traffic light; another, while traveling in a car with a friend from a wealthy family who was a kidnapping target, was followed and fired at on a major highway. White-collar professionals need to exercise constant vigilance, one woman explained, noting that if you wear a nice watch, use a BlackBerry or cell phone, or carry a laptop, “you're making yourself a target.” Another matter-of-factly described the difference between crime in a small city versus a metropolis. “In a small city, they break your window and steal your radio. In São Paulo, they put a gun to your head and say, ‘Let's go to the ATM.’”
These safety concerns strongly influence preferences about where to work, what position to take, and what type of career to pursue. And because women are mothers and caregivers, as well as vulnerable to a broader range of crimes, safety considerations factor in their work-life decisions to a far greater degree than do men. “I could make more money and have a more comfortable life in São Paulo,” said Carolina, a Brazilian national and midlevel manager at a global financial services company, now based in corporate headquarters in the United States. “I would have a comfortable life and have great professional opportunities, but, frankly, the violence is too much.”
THE LESSONS FOR GLOBAL COMPANIES
The overwhelming obstacles educated BRIC and UAE women face at home and at work—let alone getting to work—are demoralizing, frustrating, and, ultimately, deeply alienating. Compounded by the fact that promotions are often seen as based on an ability to fit in rather than an ability to produce results, many talented women feel stymied in their climb up the career ladder and even unwelcome in the workplace.
This sense is reinforced by the absence of senior female role models, mentors, and sponsors, as well as a lack of access to leadership training. Time and again, the women in our study mentioned how hungry they are for more support from their employers and how much they would benefit from programs that would help them break out of their shells. Because this is the first generation of women to move into management roles in force, the networks of successful senior women, now common in the United States and becoming more so in Western Europe, are still in early phases in emerging economies.
What Do Women Want?
A Grope-Free, Leerless Commute
The millions of women who have poured into the workforce in emerging markets over the past decade have encountered every obstacle that tradition-bound, male-dominated cultures could throw at them, but few are more infuriating and demeaning than what they endure on their daily commute. Taunting, catcalls, pinching, groping, and other forms of harassment are so common and so persistent, our research found, that one-third or more of women in Russia, China, and the United Arab Emirates feel unsafe using public transportation to get to and from work. In India and Brazil, the number skyrockets to more than 50 percent. According to a study conducted by USAID in India, commuting concerns were a primary reason for women to consider quitting their jobs.10
As a result, an increasing number of cities in BRIC and the UAE are instituting an innovative alternative: single-sex transportation.
One option receiving a great deal of publicity is women-only cars on subways and commuter trains. “Ladies' Specials”—entire trains reserved exclusively for female passengers—were introduced in 2009 in India's four largest cities (New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Calcutta) to provide safe commutes during the morning and evening rush. Thanks to plenty of clean, padded seats and electric fans, compared with the conventional dirty, dark cars crowded with men, the service has been a hit from the start and added six more lines in 2010.11
Women-only cars also exist on the Rio de Janeiro subway, whose all-female cars circulate all day and not only during rush hours. Similarly, Dubai's metro offers a section reserved for women and children, in addition to its standard “silver” class and first-class “gold” sections.12
Single-sex buses are an increasingly popular option, especially in smaller cities. Whereas Mexico City made the news in 2007 for its inauguration of the Athena Program—pink-signed buses that board women only—Goiania, a city of 1.2 million people in central Brazil, had rolled out women-only buses a year earlier. “The beautiful women of Goiania are constantly being sexually harassed on our overcrowded buses by men who seem unable to control themselves,” explained councilman Mauricio Beraldo, the bill's sponsor. “This is why I decided to introduce a bill calling for the introduction of buses that will carry only women.”13
Finally, filling the gaps in public transportation are fleets of taxis driven by women for women. Moscow's Pink Taxi service was created in 2006 in response to an increase in taxi rape cases. Not only does the company guarantee a safe ride, but also all of the drivers of the fuchsia-colored fleet have gone to university and are encouraged to offer advice, share gossip, and make their passengers happy. “I don't know where to start,” said Olga Kuznetsova, 34, a mother of three who travels with her kids in the taxis at least twice a week. “The male drivers smoke, spit, play loud music, and generally don't give a damn about the comfort of the passenger.” As business has boomed, the company has diversified and now picks up children from schools and even makes grocery runs.14
Pink Taxi service has also been operating in Dubai for several years and recently spawned a sister organization in Abu Dhabi. The “Ladies' Taxis,” as they're known, boast safety-enhancing features not offered by ordinary taxis. Video cameras linked to the communication center of the taxi regulatory authority monitor the driver at all times. Because speeding was a common complaint among women passengers in regular cabs, each car is equipped with a gauge to detect if the driver goes over the speed limit; if she does, she will be fined. A panic button is accessible to passengers if they feel threatened.
In a country in which, according to Islamic tradition, women do not talk to men other than those in their family, the service has been a triple win—not only for women passengers upset at being leered at by male drivers, but also for women drivers happy to have flexible work options and even for the transportation authorities. “Women are safer drivers statistically [than men] and are less likely to get into an accident,” says Abdulla Sultan al Sabbagh, director of TransAd, the UAE taxi regulatory authority.15
Global companies know how to provide this kind of support: they've done it for female and minority talent in the United States and Europe. The challenge is to translate cutting-edge diversity initiatives to fit the contours of the culture of each country.
It's a challenge that can't be dismissed. These “soft” sentiments can have repercussions for employers. Our previous studies of highly qualified minority women in the United States found that more than 40 percent of Asians and African Americans, and nearly 50 percent of Latinas, in their prime childbearing and child-rearing years felt demoralized by workplace discrimination and seriously considered quitting.16 In emerging markets, where cultural and gender prejudices pulling women out of professional careers are far more pronounced, companies are at risk of losing their most qualified women at the peak of their professional powers. Worse, without the presence of those women acting as magnets for university graduates, employers will cut themselves off from the best prospects in their talent pipeline. In short, multinational organizations must move beyond Western notions of work-life pulls on women and craft solutions that help tackle this potent set of issues.
Part Two
The Markets
Despite the similar broad themes shared by talented women across BRIC/UAE markets, each country is characterized by its own idiosyncratic array of “pulls” and “pushes.” The devil is in the details, as it were. The following five chapters unpack those details in depth and explore their manifestations in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and the UAE.
Конец
