Unpacking Gender Gaps and Advocating For Change: A Story of Courage
Today we're off to somewhere special, to a city called Lausanne, located on the northern shore of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, to chat with our guest, Ms. Kanchan Chanana. Kanchan describes herself as an observer, curious and a striving human who's actively broken given norms, rules and excuses for the past two decades to unlock the other side of being. She's a first-generation professional in STEM and management. However, growing up came with considerable challenges from the many norms, beliefs, and rules that she felt suffocated by. Mentions of money, for example, were simply out of the question. Her academic journey proved adventurous, starting in an all-girls government school and deciding to pursue mechanical engineering, where she was the only girl in a class of 50. Her professional career started in a male-dominated world of automotive procurement. She became the youngest buyer responsible for managing spending of more than $100 million, and this role enabled her to oversee successful and complex negotiations with top suppliers and to understand the link between money and authority. Three years later, she went on to pursue management studies in India and the United States and then joined a leading consulting firm where she worked in the US, Southeast Asia, and India, solving complex business problems for large multinational organizations. This role further expanded her understanding of money, authority, and decision-making. Some six years later, she joined the strategy function of a Global 500 corporation and found numerous systemic gaps leading to leakages in women's payslips every month, every year. This inspired her to speak up for equal pay for women at her workplace, which led to serial abuse behaviors, exclusion, non-transparency, baits, bribery, threats, and eventually a non-mutual separation. Kanchan's journey has revealed visible and invisible challenges to achieving equal and fair pay for women. She notes that in Switzerland alone, the women's pay gap amounts to more than $45 billion annually. Kanchan's story is to enable, educate, and engage women on the taboo topic of unfair pay. Team, I truly hope you're fully prepared for the conversation ahead and ready to practice some active listening because there's a powerful message that awaits all of us as listeners. Visit our website to access the full transcript, show notes and guest links. Coaching4 Companies
