A nuclear scientist, who has 23 years of work experience across Fortune 500 companies, multiple patents to her credit, and numerous research papers – but Dr Valli Arunachalam was always mistaken for a man at academic conferences, at the beginning of her career.
"I would be referred to as Dr Arunachalam in all emails, and other correspondences. So when I arrive at a conference and I say that I am Dr Arunachalam, I get a look of shock because they were expecting a man. There were so few women at that time, that it was shocking for anyone to believe that a woman can be qualified enough to peer review papers. But at the same time, people also do not ever forget you after that," Arunachalam, who is currently living in the US, tells The Quint.
Arunachalam now witnesses the same bias in Indian boardrooms. Since 2017, she has been fighting a battle to find space in the all-male board of Ambadi Investments Ltd (AIL), the holding company of Chennai-based $5.7 billion Murugappa Group, of which her late father MV Murugappan was the executive chairperson.
"There is an inherent bias. Families simply do not want women in their boardrooms. Patriarchy is holding women back – and this mindset that women belong at home is only feeding into it."