A decade ago, when Parmesh Shahani, senior TED Fellow, Yale World Fellow and founder of an experimental cultural institution, India Culture Lab, asked Nisaba Godrej, the CEO and managing director of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd., if the company had queer-friendly policies in place, her immediate response was: “Can you amend them for us?”
“This is when I started having a dialogue with corporate stakeholders,” recalls Shahani. Over the last few years, one of India’s oldest business houses has become one of the most inclusive workplaces in the country. From introducing same-sex spousal benefits to extending financial support to employees for gender affirmation surgery, the Godrej Group has pioneered a new approach to diversity.
Drawing from these experiences, Shahani’s new book, Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace, is a deeply personal account of his journey in India’s corporate sector, while also serving as a manifesto on how to effectively build inclusive workspaces. In the next few years, Shahani hopes to create a “more equal normal” in the “new normal”. Here are the excerpts from a freewheeling chat with Shahani:
GRAZIA: Your last book, Gay Bombay (2008), was ethnographic. What inspired you to write a book on business practices?
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