'Overcome zeal of getting into domestic world': former Delhi Chief Secretary

Men need to understand that their brains are "no way superior" to women, former Delhi chief secretary Shailja Chandra said on Friday and asserted that male politicians will give work to women irrespective of their gender. Addressing a women's conclave at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on International Women's Day, Chandra asked women to "think big and international" and advised them to overcome the zeal of getting into the domestic world at the cost of professional commitments.

"As women, we have a rare opportunity to excel in whatever we do. I feel that women have conditioned themselves to think that their first priority is home, husband and children. "We must find a way of overcoming this zeal of getting into the domestic world at the cost of our professional commitments," she told the gathering which comprised almost an equal number of men and women.

Chandra, who is the member of the monitoring committee established by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to monitor Yamuna cleaning operation, said men need to understand that their brain is 'no way superior' to women. "Give the opportunity to women to develop. Women have to work twice as hard. I had to work really hard. I faced three commissions of inquiry because people did not want me to succeed.

"It was completely manipulated. I have gone through situations where bosses would belittle you in meetings in small ways," she said. However, the funny part was male ministers never distinguished between men and women while giving work, she said.

"I would have worked with about 10 cabinet ministers and chief ministers and none of them distinguished between men and women. They were only concerned with work. The more I worked, the more work I got. The more work I got, the more competitive I was believed to be," she said.

(With inputs from agencies.)