She does not feature in any known distinct list of women of Indian Power sector. But then very few like her actually do so, and among those who do, how many can rightfully claim it, is the question that would shake a coffee table of debate, if challenged well.
Power sector in India still does not accept their technical women as a workforce to reckon with and in this country, usually the term women in power sector features as a loose and broad definition, encompassing whole gamut of women….anything that wears a female attire! In all these years percentage of women engineers in Indian Power sector has never reached a double digit figure even after a presence of thirty plus years.
Hence, it’s not at all surprising that Ms Madhuchhanda Bhattacharjee, a senior engineering executive with a leading power company in India, is not a familiar name among listed power sector women, but she and her likes have been silently contributing to make this sector a workable place for women engineers, by their strong presence. WEI is honored to present their contributions to the world by bringing forward their stories.
Ms Madhuchhanda Bhattacharjee
Ms Bhattacharjee holds an exclusive and distinct record of serving maximum number of years in a plant site in the core area of Operation and Maintenance, in her organization. In a career span of almost 32 years as a power professional, she has worked almost 28 long years in plant site, which none of her women peers had done, ever!
Joined the company as an executive trainee in Electrical Engineering, in the year 1986, she began her career as an engineer in Control & Instrumentation in a Super Thermal Power Plant. Back then in eighties, most women engineers were either posted at Corporate offices or were assigned job areas which involved office / desk jobs in quasi technical or non-technical areas.
She did her engineering from one of the most prestigious and elite institutes of India, Jadavpur University, and possesses a bright academic record for herself. With kind of educational legacy, even in those days of limited job situation, choices were many for her…….. but she chose a comparatively new company and a field dominated by men.
How was the situation in those initial days? Was it difficult, being outnumbered by men colleagues, in a workplace definitely established as men dominated?
“It was, initially. There were very few women in total and fewer in engineering. An undercurrent of non-acceptance existed at first, but only for a short time. Once that initial phase was over, and I proved my mettle in the workplace, I started receiving tremendous support from the colleagues and staffs who worked under me. “
Her choice of a plant site and the job area was not a very usual choice for girls, especially in those days …………………..
“Yes, but I had my reasons. For first one year of training usually in our organization, most of the trainees including women were sent to various plant sites, which were mostly situated in different remote corners of India.
After completion of yearlong training, everyone got their final place of posting. I opted for this particular site as my future husband, who too joined in the same batch with me, was posted there. In fact, my posting in the same place as my husband, was consented by the authority on my request. In those days, as number of women executives were very few, organization really considered their place of posting favorably, mostly complying to their options.”
That was a very positive step on the part of the senior management then. Did she experience similar consideration afterwards also as she progressed in her career path?
“That is complicated. Our professional journey in this company began with the training program which I feel the best possible beginning that could be there for any power engineer. It was a very well structured program, covering every aspect of power generation and related areas. Days consisted mostly of classroom training, which sort of created the feeling of an extended college life, only more carefree time with a secured job that too with little responsibility and not to forget the flow of a considerable sum of money in the name of a monthly salary. In the absence of any performance related stress, learning was effective and interesting.
We two girls shared a small but adequate flat, and as the training classes were preparing us for future role in our professional life, experience of managing our small household might had been readying us for our future role at domestic arena, as well.”
I specially remember the ritual of walking together with others to training center everyday, which was a little far from the place of our stay. Thinking of it now, I feel that with each day the distance reduced bit by bit and finally it did not feel that far anymore!”
Training was fun. Both girls were very serious in their tasks during training period and did very well in classroom studies, exam, excelling through all training modules.
Only two girls, against say around twenty boys! Did it feel odd or was there any discrimination then, in classes, exams, in behavior of the faculties or others around?
Madhuchhanda denies the idea of any discrimination during training vehemently.
“Not at all. We could never sense any kind of discriminatory behavior from anyone then. It was one team or batch as it was called, and everyone was treated equally. We had a very good and caring training manager. But, once the training period was over and we were placed in our permanent job locations, things changed. The realization of being discriminated, surfaced up, bit by bit with each passing day, just like the distance to the training center, but in reverse order; in this case the gap increased.”
