Have we achieved Gender Parity in the Indian Workforce
Did you know, men account for only 25.08% of the total workforce in the top 50 Indian companies?
Chances are that the number made it difficult for you to gulp this information.
Let’s try switching genders. According to an analysis by MoneyControl, women constitute only 25.08% of the total employees under the payroll of the top 50 Indian companies by market cap.
We will all agree that gone are the days when women used to fight for the basic right to education and an opportunity for a paid job.
Fortunately, we have been able to integrally incorporate the female counterparts in the corporate working space but have we filled the void completely?
As stated in a simulation report by Nathan Yau, at around 7 am, America’s working mass consists of 60% men and 40% women while the household work during that time is being taken care of by 67% of females and 33% of males.
As we proceed with the day, the stats keep changing dynamically and there are a few points when female participation in the workforce exceeds or even gets at par with male participation. However, there were several instances when the stats showed that 100% of the household chores were taken care of by the females. To reiterate, 0% involvement of men in household work.
But this is America right, let’s dive deep into what the numbers look like for Indian women.
In accordance with a recent Wheebox India Skills Report, the percentage of employable women has gone up from 41.25% in 2021 to 53.28%, but to utter dismay, only 33% are a part of the workforce.
Some Indian states like Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have more qualified females compared to their male counterparts, however, they end up having negligible existence in the workspace.
If we’ve opened the doors for women to enter the office space then what has resulted in these numbers?
Although women’s representation on Indian boards accelerated to 18% in 2022, only 3.6% of the board chairs are women.
The reason for the increase in the board representation could be because of Section 149(1) of the Companies Act 2013, which states that every listed company or public company with paid-up share capital of 100 crore rupees or turnover of 300 crore rupees or more shall appoint at least one woman director.
In a recent World Economic Forum report, India ranked 140th among 156 companies for female participation in the workforce.
Several reasons form the crux of this alarming situation.
There exists a 35% pay gap between Indian men and women, imagine working in the same position as your male colleague who is at par with you when it comes to skills and knowledge, and realizing that he earns 1 lakh for doing the same job that pays you 65000. Are we actually living in 2023?
Women today are looking not just for equal work opportunities but things that are deeper than that. Women leaders are significantly more likely than men leaders to leave their jobs because they want more flexibility or because they want to work for a company that is more committed to employee well-being and DEI.
In fact, more than two-thirds of women under 30 want to be senior leaders, and if they don’t get what they deserve, they are gutsy enough to switch to a better opportunity.
For every 100 men promoted, only 72 women are leading to women holding only 38% of managerial-level positions (as opposed to men who hold 62%). The BROKEN RUNG aka Biggest barrier to gender parity.
Women Leaders have been proving their marks since eternity, may it be Roshni Nadar, being the first woman to lead a listed information technology company in India, or Leena Nair being the first female, first Asian, and the youngest ever Chief Human Resource Executive at Unilever
According to a report by The Guardian/ McKinsey, the companies with more than 30% female executives are more likely to outperform companies that don’t.
The future of work might just provide new roles for women in fast-growing fields. Luckily, one-third of STEM students are women, and 22% are AI professionals.
This is the exact bright future we are looking at.
Tech companies rank better when it comes to gender diversity in India than others, where around 35.28% of the workforce in the top five tech companies in India are women. Furthermore, four of these five take up the top slots in the list of companies with the highest share of female employees in their workforce. Infosys ranks no. 1 with 39.64 percent of its workforce being women.
If we are looking at “Innovation and technology for gender equality” this year then we are certainly not talking about making technology available to women or including more women in the workforce, we are talking about things far beyond that yet things that are the bare minimum- fair recognition of their efforts and presence, before anything else.
One approach could be to create a more inclusive work environment that values diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and actively promotes women's participation, including flexible work arrangements, promoting equal pay for equal work, and providing equal access to professional development opportunities.
Next in line could be providing mentoring and sponsorship programs for women employees. Women often face a glass ceiling when it comes to career progression, and mentoring programs could help overcome this barrier. It is also imperative to have women leaders in the organization who can serve as role models and advocate for gender parity.
Finally, companies should review their hiring policies and practices to ensure that they are unbiased and inclusive. A more diverse hiring team could help identify and eliminate any unconscious bias towards women candidates.
What steps according to you should Organizations take to achieve gender parity?
Data Reference Links:
https://flowingdata.com/2019/03/06/women-men-timeuse/