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Gender Stereotypes in Corporate India: A Glimpse Sujoya Basu, New Delhi: Sage publications, 2008, 240 pages
Shoba S. RAJGOPAL
Gender Stereotypes in Corporate India: A Glimpse is in reality much more than just a glimpse as Sujoya Basu employs up-to-datestatistics on gender stereotypes that are prevalent in modern corporate India. This is in fact a landmark analysis as gender stereotypes in the Indian corporate world have not been sufficiently measured before, especially in a global context.
Basu cites many studies about the various obstacles faced by women in corporations in India, ranging from bias in evaluation to the proverbial glass ceiling, allowing fewer promotions for women and resulting in an insignificant percentage of women managers reaching the higher echelons of management in most organizations. Considering that India today is a rising economic power house it may appear disappointing to the average reader to discover that stereotypes that relegate women to a secondary position in most Indian corporations are still the norm. But that should hardly be a surprise, considering that, as Basu argues, India is a very conservative and traditional country which scores relatively high on the cultural dimension of masculinity,even if premier management institutions like the Indian Institutes of Management, (HMs) were drawn up on the U.S. model...