Shaping An Equitable Growth For Women In The World Of Business

On 19th February 2021, a photo of a woman sitting in her office, wearing a mask and a bindi went viral on Twitter with the hashtag “Lady with the bindi”. It was none other than Swati Mohan – an Indian American aerospace engineer who spearheaded the landing of NASA’s perseverance rocket on Mars. Similarly, when Indian-origin Kamala Devi Harris became the first woman Vice President of the US, it was an inspiring moment for everyone, especially for young girls growing up in India. Today, more and more women around the world are striving hard to create a future that is sustainable, peaceful, and with equal rights and opportunities for all. 

Since Independence, there has been considerable improvement in women’s education, social mobility, and economic independence. According to a 2008 government report on education statistics, the literacy rate for women in India has steadily increased from 8.5 per cent in 1951 to around 57 per cent in 2004. Although substantial improvement has taken place in the last 3-4 decades, there is still a lot of ground that needs to be covered. According to a recent United Nations report, women are heads of State or governments in 22 countries, and only 24.9 per cent of national parliamentarians are women. At the current rate of progress, gender equality among heads of government will take another 130 years.

At workplaces, the collective voice of women today is heard with urgency. Besides, supportive laws and regulations have made it much easier for them to voice their opinion. However, there is still a long way to go in designing workspaces that promote an ideal working environment for them to lead. Here are few suggestions that would help shape equitable growth for women in the world of business.

Creating supportive ecosystems and flexible work arrangements: Several women quit the workplace due to familial decisions such as marriage or children. In India, unlike the west, social conditioning is such that a bulk of the responsibility falls on the shoulder of women to raise kids at home. Although the Union government has introduced many initiatives to empower women at workplaces, such as compulsory maternity benefits, more could be done wherein the other gender also shares some childcare responsibilities. Some progressive companies have started with paternity leaves but unlike the maternity leave that is mandated by the government, there is no provision for paternity leave in labour laws.  

A PwC survey shows that 42 per cent of respondents feel they fear their careers would be impacted by having children, while 48 per cent of new mothers believe they were overlooked for promotions or special projects. Still, another 37 per cent said they did not take their full maternity or adoption leave because they feared it would undermine their career standing. Organisations should address these fears to prevent highly skilled talent from leaving and not achieving their full potential.

As the pandemic has enabled the smooth transition towards working from home, it is an opportunity to help women stay back at work even after motherhood, due to the flexibility it offers them. Work from home could well prove to be the trump card to improve gender balance at work. 

Women-friendly measures adopted by progressive companies such as ‘gender acceleration plan’ and ‘Return to Work’, which encourage women to join back the workforce after motherhood, go a long way in increasing the proportion of women in the workforce. 

Mentorship plays a key role: The representation of women in management is still low globally. In India, the number of women occupying senior roles is just 8.5 per cent, as per a recent Credit Suisse report. Identifying sponsors or mentors who actively engage with women to help them advance in their careers and leadership can play a key role in organisational success. Structured and individual need-based mentorship programmes create a supportive environment to experiment, thrive, and pursue successful paths. 

Addressing stereotypes: Biases are a reality and these tend to creep into the work environment consciously or unconsciously. Typically, what is celebrated as entrepreneurship, self-confidence, and vision in a male is viewed as arrogance and self-promotion in a woman. Women in stereotypically male domains tend to encounter challenges more often due to a clash of stereotypical perceptions of what a woman should be. While it may be impossible to completely eradicate biases, data can be a good indicator to let you know where bias is creeping in to take corrective steps. Quite a few companies have taken proactive steps to address biases and some of these are restructured hiring practices with gender-neutral job descriptions, blind profiles, balanced hiring panels, leadership accountability, checks and balances in the appraisal process.

Creating more role models: The younger generation always looks up to a variety of role models to help them shape their behavior, ambition, and setting goals. Over the years, several women around the world have demonstrated exemplary leadership and expertise in what they do and have become role models. Just a few names from the global corporate world that come to mind include Sheryl Sandberg (COO, Facebook), Indra Nooyi (former chairperson and chief executive officer, PepsiCo), and Jane Fraser (CEO, Citigroup). Young girls growing up in India need more role models and as a society, we need to project women as role models across various professions for them to feel inspired and emulate them. 

It is a well-established fact that organizations that hire and maintain diversity outperform those who do not. All companies must commit to working harder towards enabling people of all genders to flourish at the workplace without fear or obstacles. 

The author is Senior Vice President, Human Resource, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance