India Inc set ambitious gender diversity targets for the current year, but was falling short at the last count. Women employees constituted 26% of the India Inc workforce across sectors while companies had planned to increase their number to 31.4% this year, shows a survey of 775 companies across sectors, carried out by Aon, and shared exclusively with ET.
Top sectors that have the highest percentage of women employees are ITES, software products and services, retail, and professional services including consulting. Data for the survey was collated between December 2021 and January 2022.
The fact that 50% of the total population would make up for only about 25% of the working population across sectors may not be a viable option for corporate India in the long run, especially when research shows that having a diverse workforce fosters creativity and innovation. As Zarin Daruwala, Cluster CEO, India and South Asia markets (Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka), Standard Chartered Bank told ET, “Organisations play a catalytic role in maximising the potential of their women colleagues. Studies show that while women’s aspirations match those of men at the start of their careers, they tend to get left behind subsequently due to family expectations.” ET brings you a lowdown on the performance of some of the key sectors on the gender diversity front and the challenges they face.
IT/ITES Leads the Way
Why Women Matter
Driven by the high demand for talent, companies are pulling out all stops to hire women in IT and ITES sectors. According to data from industry body Nasscom, the sectors employed 1.8 million women, comprising 36% of the total workforce. An estimated 200,000 women will be hired by the industry in fiscal year 2022, say industry experts.
Top Challenges in hiring/retaining
Percentage of women in workforce goes down with seniority Life events — marriage and childbirth – are major speed bumps; they lead to fewer women in high responsibility and time-intensive roles Domestic responsibilities make it harder for women to rapidly upskill themselves
LEADERSPEAK
“It is important to support women through their career… there is a need to support them with reskilling, upskilling and counselling to help them stay on track of their career goals,” CP Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra
Structural Barriers in Life Sciences
Why Women Matter: Women make up only 13% of scientists and science faculty in Indian higher education and research institutions, a nationwide survey by BiasWatchIndia, which documents gender bias in science in the country, revealed. This is despite women accounting for about 40% of the country’s annual science PhDs. Women bring their unique perspectives to research and scientific conversation – making science richer and broader.
Top Challenges in hiring/retaining
Structural and societal barriers that make STEM inaccessible to girls right from school.
In Tier 2 or 3 towns and rural locations, it is often coupled with an absence of an ecosystem that helps them understand & pursue science.
LEADERSPEAK
“Lack of a big talent pool of experienced women in the biopharma industry and working in shifts pose serious challenges while hiring women. In terms of women in science, we have a much higher percentage of employees in various functions of R&D, Quality, etc,” Amitava Saha, CHRO, Biocon Group & Biocon Limited
Crisis in the Middle in FMCG & FMCD
Why Women Matter: Women are primary consumers of FMCG/FMCD products in households. Hence, women in such workplaces bring in firsthand experiences and feedback of products. They also bring in learning agility, orientation to the process and detail.
Top Challenges in hiring/retaining women:
Factory floors traditionally require workers to operate heavy machinery
Not enough womenfriendly ergonomics in manufacturing plants
Women tend to drop off at the middle management level
LEADERSPEAK
“Increasing diversity is a theme we follow as a leadership imperative and not tokenism of a superficial kind,” Suresh Narayanan,chairman & MD, Nestle India
Retail: Relying on Skills
Why Women Matter: Women can bring perspectives that male managers usually miss, like mental, social and emotional well-being. For instance, during the pandemic, women leaders started employee welfare schemes, immunisation programs, mental healthcare programs. They look at relationships with employees and vendors instead of just sales.
Top Challenges in hiring/retaining
Retail jobs are demanding. Long work hours usually deter women from taking up storefront jobs. Govt mandates transportation facilities for retail employees after a certain time at night.
Traveling to smaller towns and cities is a part of a job in the corporate setup. Women are not comfortable doing it most times.
LEADERSPEAK
“Women leaders bring to the table perspectives that male managers usually miss such as empathy, social and mental well-being,” Arvind Mediratta, managing director and chief executive officer, Metro Cash & Carry, India
Wanted: Women Leaders in Consulting
Why Women Matter: Gender ratios at consulting firms started changing in the past 10 years from barely 12-15% to over 30% after global HQs started pushing Indian operations to close the gender gap. The numbers are still lower than global percentages but there is marked improvement. However, it’s telling that there has never been a female CEO in any major management consulting firm or a Big Four in India.
