Edelweiss Mutual Funds CEO and MD Radhika Gupta has said she finds the work-life balance debate "unfair" as most of the the supporters of long working hours are mostly men. The 41-year-old was speaking at a podcast on how the hustle culture works out for women when she made the remark. Highlighting the extra mile that working woman who have children have to go, Gupta said they work 120 hours a week managing both their office work, household, and the children.
"Working women who have children works for 120 hours a week, but we are not a subject of national debate," she said on 'The BarberShop with Shantanu' hosted by the CEO of Bombay Shaving Company, Shantanu Deshpande.
A CEO's struggle: Juggling board meetings and diapers
Elaborating on how she hustles her responsibilities as a CEO and mother, Gupta said, "Before I go into a board meeting, the nanny will tell me that she's run out of diapers so I'll order it online and then get cranky waiting for an OTP and then someone will be calling me. This is reality. One of the reasons I find some of this work-life debate a little unfair because a lot of it comes from men. I may get trolled for saying this but the reality of hustle culture for women is very different."
On being insisted by Deshpande, Gupta recalled a few instances when remarks on work-life balance by men made headlines and triggered nationwide debates. "All the comments about 'let's work weekends', 'let's work 70 hours a week', '90 hours a week'... I've never seen one of these comments made by a woman, because we know it's not possible," the Edelweiss Mutual Funds boss said referring to Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy who encouraged young professionals to work 70 hours a week and L&T chairperson SN Subrahmanyan who urged employees to work on weekends.
Drawing from personal experience again, Gupta acknowledged that despite being in a position of "greatest privilege" with "an army of staff," she struggles to find time for herself. "Someone asked me in a previous interview, 'What do you do to be fit?' I don't have time! So all the anti-work-life balance comments come from men," she said.
Social media reacts: Is work-life balance different for women?
Gupta's comments also sparked a discussion on social media about how the hustle culture works differently for men and women. "Honestly don't think there's any sort of balance in the lives of working mothers," Instagram user Monami D (@monamidg) commented. "We are always making decisions about saving our jobs or about the well-being of our child. That's why we don't bother to talk about these things because who has the time?"
Another user, however, had a different take on it. "In the name of work-life balance, I once had a female intern who refused to work past 8 pm, even during critical deadlines, leaving others to pick up the slack," Manas Singh Rathore (@dibssonyou) wrote. "On the flip side, there are team members, often male, who routinely stretch past midnight to keep things moving. But let’s be clear: extreme effort exists on all sides. The point isn't to generalise by gender, but to hold individuals accountable. Corporate culture should rise above gender biases. Everyone’s struggle is valid, just narrated through different lenses, shaped by personal choices and individual circumstances."
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