‘Parity begins at home’

When it comes to being a woman security staffer, it is certainly not an easy task for her — anyone, for that matter. Not only does she have to face constant harassment from the public, she also has to struggle against gender discrimination and family constraints.
These factors, however, have not deterred Gurgaon-based Veena Gupta from trying her hand at, what is usually considered to be a man’s domain, security services.
One of the few women in the NCR in the business of security services, Gupta entered the industry after a short stint with an American security company in Gurgaon in 2001. She is today the owner of Seam group of companies, which includes Seam Corporate Tours Security Pvt Ltd that provides VIP protection to corporate travellers, and Seam Infratec Projects Pvt that is into security installation and fire-fighting machinery. Her client-list boasts names like Walmart and Wrigley, among others.
Gupta’s journey, however, was not easy. “The biggest challenge was, and still is, to face male competitors who just do not appreciate women doing better than them. If you are smart enough and open to talk, then the perception among them will be that she is easily available,” said the 42-year-old.
For Gupta, women empowerment starts at home. “To empower women, she should first get support from her husband, in-laws and kids. The husband needs to play a strong role by not feeling insecure with his wife’s success and understand that she is doing it for the family,” she said.
“Initially, clients said that the business deal should be about ‘give and take’, indirectly asking me for personal favours. Competitors, on the other hand, used to think how could I enter this field and some often tried to poach my staff,” she said.
However, she nudged all the challenges aside. “Since my intention, my motive and my mission were clear, gradually people in the industry understood me and appreciated my work,” she said.
Another major problem that Veena faced was from relatives who would question her character because she used to work late into the nights and travel for 10-15 days at a stretch at times.
“I made it clear to them that just because I was going out did not mean I was sleeping around with people. I never took their criticism as negative. The more people talked about it, the more I got encouraged,” she said.
Gupta has also adopted two girls in Gurgaon and is financially supporting their education. Gupta has also been providing self-defence training to girls in government schools in the city.