“You are tough”, he said. I asked, “What makes you say so?”

He: “Well, for a woman, you understand commercials really well and asking me right questions.”

As a woman entrepreneur, leading a team of 25+ people and handling multiple initiatives, people still doubt my abilities as a leader and its an everyday battle to get recognised for your talent, skills and endeavours.

As I reflect back, it has mainly to do with the fact that we, as women, operate majorly out of fear of failure and judgement than out of the space of being ambitious and thinking big. We still need our fathers/husbands/brothers’ permission to take every single entrepreneurial decisions.

I have also experienced some investors backing off from investing in women-led organisations, for reasons, usually not specified.

Women are more accepted in jobs like teaching, medicines, arts, etc, but we still don’t get our dues for our entrepreneurial abilities, resource management, risk taking abilities, leadership, financial management and strategic planning, budgeting etc.

Another major battle area is the work-life balance! We are constantly made to feel guilty for not doing ‘enough’ for the family. I still wonder how much is
enough’ actually!

For all of you, powerful women out there, this Women’s Day, let’s come together and work towards building on women’s assets, building business resiliency, and build networks to take our organisations to greater heights.

Happy Women’s day!