I never thought getting a job would mean proving my existence every single day. But in the sales department of a well-known firm in Gurgaon, that’s exactly what it felt like.
When I applied, the hiring manager straight-up told me, "Sales is tough. We usually don’t take women because we can’t be rough with them, and they can’t handle pressure." I still got in, probably because they needed to tick a diversity box. From day one, I was treated differently.
The guys on the team joked that I wouldn’t last a month. “Clients don’t take women seriously in sales,” one of them laughed. “And managers can’t yell at you, so what’s the point of hiring girls?” They’d exclude me from field visits, saying it was "not safe" or that "women don’t know how to negotiate aggressively." I was given back-end tasks while they handled the real deals.
One time, my manager made a crude joke about how women in sales only succeed by being "extra friendly" with clients. When I shut him down, he smirked and said, “See, this is why we don’t hire girls. Can’t even joke around.”
I was done being sidelined. I started taking leads, pushing for meetings, and proving I could handle pressure better than anyone. My first big deal? A contract they had been chasing for months, closed by me in two weeks. I wasn’t aggressive—I was smart. I wasn’t “too soft”—I was strategic.
The day I outperformed the top guy on the team, they had nothing to say. No jokes, no comments—just silence. I didn’t need their approval, but I made sure they knew one thing: I wasn’t going anywhere.
Women don’t need special treatment in male-dominated fields. We just need a fair shot. And if they won’t give it, we’ll take it. I really want to shout that I AM NOT YOUR LOLLYPOP!
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