I was recently reading Indra Nooyi’s My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future. One of the remarkable aspects of the narrative is how Indra continuously discusses gender roles and her attempts to rationalise them. In one instance, she points out how, when she had become the president of PepsiCo and came home with glee, her mother, instead of appreciating her, remarked, “You may be the president or whatever of PepsiCo, but when you come home, you are a wife and a mother and a daughter. Nobody can take your place. So you leave that crown in the garage.”
Her mother’s advice to “leave that crown in the garage” emphasises the societal expectations placed on women.
Later in the book, Nooyi reflects on how her mother might have better appreciated her accomplishments if she were a man. This resonated with me, especially when juxtaposed with an article on Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy. In some ways, the article seemed to appreciate the hard work and dedication of men such as Mr. Murthy. Yes, it acknowledged that he was only a ‘bonus dad’ but he does remain an ideal of a proud Indian father. These narratives highlight the contrasting perceptions of male and female professionals in India.
