Without beating about the bush, Gender Gap is a serious problem. Especially when you factor in workplaces not just in India, but worldwide.
Consider how a TeamLease report says how 72%+ women opine that gender-based discrimination still happens at workplaces.
Just 14.3% of Indian science researchers, for instance, are women, while only 13.4% of women work in sectors like real estate, business services, finance, insurance, and even information technology.
If that’s not enough, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and its findings reinforce how we are not even halfway across the bridge in terms of filling up the gender gap across Indian workplaces.
The ILO’s statistics are pretty revealing by themselves-
Now consider some of the findings of the LinkedIn Opportunity Index 2021–
The fact remains that corporate India still has miles to cover in terms of ensuring gender equality. Mercer had a 2021 India Total Remuneration Survey which talked about how there was 43% of female representation at the entry levels in the technology sector.
However, this came down hugely to 12-17% in managerial positions, and only 4-8% in executive positions.
A persistent gender gap across the workplace is heart-breaking at multiple levels. Firstly, the freedom to work, get equal opportunities, and access to equal levels of fairness, transparency, dignity, and safety, is key towards the welfare and development of human beings.
Secondly, reducing the gender gap could actually enhance GDPs and give rise to economic benefits.
Thirdly, women are still expected to conform to traditional gender roles, leading to them falling behind in their careers. They also have to grapple with safety, care, child-care, transportation, and work-family balance issues.
The biggest and best way out of the problem is an organizational drive across all sectors and industries. Institutions and companies can take the lead in helping reduce India’s gender gap ratio. In fact, there could be a standardized framework for companies in this regard as well.
At INT, we consider gender gap to be one of the biggest modern-day corporate problems, while remaining committed towards fighting the same each day. Check out the video below where we addressed the gender gap initiatives.
