Recently Satya Nadella, the new Microsoft CEO, created a storm among working women with his casual statement at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing: “It’s not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will give you the right raises as you go along.”
There was uproar among women in the Microsoft Corporation, who are paid 78 per cent less than men. All over the US there were comments and tweets condemning
Mr Nadella’s chauvinistic attitude. This remark in Time magazine represents the bitterness of all women regarding gender bias: “Smile pretty and don’t be so unbecoming as to ask for a salary bump. After all, a raise is a lot like a male suitor, and if you pursue it, you might just drive it away.”
If this is the case in an advanced country and within a high-tech company, think of other, less awakened places, where women are still struggling to prove their mettle. They have accepted their role among men and are playing it unconsciously. Just look at all the qualities attributed to the “ideal woman”. It perpetrates ideas propagated by men: beautiful, shy, petite, loving, caring, sacrificing and so on. Women have accepted these. It is interesting to note that among the qualities of an ideal woman, those of being a meditator, an individual, or a light unto herself, have never featured, as if these areas are reserved for men. It was man who left the house to become a monk, and all the paths of yoga, and other spiritual streams were developed for man’s body and mind.
But the wheel of time moves round and things change; change that has given women a voice, an identity, and Osho is the harbinger of change for women. So how has he brought about this change? By opening the floodgates of meditation to all the women of the world without questioning their capability. His trust in the wisdom and capacity of women is unconditional. He creates a space inwardly and outwardly where women feel safe, and can grow their potential.
His insight that it is very easy for women to meditate because meditation is the way of the heart, is encouraging women to take this road less travelled by their mothers and grandmothers. Women live in the heart, which is the source of trust, love, intuition, aesthetics, poetry and intelligence. They are intimately and strongly rooted in their bodies. When women meditate they unearth the subtle sensitivity of the body, their senses blossom like flowers. For the first time they acquire a beauty and grace which is not merely physical.
This inner power is the real empowerment of women.
Amrit Sadhana is in the management team of Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune.
She facilitates meditation workshops around the country and abroad.