Top Challenges in hiring/retaining:
Difficult to maintain work-life balance due to long hours and pressure
High burnouts due to the high-stress environment and stiff targets
Narrow funnel of women applicants at top B-schools
LEADERSPEAK
“In a professional services firm like ours, it is the power of different perspectives and backgrounds that helps us drive better decisionmaking, spur innovation, build trusted relationships, and deliver the best approaches for our clients. Gender diversity is key to our distinctiveness and enabling exceptional experiences for our people, clients and stakeholders,” Rajiv Memani, Chairman & Managing Partner-EY India
Startups/ Ecommerce
Percentage of women in the startups
Female-founded and co-founded tech startups in India stood at 285 as of June 2020 (Makers India report 2020)
Why Women Matter: Despite making up half of the population, women’s participation in the workforce is very low. To build for India, having representation from women makes economic sense, experts said. Representation from women can help bring different perspectives and their experiences can help build more inclusive organisations.
Top Challenges in hiring/retaining: Women bear a disproportionate cost of managing a family and bringing up children. Firms need to offer significant flexibility and support to attract and retain female talent. Experts also said it is important to become aware of unconscious biases that limit women’s ability to scale and grow in an organization.
LEADERSPEAK
“There may be a few barriers in entry for women founders and leaders due to the lack of exposure, limited access to funds, lack of awareness about their potential and support, societal conditioning and more. Although, I would like to reiterate that these gaps are already being bridged,” Vineeta Singh, cofounder, Sugar Cosmetics
BFSI: Searching for Enablers
Why Women Matter: Women are underrepresented at all levels of the global financial system, from depositors and borrowers to bank board members and regulators. Women can be better risk managers, helping enhance financial stability. More women on bank boards leads to fresher ideas.
Top Challenges in hiring/retaining: Women may be more qualified for specific roles but lose out due to discriminatory hiring processes, says World Economic Forum research High post-maternity dropouts Promotions are linked to transfers at several places, making growth unrealistic
LEADERSPEAK
“Organisations need to provide a conducive atmosphere where women may speak about their inhibitions, and to receive experiences and support. Such measures will help unleash the true potential of women,” Zarin Daruwala, Cluster CEO, India and South Asia markets (Bangladesh, Nepal & Sri Lanka), Standard Chartered Bank
Telecom Seeks More Women in Tech Roles
Why Women Matter: Women constitute about 8-15% of the workforce, translating into employment for about 3,20,000-6,00,000 women in the telecom sector. Since it is a knowledgeintensive industry, telecom benefits from workforce diversity. The dearth of tech and engineering talent means that the sector actively looks to attract fresh tech talent across campuses – resulting in a healthy induction of women into the sector’s workforce, besides other functions.
Top Challenges in hiring/retaining: Roles like setting up and maintaining a network on the ground are still considered unsuitable for women Significant gender pay gap
LEADERSPEAK
“Today, Airtel has growing representation from women even beyond management functions – in core areas like networks and digital engineering – as part of our diversity agenda. We believe this is a trend that will continue to gather momentum,” Amrita Padda, Chief People Officer, Bharti Airtel
Driving Creativity -Transport/Auto
Why Women Matter: Since automotive is an industry with a cross-section of roles – from design and manufacturing to sales, marketing, and communication – women make great candidates for the sector as they pack a combination of creativity, dependability, problem-solving attitude, communication, and aptitude for cross-training. Top
Challenges in hiring/retaining:
Lower enrolment of women in engineering colleges
Work location and timing, especially in manufacturing
Societal seeing technical/engineering jobs as a domain of men
LEADERSPEAK
“Having more women in management is not a matter of political correctness, but it is the key to growth. Implementation of innovative recruitment strategies will support the sector in improving gender diversity,” Sarma Chillara, chief human resources officer, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India
Fueling Innovation (Energy)
Why Women Matter: Women can bring in a lot of innovative thinking, divergent viewpoints and freshness of perspective into the sector that has traditionally been a male bastion. The accelerated pace of technology adoption will open up more roles such as R&D, data and analytics, design thinking, policy, regulation, planning, among others.
Top Challenges in hiring/retaining:
Limited talent pool: not enough women in mechanical, civil, electrical engineering
Lack of supportive infrastructure
Gender stereotyping
LEADERSPEAK
“A technology-led enabling infrastructure and alternative work models would add great momentum to the hiring and retention of more women. Most importantly, it requires a mindset change, for men and women alike as people have preconceived notions about the kind of work the sector entails,” Sambitosh Mohapatra, Partner and Leader- ESG Platform, Energy Utilities and Resources, PwC India