Hiring Married Women in India

Women in India, on the whole are pretty smart and maybe a notch more transparent than men in the same position.

I am talking about none other than the hiring for IT people. My companies (www.adeena.net) and (www.mindpillar.com) just opened a new Bangalore branch a few months back. Of all the small problems, getting the space, furniture, setting up the accounts etc, Hiring is the most troublesome for me. It is doubly so because I, for some insane reason (now that I think about it) , want to hire some women in our office. You might think that's a good idea and it will help with keeping a balance of sexes and in some minute way, help the cause of women in India. A few men might even say that it helps with attrition rate. :-)

What I did not imagine and did not comprehend when it started happening at first, was the mentality of women- particularly married women in India.

Unlike men in the same position they ask for less money- this is good. In fact great! At this stage of hiring, I was ecstatic and had thoughts like, "wow! I can get the same quality of people for a lower rate AND I can complete my ulterior motive of filling our office with women! WooHoooo!" (Now, Now, I know what you are thinking- "How can I let this happen to women being a women myself? Women should get equal pay!" People, I am a business owner- my bottom line is money. I can help in little ways like trying to hire them but I am not foolish enough to offer more when they ask less!)

After the negotiation phase, came the part that I was completely unaware of and not ready at all- these women do not want to join the company 'cause their husbands/inlaws/any other 'influential' believes it will ______ (feel free to fill the blank with some stupid reason such as work late, travel 20 minutes at night)

Maybe I am crazy but whatever happened to making your own decisions? And why do you have a problem with coming home at 8pm when your husband does the same? There can be no increase of rights without an equal increase of duties.