In a world where even the highest offices dismiss DEI as a distraction, this article insists that the real Asura is not diversity, but the forces or those Asuras still keeping women from power.

In ancient Hindu stories, now called Indian mythological stories, Asuras were not demons, but forces of imbalance, ego, and chaos. The Devi Bhagavata, a powerful scripture often overlooked, describes these Asuras not just as adversaries of the Devas, but as symbols of unchecked ambition and rigid control, traits that still echo through boardrooms and bylaws today. The only reason they were assumed “demonic” was their loathness to part with treasures they believed were theirs alone.

And while their names have changed, their presence hasn’t. Today’s Asuras exist not in myth, but in meeting rooms, performance evaluations, and deeply coded systems that quietly erode women’s careers in corporate India. As a female Indian writer who gave the first two decades of her life to Indian corporate and now explores both ancient texts and modern leadership, I can tell you, these battles aren’t just metaphorical. They’re measurable.

Despite a flurry of diversity pledges and LinkedIn celebrations, a silent war continues, especially for mid-career women. These are not the women just starting out, nor the ones nearing retirement. These are the women in their 30s and 40s, at the height of their capability, yet often at the edge of departure.

A 2022 Deloitte Women @ Work report revealed that 52% of Indian women planned to leave their employers within two years, citing burnout, bias, and inflexibility. The 2023 LinkedIn Gender Insights Report showed a stark drop in women’s workforce participation during mid-career years, a pattern tied to caregiving pressures, stagnant leadership pipelines, and a culture that hasn’t evolved fast enough.

So, what are these modern Asuras? And more importantly, what does it take to defeat them?

1. Asura of Bias That Shapes the Playing Field Before It Begins

Bias, both conscious and unconscious, is still a pervasive Asura. Numerous studies, including the World Bank’s 2022 Gender Bias Report, show that women in India are often evaluated not on performance alone, but on “perceived” traits. Assertiveness in men is equated with leadership. In women, it’s misread as aggression.

This echoes tales from the Devi Bhagwat Puran, where Shaktis were misjudged until they revealed their true power. Today, too, we mistake strength for threat, especially when it comes from women.

Defeating this Asura requires more than training. We need gender-neutral KPIs, diverse panels, and calibrated feedback systems that guard against soft erosion of talent.

2. The Asura of Unequal Pay and Broken Ladders

The gender pay gap remains high. According to the Monster Salary Index, Indian women earn 17–20% less than men in similar roles. Only 4.7% of CEOs in India’s top 500 companies are women, per Deloitte.

This Asura survives through cultural justifications. “She didn’t negotiate.” “He has a family to support.” These are modern myths, ones that wouldn’t be out of place in best Indian mythological novels exploring power and its protectors.

What’s needed is sponsorship, not just mentorship. Women must be given real stretch roles, not symbolic ones.

3. Work-Life Conflict: The Asura with the Deepest Roots

Caregiving in India is still framed as a woman’s primary role. Oxfam India reports that women spend nearly 10 times more daily on unpaid care work than men.

This is the Asura of expectation, the invisible pressure to carry everything, while appearing weightless. It came from real life experiences and hard truth when the most famous female Indian writers have spoken of this dual burden of writing or leading while caregiving in silence.

Flexibility without stigma, gender-neutral leave policies, and visible role modeling by leadership are essential weapons against this Asura.

4. Unconscious Conditioning: The Asura Within

Perhaps the most dangerous Asura lives inside us. Women are taught to be agreeable, likable, not “too ambitious.” Even in progressive firms, women worry about appearing too “demanding.”

As a female Indian writer, I often explore how these internalized stories mirror ancient ones. Like in the Devi Bhagavata, where a goddess may sleep for ages, waiting not for permission, but for a moment of awakening.

Leadership training must help everyone unlearn and recondition the biases passed down through generations.

5. The Asura of Tokenism: When Representation Becomes a Veneer

Many women are at the table, but not shaping the agenda. Invited to panels, but excluded from succession plans. Visibility without power is illusion. 

The Devi Bhagwat Puran reminds us: a Devi is not just seen, she is invoked, honoured, and handed the reins of cosmic cycles. In the corporate cosmos, too, women must not just be invited, they must be trusted.

DEI must sit inside strategy, not outside it.

6. The Asura of Microaggressions and Everyday Sexism

“You’re too emotional.” “You don’t look like a techie.” These daily pinpricks aren’t dramatic, but their damage adds up.

Like the Asuras in Indian mythological stories (as we call them now), who disguise themselves in flattering words or misleading gifts, this sexism comes cloaked in “compliments.” That’s what makes it hard to name, and harder to fight.

Companies must foster real psychological safety through reporting channels, ally training, and zero tolerance for subtle slights.

7. The Maha Asura of Burnout and the Invisible Mental Load

When you fight all six Asuras daily, the seventh arrives: burnout. And it’s not about hours. It’s about emotional taxation.

McKinsey’s 2023 Women in the Workplace report shows women leaders are leaving at the highest rates ever, not from lack of ambition, but exhaustion.

Defeating this final Asura means redesigning success itself. Leaders must model wellbeing. Mid-career support ecosystems, mental health access, and sabbaticals aren’t luxury, they’re life rafts.

A Battle Worth Fighting

These Asuras are real. They’re not mythical relics, but shapeshifters embedded in systems, cultures, and stories we still believe. And like in every cosmic tale, the answer lies in Shakti, not just as divine feminine power, but as real women at work.

And as a female Indian writer who draws from the Devi Bhagavata and ancient Hindu stories, I say this: Shakti doesn’t need saving. She needs recognition.

Companies that wish to lead, innovate, and endure must not just include women, they must create systems where women can thrive. That means funding her ambition, hearing her voice, and handing her the mic.

Because defeating these Asuras isn’t just a moral imperative. It’s a business one.

First version published by Business World People