” she says.