India leads in gender inclusivity

Mumbai: Nasscom and Mercer shared the key findings of the study titled 'Gender Inclusivity in India: Building an empowered organization'. The objective is to propose a multi-dimensional framework involving an ecosystem encompassing key stakeholders including individuals, society, the organization and the government to achieve increased levels of integration and benefits for women. This paper attempts to understand the current status of female empowerment in the country and calls for action from the stakeholders.

Sangeeta Gupta, VP, Nasscom said, "The Indian IT-BPO industry has set high standard in gender inclusivity. Women are a key and vital part of our workforce, and their participation in the workforce is seen as a critical enabling factor for continued growth of the industry."

"Recognizing the growing influence of this emerging workforce, the IT-BPO industry is gearing up to act as a catalyst in the development of gender inclusive workforce. We are confident that this study will help the industry understand and assess where it is today in its gender inclusivity journey to build a more empowered organization," she added

Padma R Ravichandar, Country Head, Mercer Consulting said, "Gender inclusivity is not about a set of simple initiatives that corporations need to undertake to increase the female population within their organization or policies to ensure women have a harassment-free and secure work environment. It is a far more complex multi-dimensional, transformation journey, with multiple stakeholders that must work together in order to help create a holistic and empowered society where men and women have different but equal roles to play. This study is a landmark step in that direction."

She further added, "Organizations that want to build a diverse culture must look closely at their current management practices, not just within the boardroom, but across the entire organization. They need to review and amend their processes regarding meetings, deliverables, timings, work-life balance issues and gender-specific success metrics."

Despite the number of political and industrial forums, mandated government policies and widespread discussion in the media, the issue of gender inclusivity continues to remain largely unresolved.

Today, India has more working women than any other country in the world. Of the entire workforce of 400 million, 30-35 percent are female, and of these women, only 20 percent work in urban India, found the study. This figure can largely be attributed to the growth of the IT-BPO industry, which is one of the largest recruiters of a qualified workforce in recent times.

Key findings of the study:

• In mid '80s, only 5-8 percent of students in engineering colleges and approximately 5-30 percent of the population entering the IT industry were women
• By 2005, 40.4 percent of the entrants into institutions of higher education were women
• Women in IT workforce grew from 4,21,460 in 2006 to 6,70,984 in 2008