Arundhati Bhattacharya Reflects on Gender Bias, Women & Gen Z

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Friday, 11 September 2026

Former SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya has reflected on gender bias, leadership and changing workplace attitudes while speaking at the launch of Aparajita, the Hindi edition of her memoir Indomitable: A Working Woman’s Notes on Life, Work and Leadership.

Arundhati admitted that she once misunderstood the challenges women faced in securing rural postings, assuming they were unwilling to take up such assignments. Her perspective changed after she underwent training at Sales force, where she discovered that she too could carry unconscious gender biases despite her own experiences as a woman leader.

The former SBI chief also challenged the common perception of Gen Z workers as entitled or unwilling to work hard, calling the stereotype “totally wrong.” She said her leadership journey had taught her that persistence is essential for achieving success, while humility is important for staying relevant.

Key Highlights:

• Arundhati reflects on unconscious gender bias and barriers faced by women
• She urges leaders to identify workplace barriers instead of making assumptions
• She challenges stereotypes about Gen Z and highlights their desire for purpose

“I found that I had an unconscious bias myself,” she said. While assessing candidates, Arundhati realized she could ask different questions depending on whether the person in front of her was a man or a woman.

“That shouldn’t be the case,” she said. Candidates, irrespective of gender, should get the same opportunity.

Those confessions represent an alternate narrative to the more well-known one of an unbeatable ascent for a small-town girl to the corner office of India's largest public-sector bank. The journey is also one of breaking down the assumption that women stay back; the desires of the younger generation and, perhaps most surprisingly, the biases that a leader might have without knowing it.

Arundhati at SBI wondered why women officers are not going on rural assignments which are useful to improve their career. She assumed that they were not eager. Her work was criticized by another female colleague who told her that she had got it wrong.

The problem was more basic: suitable accommodation. In many areas, a single woman would not have been able to easily find a place to stay. In response, SBI took steps to provide women with accommodation in a central location, as well as a mess, so that they can be deployed to rural missions.

With that hurdle removed, a lot of the perceived reluctance was lifted as well. Arundhati remembered the women wholeheartedly accepting the assignments and feeling the freedom of not having to return to the comfort of their families.

The episode prompted her to change her question from "why would employees not do it" to “what is preventing employees from doing it?” Too often, she said, managers make the assumption that someone isn't taking a hard line when they are not, because they don't know the barrier someone has.

There are also generations that are often blamed for wanting things to be too easy. Arundhati's transition from SBI to Sales force landed her in a much younger crowd—and inadvertently among the young members of Gen Z, often portrayed as being entitled and impatient or unwilling to work hard.

“I really believe that the concept is totally wrong,” she said. Young people are resilient, Arundhati said, but increasingly want something beyond a pay cheque: purpose. She pointed to Salesforce’s volunteering programs and the enthusiasm with which younger employees participate in them as evidence of what motivates the generation.