The general notion has always been like this — men are highly competitive, so the cooperation is least expected from them, while women, with their natural nurturing qualities, are cooperative with others and love to be surrounded by women. But if one goes by a new study done by the Harvard University, the general wisdom should be turned on its head, at least the cooperation part. It says women of different social or professional ranks and age groups cooperate with each other less well than men do.
Popular model Avantika Mishra, who says women are more cooperative than men any day, couldn’t help but admit that women tend to feel insecure when there are a lot of women around. “But it’s natural and if taken in a good way it will be a healthy competition,” she says. Avantika is professionally friendly with fellow models in the industry and says she would feel flattered to be looked up to by the newcomers to the field.
But if you think men will be delighted to agree with the study results, then probably you are mistaken. Actor Vidyut Jamwal takes a neutral stand and says it’s not about being a woman or man, but about how secure and confident you are about yourself. “I have worked with all top actors in Tamil and Hindi and it has always been a good experience. I am still in touch all of them and the producers want to repeat me. I think it’s only because I have realised what I’m capable of. It applies to women as well. I don’t agree with the argument that women as a whole are not cooperative,” he says.
Actor and former Miss India People’s Choice Rakul too is against generalising. “Everybody has to work with everyone. It completely depends on the job role and the task at hand. As homemaker, a woman is more cooperative than anybody else, but in her career, she is competitive because she too wants to get there. Maybe, men are cooperative at work, but not at home,” she says. Pointing out that one can’t decide whom to work with in the film industry, Rakul adds that there won’t be any complaint if one enjoys what he/she is doing.
And one thing all of them unanimously agreed on is that being competitive and cooperative are not mutually exclusive attributes. “They go hand in hand. Being cooperative means being more determined to reach the top and what do you call it if not competitiveness?” asks Avantika.
