As we celebrate International Women's Day, Bhavana Issar, Founder & CEO, Caregiver Saathi Foundation talks about her childhood, struggles and how financial freedom is important for women. Biggest Hurdle for Women Has Been Care Related Work at Home and today we speak with business leaders in the industry about it.
#WomensDay #Business #8March
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#WomensDay #Business #8March
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:04 Happy Women's Day.
00:05 We are running a special series on this special day
00:09 where we are here interacting with great women achievers who
00:13 have done exceptionally well in their career.
00:16 One of them is Bhavna Isar.
00:19 Bhavna is a passionate person with diverse interests.
00:21 She is the founder and CEO of a business consulting
00:25 firm called Sambhavana and a social venture caregiver, Sathi.
00:31 Hi, Bhavna.
00:32 Welcome to the show.
00:33 A very happy Women's Day to you.
00:35 Thank you, and to you and to everyone.
00:38 All right.
00:39 So let's start talking about the International Women's Day.
00:45 What it means for you?
00:47 You know, I grew up in a home that
00:48 did not have any gender marks.
00:51 So I grew up knowing that I could do anything.
00:55 I could be anyone.
00:57 So for me, it wasn't really important
01:00 to fight the gender battle.
01:01 For many years, I have felt that Women's Day is tokenism.
01:07 It is special treatment.
01:11 There should be Men's Day.
01:12 Why is there Women's Day, et cetera, until I studied
01:17 the history and I realized that Women's Day
01:21 is a celebration of the many struggles
01:24 that many women had to undertake to get us
01:28 to the place of seeming equity or equality.
01:33 So I think increasingly, it has become important for me
01:38 to celebrate the very brave women
01:43 and the strong shoulders on which we stand today.
01:48 So Women's Day is important to acknowledge that.
01:54 And see, you've been a businesswoman for a long time.
01:58 I'm sure you've faced challenges.
02:02 So what is that one challenge probably
02:04 that you'd want to talk to, and how did you
02:07 overcome that challenge?
02:09 The first biggest challenge that I have faced
02:11 is embracing the identity of being a businesswoman.
02:15 I have not seen myself as a businesswoman
02:18 for a very long time.
02:20 I may have seen myself in various other roles,
02:24 but it has been difficult for me to see myself as a businesswoman
02:31 in my own right.
02:32 Embracing the identity of a businesswoman
02:34 has meant that one would carry oneself differently.
02:37 One would see oneself differently.
02:38 One would then ask of other roles differently.
02:43 So for me personally, that has been the biggest roadblock.
02:46 The second, of course, has been that of speaking money,
02:52 commercials, and understanding financials.
02:57 It is not for the lack of my capability.
03:02 It is not that I don't understand numbers,
03:04 that I cannot understand financials.
03:07 But for me personally, going after money
03:12 for a variety of reasons, not just because of my gender.
03:15 I come from a family of academics.
03:18 Studying was more important than earning money,
03:22 and things like that.
03:23 So integrating the value of financials and money
03:29 personally for me has been a big struggle.
03:33 So it has been hard for me to put a value to my products
03:38 and services, to demand for money at a certain level.
03:45 Although in my heart, I have always
03:47 believed that the work I do is worth a lot.
03:52 But to ask for money, commensurate with my value,
03:56 has been a little bit of a challenge.
03:59 There have been some other challenges as well.
04:02 So clearly, people don't take you as seriously.
04:07 Sometimes you have to speak louder in order to be heard,
04:12 and sometimes you are dismissed.
04:14 But personally, that has not bothered me.
04:19 So that has not come in my way.
04:22 The big things that have come in my way
04:24 are my own view, and how I have looked at money,
04:29 and how I have demanded my value.
04:33 One last question.
04:34 You've been in the industry for long.
04:37 Say there's someone who's just out of college
04:39 and joining the corporate world, what advice would you give them?
04:45 Yes, I think that one has to look at one's career
04:50 and look at the long term and the short term.
04:53 The one thing that I would tell, especially women,
04:56 is to--
04:57 actually, two things that I would say,
04:59 but they are related to each other.
05:01 The one thing that I would say is plan for a long career.
05:06 You might shift different types of careers,
05:10 but plan for being in the workforce for 30, 40 years.
05:14 And if you have to plan to be in the workforce for 30,
05:17 40 years, with different career choices maybe.
05:21 You may shift your career along the way,
05:23 but you need to plan for it.
05:25 So that means that in order to live a full life,
05:29 we will have many relationships.
05:30 We will want to have family.
05:32 We will want to travel.
05:34 We will want to have access to all facilities, for which we
05:39 don't want to be dependent.
05:41 So financial freedom is very important.
05:44 And planning for one's career in order
05:46 to stay relevant for the workforce is very important.
05:50 And in order to do both these things,
05:52 it is extremely critical that you take all your people
05:55 around you with you, because it is important to have friends
06:00 and family and emotional support,
06:03 whether you want to upgrade yourself,
06:05 whether you want to become an entrepreneur,
06:07 whether you want to pick up a job in another city,
06:12 whether you want to bring up children,
06:13 whether you want to care for older adults,
06:16 or you want to be a supportive partner.
06:19 You need other people.
06:21 And for that, it is very good to plan one's career.
06:25 It was lovely talking to you, Bhavna.
06:27 Thank you so much for joining us today.
06:29 That was Bhavna Isar.
06:30 Thank you so much, everyone.
06:32 (gentle music)
06:34 (gentle music)