"Apart From Beauty, Women Need To Be Confident & Independent"

Women should have big dreams because, while beauty and attractiveness are always associated with them, confidence and independence should take precedence and help you define who you are, said Anita Bhogle, a partner with ProSearch Consultants.

While speaking at the Mumbai chapter of IBLF - India Business Literature Festival, Bhogle said, "Women have lived for a very long time without being independent, and they are also prepared for internal upheaval, but, in my opinion, the ecosystem is not sufficient."

She expressed her concern over the fact that many systems are afraid to change and be disrupted. But she hoped that by educating and sensitising people, it could be accomplished.

She discussed her recently released book, "Equal, Yet Different: Career Catalysts for the Professional Woman," in which she asserts that attitudes toward women must change. They need to work at good workplaces because they could be good enablers to achieve what women dream of. 

She continued, "Women ought to have thick skin. It might happen that despite doing well, people see it as inadequate. Some people—both men and women—have the propensity to make you feel extremely inadequate about your work".

"Despite the growing number of women obtaining professional degrees, they remain under-represented and virtually invisible when it comes to top leadership positions or decision-making roles, and the reasons for women not making it to the top echelons of the business world extend far beyond the known ones like marriage and maternity," the author writes.