In her younger years, Ancy Gonsalves worked as a musician in a few hotels in south Goa. But mention that fact to many people around and all she saw was raised eyebrows. “People looked at it as a peculiar thing, a girl working in a hotel. It wasn’t regarded as respectable,” she say. Now she’s a teacher and a part time tiatrist. But in some ways, there are still concerns when it comes to be treated the same as a man in a similar situation.
With International Women’s Day around the corner, the question of gender equality in the State does certainly arise. One would assume that Goa is a fairly gender equal state, but the reality is a tad different. Ancy Gonsalves does feel that as a teacher she has the respect of her fellow educationists, but in the tiatr community, things are not the same. “When it comes to respect, you get it. But there is perhaps a disparity when it comes to getting paid. Even at the same level as me, the men are paid more. The work might be lesser than what a women would do, but they are still given more than what we would get. There is certainly a bias,” says Ancy, who always wanted to be a tiatrist from the time she was a young girl, but there was an opposition to that because many around her felt that the profession wasn’t safe for women.
Safety for women in various professions is relative. There may be physical safety most of the time but there’s always the danger of getting mistreated on occasion. This happens to women in the hospitality industry or those working late hours in certain professions. But this could also happen in broad daylight. What is worse than that, is the indifference and lack of respect shown to women when they wander into a room where men are having a risqué conversation. “There are many times when I go into the office common room, or in the elevator, where the men are talking about a party where one of them met or saw an attractive woman. The discussions veer into very dirty territory and the men don’t even bother that there’s a woman standing right there. They relish the fact that they can talk like that,” says Anna (name changed), who works in a Panaji-based corporate office.
For Pearl Remedios, the legal profession does have a dark side, but she has never really experienced it. “I have been treated quite well for the three years that I’ve been a lawyer,” she says, however adding that her friends “complain about disrespect and not being treated right some times. There are some clients who will ask for a male lawyer when they are told that a junior female lawyer will be handling their case. Perhaps they feel that the male lawyer will be more flexible or can meet them at any time they require.” There is the matter of the mindset of the client, who perhaps feels that the male lawyer will be much more dominant in the courtroom, or the opposing lawyer who will have a lesser level of respect for their opponent if it turns out to be a female lawyer. Incidents like this have occurred in GOan courtrooms for years, perhaps even decades.
But the legal profession is not the only one that needs a change in mindset. However, entrepreneur Parvish Kamat of Anka Services feels that how you act is how you will get treated. “I do not give my power away, if someone, something, some circumstances do not value me, do belittle me, then I do not allow that event, circumstance or person to bind me, hold me back.” For singer / songwriter Chrystal Farrell who has worked as a frontwoman of the band in the past before branching out on her own, being a woman in the music industry in Goa actually is an advantage. “I have not come across any gender bias for the most part. In fact, there has been a lot of respect. I am treated very well, paid well and everyone takes me seriously. Although, I must say that has also come with a lot of years of experience. There have been the odd moments where someone has passed a sexist remark or ogled me while onstage, but that goes with the territory of being in the limelight. I know how to handle myself in a situation like that,” she says.
It’s safe to say that Goa is by far one of the safest places for women to live and work in. Everyone agrees with that. Sapna Shahani, who ran an NGO for women in the past and now works in communications, says that the State is a very liberating place. She explains,“I have not experienced any sort of reservation personally but there is an underlying gender bias at certain levels in Goa. As a whole though, it’s possibly the best place in the country to be a single woman, for instance. As a PR professional, I have actually had a client tell me that he prefers to work with women than with men, which I look on as a good thing.”
So, what can be done to make the state completely unbiased when it comes to gender? The task may be ardous in some respect but this is something that needs to be done. The lawyer, Pearl Remedios, feels that this is something that needs to be taught at the college level. “When girls go to law college, they should be told that there is no such thing as a male lawyer and a female lawyer. You’re a lawyer. You are equal,” she says. But for others, this is something that needs to start at home. “Mindsets are created in children. Parents need to educate their sons on how to treat their sisters and other women in their family. Fathers need to set an example for their sons too,” says Chrystal.
When that happens, these children will grow up to treat all the women around them the same. Bosses will pay their employees the same, irrespective of gender. Is that a pipedream? Only time will tell.
