An interesting conversation with a woman investment banker (WIB) and us at Tasha & Girl Private Limited (TG) happened today:
WIB: ‘Thank you for your business presentation. It is the most beautiful presentation I have seen in my long career.’
TG: ‘We are glad you think so. Our brand extends to every bit of communication from us, regardless of purpose or importance.’
WIB: ‘I have some issues. On page 4, for example, you talk of your all-woman team.’
TG: ‘That is right. The only men in our company are Kedar, Karthik, and our driver Vikas. Everyone else, from investors to directors to workers to the names on the label, are women.’
WIB: ‘On page 6, you mention you are “Gender Positive” with a “bias towards women.” Once again, the entire page 12 describes your preference for women.’
TG: ‘Yes, that is part of our 4-point philosophy described from pages 8 to 12: Great products, zero synthetics, sustainability, and women. The last page is about that last point.’
WIB: ‘I am a little uncomfortable, and I can assure you that most investors would be.’
TG: ‘What? Why?’
WIB: ‘It seems you are sacrificing professionalism and efficiency in the name of feminism.’
TG: ‘Sorry, what?’
WIB: ‘I said you are going to be less efficient by design, it would seem.’
TG: <speechless>
Here’s a prediction, without knowing anything about this person: She most probably believes in ‘meritocracy’ and that reservations are discriminatory to the upper castes and that ‘reserve category people’ are the root of the problem. Why? Because it is obvious that she believes in the ‘Just World Hypothesis’, and by extension subscribes to the idea that women are inherently inferior to men in all things (especially, given our context: sourcing, cooking, packing, or selling fruit spreads, all things apparently requiring the use of male genitalia) and any deliberate preference for an all-woman team will be at the cost of a better fruit spread, a better brand, a more profitable business, or whatever it is that they think we ought to have as our sole objective as entrepreneurs.
And you know the most infuriating part? She’s a woman herself. That is the reason I had to specify upfront that she is a ‘woman’ investment banker. Because I want you to understand how deep this rot goes that even the victims themselves have internalised the Kool-Aid.
No wonder Venture Capital, like every other part of our society, is full of those hostages that are so in love with their captors that they cannot see beyond their conditioning. One would have thought that having more women in decision-making positions would solve this issue. But then, the Stockholm Syndrome is so deeply ingrained now, it looks like nothing will break this vicious cycle.
