Empowering women in India Inc

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Saturday , May 10, 2008 at 2109 hrs It’s still early days for women in corporate corridors. Although women’s social and economic empowerment has many exponents and avid supporters, the neglect of women in the corporate world agitates few minds. So what does empowering women at work really mean?

An Assocham survey (2007-08) says 66.3% urban Indian women prefer to work rather than keep house, though only 16% of them work for a living. Yet, paradoxically, according to available data (2004), Indian women had cornered 14% of senior business posts. However, they still have a long way to go. Says Janet Gasper Chowdhury, principal consultant, PricwaterhouseCoopers: “While Indian companies are moving in that direction, they still have a long way to go. We do see more women joining companies, but as we move up the hierarchy the numbers start dwindling. The lapse is not by companies alone. Our socio-economic background does have a major role to play.”

Chowdhury is a believer in merit, and argues that women workers should be rewarded for merit. “It is important to note a distinction between empowerment and reservation. The latter does have an in-built implication that performance does not count and gender is what sees you through. Firms should steer clear of this, and instead, focus on providing opportunities to women to help them demonstrate capability and then reward merit.”

Although Assocham data mentions that 17.7% of women in India tend to give up their work in middle-management positions, many companies have taken care to ensure that the female talent is retained. Says Chitra Ramakrishna, managing director, National Stock Exchange (NSE): “About 50% NSE staff is women and that has been a way of life with us. At junior levels, we employ 40% to 50% women professionals; they progress up the ladder and at middle and senior management levels, we have 30% women. Also, the fact that if women take maternity leave, it has not gone against their promotion has helped.”

Liberalisation, globalisation and the consequent business expansion have raised the aspirations of women. In tandem, several industries have taken steps towards positive discrimination of women.

In Apollo hospitals, women have 55% share of the jobs. Says Shobana Kamineni, director, projects, Apollo Hospitals group, “We have both the genders working in all the functions starting from front office, diagnostics, medical and nursing to all the administrative and support services. We have women employees working in bio-medical function which generally is a male-dominated area.”

Tata group is another key practitioner of women empowerment. Says Rekha Seal, ethics counsellor, MD’s Office, Tata Steel, “We have taken several initiatives to empower women in Tata Steel, such as the Tejaswini—a pioneering empowerment programme for office girls willing to operate heavy motor equipment.”

The programme has trained around 50 female employees. Out of these, seven have received the Prime Minister’s Shram Devi award. The company has a women empowerment cell, comprising members of management and unionised women that looks after women’s issues and organise need-based training for underprivileged women.

But more such initiatives are badly needed. Because, outside the urban expanses, most women still prefers home to a corporate office and family takes precedence over fulfilling avenues for women outside. It is not just an isolated Indian problem. According to data (2004), women in South Asia have the lowest share in employment at 17.6% against the world average of 42%. Another problem is, although women in urban corporate houses manage to get equal pay for equal work, in rural areas poor women tend to work for a pittance. Some corporate houses are making slow inroads into this sector.

Says Vinita Bimbhet, president, Ficci Ladies Organisation, Bombay, and director, Grameen Initiative for Women: “The underlying causes of gender inequality are related to social and economic structure, which is based on informal and formal norms, and practices. Consequently, the access of women—particularly, those belonging to weaker sections and minorities, a majority of whom are in the rural areas and in the informal, unorganised sector—to education, health and productive resources is inadequate. Therefore, they remain largely marginalised, poor and socially excluded.”

The solution lies in creating an environment through positive economic and social policies for the full development of women to enable them to realise their full potential. Says Chowdhury of PwC, “If we look beyond the corporate boundaries, quite a few companies, such as Hindalco and ITC, are working towards women’s empowerment in the rural areas. This is what the first step to really empower women should be—curbing female foeticide, eliminating child marriages and promoting welfare.”

Some autonomous wings of the judiciary—such as the consumer courts—have taken innovative steps in positive discrimination. “By legislation, the 650 consumer courts around the country at the district, state and national levels have to appoint a woman on every bench—deemed to be a judge. This is radical,’’ says Rajyalakshmi Rao, member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. “There are no women chief justices in the high courts and no apex court judges are women,” she laments.