Initially she was posted in Contracts and Material department. This was and still is a chosen place for women engineers in her organization (or in other engineering industries, for that matter), as it is perceived as kind of soft job area, mostly paperwork, against hard core field jobs, while at the same time requiring the technical know how and expertise of an engineer.
The job though was important, still it failed to satisfy the enthusiasm of energetic engineer in her. After going through the experience for a few days, through numerous paperwork and files (no computer in those days) she realized that she did not suit her job role at all, and the revelation required immediate action!!!!
She approached her training manager, who had been very supportive always and was familiar with her potential from close quarter during training days. With some convincing of the concerned seniors by the helpful manager and opening of a suitable opportunity at the same time, finally she was made part of O&M fraternity of the Power plant, an area which later became her work field for major part of her career.
She was the first lady engineer or executive in that plant, and then she became the first woman engineer to work in the core area of Operation and Maintenance. The only lady to enter inside the boundaries! In fact, if the entire history of the organization is referred, till then, only one other lady before her (in a different plant location) worked in the Operation and Maintenance, that too for a brief initial period of time!
But this is also the job area where slowly idea of being different or being treated differently, dawned upon her. The acceptance level for a woman, was very low in field jobs, especially in Operation and Maintenance of a Power Plant.
When she was introduced to her group, in the department of Control and Instrumentation, for the first time, her male colleagues hardly spoke to her. In the name of induction or introduction to her specific job area, she was only given volumes to read by herself. This was a very strenuous period, as learning only from books for job at hand was very difficult. No one thought it to be necessary or part of their duty to groom a junior entrant in their team.
“This was a tough period of suffering as a young woman engineer which I never forget. Since then, I always make it a point to welcome new members of my team, treat them specially and groom them till they are at ease with the work and the team. I do not want any young member to face the same discouragement as I did.”
Do you think that this was kind of a discrimination and was the experience of your male counterpart different, in those initial days?”
“I am not sure if this can be termed as discrimination but of course, things were slight different for my male peers. I was the only lady executive posted inside the plant and my colleagues were visibly shy and uncomfortable with me, which in turn made me uneasy, awkward and it was not a great atmosphere to acquire knowledge. It is true that men from my batch did not receive any special assistance or class from seniors either, but they had the confidence about receiving help or guidance as and when required, could enjoy the comfort of a easy relation with seniors. Later, some of these same colleagues became good friends and supportive coworkers, but I had to work really hard to achieve that kind of relation with them.
So, while my peers were focusing full time to learn and move on to gain expertise on various technologies, I had to devote time and energy in establishing my acceptability to the world and perform my professional duties at par with my peers. The great double whammy for women engineers in core industries, where you have to be your 200% to achieve the same which men colleagues achieved with their 100%.”
The acceptance started coming when junior executives entered next year, who were more at ease and friendly in their demeanor to her. Also, things started shaping better with workmen as in spite of few initial untoward incidents, which she handled well, she went on to become preferred boss for many of the subordinates.
“This is what I consider as my greatest achievement in my career. In my different place of postings, and job areas wherever I worked, I had a very devoted team who would do anything for me and bestowed me with lot of love and respect always”.
From the very early days of her career she had a team of workmen working under her relentlessly, be it the setting of a central laboratory or maintenance of all important data acquisition system. Her achievements had been subtle and with less fanfare. The systems were brought into place and tasks made easier with her organizational capability, which finally contributed immensely for overall maintenance activities in her area. Although praises both from seniors and subordinates were showered in abundance on many occasions of glory, the official form of reward yet did not reflect the same sentiment always.
This is where the difference from the male peers is most visible not only in her case but for many other women in the same place. It would seem that something had been amiss in the formula for success of career of women engineers as compared to men engineers or their women counterparts in different streams like HR or Finance.
Our experience says that this is the usual trend even now. Girls are faring well in their studies in engineering college, thus it is not unusual for them to do well during training period, as you did. But, why that does not reflect in the career further, especially in hard core engineering sector?
