AN UNEQUAL MUSIC

“EVEN AFTER A decade of running a fast-growing and profitable company, I had to experience someone calling me ‘emotional’ when I disagreed with their unsolicited business advice. Once, my COO (chief operating officer) and I went to meet someone who refused to acknowledge my presence and only spoke with my COO, assuming I was there to only take notes. I was also ‘advised’ against having a woman CFO because I was already a woman CEO, something that simply doesn’t happen in companies where the entire management and board are men.”

There may be a growing refrain calling for gender equality in the workplace, but the experiences of Hardika Shah show this may merely be lip service or an exercise in ticking the box. The Founder and CEO of Kinara Capital, which works on financial inclusion for small business entrepreneurs, says the systemic conditions make it difficult for most women to run their own business in India.

That holds