Amid ancient temples juxtaposed with high-tech industry, I was among the Working Mother Media team that landed in Bangalore, India, at the start of monsoon season. Sunny skies gave way to traffic-crippling downpours as professional Indian women wearing colorful saris came together to discuss their career challenges and successes.

Common ground was quickly found among the 200 women, many of them working mothers, employed by dozens of companies. They shared that the traditional caretaking role of the mother continues to impact working women around the globe. “My husband could be standing right outside the school’s front door,” said an Indian woman who travels a lot for business, “but if our child gets sick, they’ll still call me, even if I’m halfway around the world!”

The event last June was Working Mother Media’s first foray into Asia, following global town halls in Toronto, Canada; São Paulo, Brazil; and Johannesburg, South Africa. The Bangalore Advancement of Women Global Conference was held at the gleaming headquarters of Cisco Systems, the presenting host sponsor. Additional support came from EMC, the vision host sponsor, as well as Sodexo, McDonald’s USA and the Shell Group.These companies, dedicated to cultivating and extending diversity of thought and ideas, shared best practices as they celebrated the advancement of Indian women in the workplace.

“Developing business practices that truly reflect Indian culture and sense of family is key to the success of our female employees,” said Marilyn Nagel, Cisco’s director of diversity and inclusion.

Resplendent in a full sari, Jackie Glenn, EMC’s chief diversity officer, spoke of the importance of an inclusive workforce: “It’s essential to understanding our global marketplace, promoting innovation and extending our leadership. This has many dimensions, including celebrating our employees’ diverse experiences—and appreciating women.”

Global companies like Sodexo know that when businesses create opportunities to help women develop to their full potential while providing work-life balance, they win the battle for talent. Sodexo has 30,000 employees in India—and is on a hiring spree. “We will need to hire about two million more employees over the next ten years to fulfill our growth targets,” says Rohini Anand, PhD, vice president and global chief diversity officer. “Our global focus on women in leadership provides a backdrop for our efforts to engage growing economies, like India’s.”

Work-life balance
Since India began economic reforms in the early 1990s, women have been streaming into the urban workforce, initially as government office workers but now increasingly as employees in the booming services sectors and in professional jobs. Overall, the number of working women has roughly doubled in 15 years. The stories Indian women told about their efforts to build meaningful careers while raising their children resonated with those in attendance. Animated discussions explored whether balance can be achieved. And attendees searched for the right words to describe the struggle to meet all the obligations a woman shoulders in Bangalore. “Families sometimes assume a man’s work is more important than a woman’s,” one attendee noted. “They can become uncooperative or withdraw support if the wife continues to work.”

Having the courage to continue working in the face of a family’s disapproval can be daunting. And there are other obstacles. Just getting to work is a challenge for many. Infrastructure limitations in Bangalore mean long, traffic-filled commutes are the norm for working moms. Adding to the stress of working mothers in India is a lack of child-care options. Changes in the family structure have meant that married couples live on their own instead of with the husband’s parents. Still, women applauded Cisco for expanding health insurance benefits to include large, extended families.

Family-friendly, at times
The Indian government provides for 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, a significant benefit for working families. When an attendee suggested that companies consider providing employees with a transition period back into the workplace after this leave, another retorted, “First, we’d need dependable electricity!” Although Bangalore is the fastest growing Indian city, its origins date back to the 1500s. Building a modern workplace on an ancient infrastructure means coping with occasional electric outages.

Working parents also must cope with school tuition. Though Indian schools are run by the government, they’re not free, costing as much as $6,000 per child per year. This could represent one fifth of a family’s annual income. “Many Indian women work just to pay the school bill,” noted one attendee.

Cultural considerations
The values of the Indian caste system—under which people belong by birth to one of the five defined levels of the social hierarchy—still prevail, and caste discrimination is a challenge unique to India, attendees noted.

And there are other types of discrimination. Vikram Singh Mehta, the chair of Shell India, discussed his corporation’s programs for physically challenged employees. Shell had some initial retention issues with disabled staffers because coworkers didn’t fully accept them. Said Mehta, “It’s discrimination, not disability, that disables people.”

All too soon, the conference was over and our 10,000-mile trek home would begin. “Events like this help foster a compassionate and inclusive global work environment,” said EMC’s Jackie Glenn. India is simultaneously old and new, and seems very comfortable with both. The proof is its amazing and talented resource—its working women.

Impressions of India
Exotic spices perfumed the air. My room was stocked with cardamom and ginger-scented teas—and a fragrant “dream kerchief,” which included instructions to place it on my pillow at night to promote better sleep.

Hinduism shapes their worldview. It’s the religion of 80 percent of the population. The concept of karma underlies Hindu thought. To my Western mind, I understood karma as: Treat others with kindness and you’ll be treated the same. This was particularly important for those sacred cows, as they wander in and out of traffic!