Despite major gains in education and significant improvement in maternal health in the past few decades, India still has a low rate of participation of women in the paid workforce. Over 63% (290 million) of women aged 15-64 years in India are not a part of the labour force, says a study titled “From Intent to Practice, Fostering Gender-Inclusive Workplaces” conducted by the Women in India Inc (WIIn) Programme, the Udaiti Foundation and the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA), Ashoka University. It suggests factors such as the role of marriage, motherhood, disproportionate responsibility for domestic and care work, and conservative social norms as critical constraints on women’s ability to enter the workforce.
While the corporate sector is in a position to significantly influence women’s labour force participation rates by addressing these issues, the study underscores the pivotal role of employers in the corporate sector, who have the potential to significantly influence women participation rates by fostering gender-inclusive workplaces. It also delves into the state of gender diversity and inclusion aiming to identify barriers and enablers to women’s participation in white-collar roles. The survey was conducted with 200 senior human resources officers across FMCG, pharma, retail, IT/ITeS, and BFSI sectors. A majority of HR managers acknowledged having gender diversity goals, but only 43% of organisations actively measured and publicly disclosed gender representation data, with an additional 42% measuring but not disclosing it. Over 73% of organisations claimed to have gender diversity goals, but only 21% possess clear internal strategies for achieving their goals. Hiring managers are more likely to consider a female applicant’s marital status and age when considering her for a role, compared to a male applicant, which can create barriers to hiring more women.
Salary concerns and career opportunities were among the top three reasons for women, as they were most likely to attribute their decision to leave to challenges of work-life balance. For women, 40% hiring managers said this was a concern, while for men, only 4% of the respondents cited this a concern, highlighting the gendered nature of the challenge of balancing work with other responsibilities. Another concern widely reported by HR managers as a challenge in retaining women is safety. As many as 51% HR managers believe safety is the biggest challenge for retention of women, compared to 36% for men. As many as 59% of the survey respondents said their organisations had not set up internal committees as mandated by the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act, indicating a substantial gap in addressing sexual harassment concerns impacting women.
Employers play a larger role in affecting women’s participation in the workforce, creating a win-win proposition as the war for talent continues. Sri Rajan, chair, board of advisors, The Udaiti Foundation, and partner, Cota Capital, said, “Many organisations like Delhivery, Godrej, Mahindra Group, Hindustan Unilever, HCL Technologies are driving exemplary inclusion practices, setting benchmarks by fostering inclusive work environments, and championing gender diversity across all levels.”
“Women want to rejoin paid work once their children grow up, but lack networks, information and the right guidance that would facilitate their re-entry into the workforce. Employers can play a huge role in changing the status-quo by taking concrete steps to ease barriers to women’s employment, retention and re-entry. Large corporate firms, especially industry leaders, can demonstrate by example that gender-equal workplaces make good business sense, in addition to fostering and promoting gender equality,” said Dr Ashwini Deshpande, professor and head, department of economics, and founding director, Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA), Ashoka University.
Pankaj Kumar Kalass, VP-field HR of logistics and supply chain company Delhivery, shared that while gender-neutral job descriptions and mixed-gender panel interviews offer numerous benefits and are relatively inexpensive and easier to implement compared to other diversity initiatives, they are considered first-generation strategies.
“Organisations should continue to evaluate their hiring practices to address systemic barriers and promote greater diversity, equity, and inclusion across all aspects of the hiring process. This may involve adopting more advanced strategies, such as blind resume screening, structured interviews, and diversity training for hiring teams, to further enhance fairness and equity in recruitment and selection,” said Kalass.