“There may be multiple reasons. The timely promotion is considered the greatest form of reward in most of such organizations, especially in public sectors. The competition is stiff and gets stiffer as one advances in the career. It is seen that women usually lose it from mid-level to senior level. This problem is generally attributed to work and home balance, increased family responsibilities, but many like us suffered in spite of having a great support system in place. Not to forget that even men especially nowadays have growing responsibilities at home too, in the mid level of their career. My experience says, in many cases this social stereotyping acts as an excuse against women. One other factor which I feel had mattered particularly in my case is lack of awareness in positioning myself. The career growth does not happen naturally, one needs to set a goal and work for it. But I had no idea, as the industrial exposure was totally absent in my family. I received no help or guidance from my near ones on how to carry myself in this kind of industrial corporate atmosphere.
Also, as a lone lady in a men dominated workplace surroundings, my networking with colleagues and peers was very limited and communication was restricted to work only. We did not get advice from senior colleagues while bonding over daily cup of tea or such breaks, neither did we hear the latest piece of news from peers on similar occasion. These communications, information sometimes can play a major role in guiding one person.
That is why, I feel situation in corporate offices where number of women were more, was better, due to perhaps the positional advantage and awareness. Nowadays, of course, there are more women engineers in plant site as well, but the number is still not enough to bring around any real change from our days.”
What does she think should be done to reverse the trend, to make more women join the sector and do well in their career?
“Often power plants are situated in remote places and one of the reason why young girls do not opt for such jobs. This is a practical issue and needs to be addressed.
Many of these places lack basic amenities or safety and acceptance is very poor among coworkers or workmen. I feel that women should not be sent to sites unless the plant sites are fully prepared to accommodate women engineers.”
As the number of women studying engineering or science is increasing, more number of girls are opening up to all different kind of challenging jobs in challenging areas. It is also possible that many would want to come to this sector for the love of the work or some other consideration. Organizations, instead of hoping women engineers to wear men’s shoes, should start keeping right shoes for women.
Like many other senior women in the sector, she also feels that number of participants need to increase and rest will eventually fall in place, once the women workforce becomes stronger.
“For girls in engineering, I feel not everyone looks for easy jobs and this is true for boys as well. Irrespective of men and women, individual aspiration for work and career is different. Stereotyping should actually end, which is often a hindrance to career path of women like us.”
As she says, she too had learnt to love her job and continued to work for so long. Her constant support is a loving family, husband who has been a constant companion, friend and colleague and a lovely daughter who is making her own mark in the world very successfully. While working in site, she took great care of her juniors, especially girls.
Ms Bhattacharjee with junior ladies, whom she mentored and helped to groom
“As a senior woman, that was the least I could do to make plant site a better place for women. Sometimes I felt that awareness at the senior level was completely lacking on the requirements of women workers. But when I pointed these lacunae, these were well accepted and in many cases remedies were done.”
So, does she feel that more women in the senior position would actually help to attract more women by taking care of the needs?
“Yes, of course. But also women in senior position should look into these matters from women’s perspective and feel the requirement for change, work for the change.”
Rewards do not always come as one plans it but if one really works hard, he or she is always rewarded. She was selected to represent her organization for an international condensed management course for senior women executives in CPSE, which took her to Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Management training at Ljubljana, Slovenia has been an enriching learning of lifetime
“This was really a rewarding opportunity given to me by my company, and I am very grateful to my seniors for such consideration. It was not just only a study course but a full experience of socio-cultural settings of a country and its relevance in our management’s context. The exchange and the interactions enriched me and my cohort from different companies of India.”
Her present assignment is no less interesting as she works in the area of international consultancy for her organization. Overall, the journey in power sector, has been a roller coaster but a very fulfilling one till date.
This write up is based on facts stated and shared by Ms Madhuchhanda Bhattacharjee AGM, NTPC, with WEI
Picture Courtsey: Ms Madhuchhanda Bhattacharjee
@WEI