Why finance is no longer male turf

Both of these high profile women bankers came to be where they are, via two very different routes. Deputy MD of ICICI Bank, Kalpana Morparia didn't even want to be there in the first place! She had no great aspirations and just wanted to be married and have kids.

She credits her mother for giving her the impetus to get an education and then take up a job because she wanted her daughter to have an  independent income. So she did her BSc in chemistry and microbiology and then did law and in 1975, she found herself working for ICICI Bank.
 
Since then, she hasn't looked back or regretted her decision. The only regret she has, is of a very personal nature. She says, "One of the biggest disappointments that I had to come to terms with is not having children. Once you get that maturity, to accept such a severe limitation in a woman's life, I felt, if I could do that, I can just about handle any other disappointment."

    

        Kalpana Morparia
 
On the other hand, Morparia's counterpart, Director of Kotak Mahindra Capital, Shanti Ekambaram did her schooling in Ahmedabad and came to Mumbai to attend Sydenham College. She was good at math and wanted to be a chartered accountant. She knew she was destined for a career in finance.
 
Both of them have given the world of finance, a more humane face. Being women has been an asset rather than a liability, as these two have successfully proved. But they also admit to working in very enabling environments.
 
Morparia says of her bank, "ICICI is place which gives you a lot of freedom. It really enables you to bring in all your inner creativity. It really inculcates the entrepreneurial spirit in an individual. And an entrepreneurial sprit with the backing of an organization - you can't get any better than that."
 
"I was also lucky to have good mentors. I have been here for 30 years  now. It was a very different style of mentoring but they always created opportunities where l could grow in every opportunity that I was given."
 
But she does acknowledge that the fame that ICICI Bank has got for giving women such a leg up is now such a cliché! She explains, "I have been making this point at virtually every forum that I get. It's really got to do with the general neutral points. In ICICI, it does not really matter whether you are a male or a female except that we can dress better than men. But there is absolutely no discrimination at the time of recruitment, career progression, assignments or compensation."

                    

                     Shanti Ekambaram
 
Ekambaram agrees, "What is required in your business or your daily
decision-making is a certain level of competence and I think if that's given and as long as your committed, I don't think there is too much of a difference. Yes, women do bring a certain amount of emotional quotient, EQ, which may perhaps make them more sensitive to certain situations and they may be able to handle certain situations better."
 
"But EQ without IQ means nothing. So at an IQ level, if that is a given, the EQ gives you an added advantage of being sensitive in certain situations and may be handling people better, or diffusing a certain situation or bringing a certain sensitivity to certain situations helps, but otherwise I don't really see too much difference."         
      
Morparia feels because of their sensitivity, they make for better mentors as they tend to understand that people do have a life outside of the workplace and hence are more accommodating. But, she's also seen changes taking place. Now, more of her male colleagues can't make it to a meeting on a Saturday because it's their turn to babysit!