‘What happened to these leaders’: Namita Thapar on ‘getting married in your 20s’, ’72 hour work week’ remarks

Emcure Pharma Executive Director Namita Thapar, reacting to Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu’s comment that young people should have children in their 20s and not delay their birth, said if influential leaders want to talk about numbers, they should look at the percentages of women suffering from anemia and women’s participation in the workforce. She also brought up Infosys founder Narayana Murthy’s comment that employees should work 72 hours a week.

“An influential leader has a huge responsibility to use their voice responsibly to address REAL issues,” Thapar said, adding that she was shocked to hear – although she did not name Vembu – of the “leader” “getting married in his 20s”.

She said it was similar to “another one of her favorite numbers”: the 70-hour work week.

“Since you love numbers so much, I would like to suggest two real numbers that you can give to Gyan next time: 1. 57 percent of women suffer from anemia, 2. Less than 20 percent of women participate in the workforce and these two numbers have not changed in years!!!! I would love to hear leaders do their DUTY to us women by addressing these issues,” she said, accompanied by a video of herself speaking out on the issue.

Vembu’s remarks were themselves a reaction to recent comments by entrepreneur Upasana Kamineni Konidela on the importance of financial independence for women. She had suggested egg freezing, calling it “the greatest insurance for women”.

The other example given by Thapar is that of Murthy who recently again presented his idea of ​​the 72-hour work week. In an interview, Murthy said that there is a saying in China about how to divide the day into 9-9-6. “You know there’s a saying, 9-9-6. You know what that means? 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a week. And that’s 72 hours a week,” he said.

In the video, Thapar, referring to Vembu’s comment on duty, said those who stand to lose in this so-called duty are women. “Let me give you some context. You start losing blood seven days a week as soon as you turn 11, then comes the pain of pregnancy, then you get the label absent or selfish if you don’t prioritize your children, and when everything starts to calm down, perimenopause will completely devastate your life for 10 years. What about our duty and prioritizing our health, our needs and our dreams?

“If in this process we get married late, so be it. What happened to these leaders? What numbers are we discussing?” she asked, adding that instead of focusing on your duty to the ancestors, why don’t they focus their duties to women.

Talk about real issues and real numbers, she said.

Thapar’s comments garnered support from netizens. While one X user said that decisions such as when to get married are heavily based on context and that public figures should speak more responsibly, another said. Another user said discussions should be about nutrition, safety, education, economic participation and not delaying marriage and glorifying unsustainable work schedules.