Gender Bias, a Corporate Sitch

Gender Discrimination

Status of Indian Women Marks Stifling Descent at Workplaces

Software engineer, Pooja Mahajan, 33 never planned to forsake her hard-made career of 12 years. But when she returned to work after maternity leave, things were not the same. Her perks were cut down and a major part of her role which was transferred to a colleague during her leave period did not come back. The message was clear. She had become a liability who could neither fly for client’s meetings nor stay late to meet the aggressive deadlines. When she left her job, she stared back at years of her hard work which became a sham the moment she gave birth to a child.

Is that what motherhood means?

It has been borne out by the data from National Sample Survey Organisation that nearly 20 million women quit job between 2004-05 and 2011-12 while more than 25 million men joined the work during the same period. As per the latest survey, the highest unemployment rate was witnessed among urban females at 10.8% followed by males in urban India at 7.1%, rural males at 5.8% and 3.8% in rural females.

In an economy like India which is annually growing at a significant rate of 4.5 per cent, the biggest question which arises is why this growth fosters better job prospects for men while the record of female participation in Indian workforce still remains poor.

Despite a rising level of urbanization and modern ideology over past few decades, a large percentage of corporate women gets subdued at societal, economical and conventional level. Consequently in 2013, the gender pay gap in India was estimated to be 23.19% keeping India as one of the bottom 10 countries with gender discrimination.

The societal and conventional factors which contribute to the noticeable gap between the wages of male and female include marriage, motherhood, patriarchy, family commitments and historical beliefs of families that consider it irrelevant on women’s part to go for work.

The economical factors include women’s challenges in dealing with regulations on working hours, periods of retention following maternity leaves and chances of women not returning to work afterwards. Another area where women workforce participation is disregarded is the corporate scenario where manpower is likely to be posted at random work sites.

As per the data collected from the year 2014-15, women in India represented 46.8% of the postgraduates in IT which was more than double the rate in UK. Still, they earn 57% of what her male colleagues earn for performing the same task. This gap increases further as women advance in their careers.

The gender bias which prevails in all working conditions also negatively effects the economy of the country for its inability to utilize the productive efficiency of both the genders. Hence it becomes important for employers to have egalitarian approach in their corporate world.

Despite the government initiatives to bridge the gender gap in employment, hiring the workforce through employee referrals and on-campus recruitment are the most gender-balanced methods to adopt. Parental policies and opportunities at company level can also help women to return to work. The managers can be trained so that they are empowered to recruit and retain female employees. Challenging the female to do laborious tasks during maternity phase or else stop her promotion should be disregarded. Instead she should be given roles which she can sufficiently manage despite her household duties and children.

Remember, mother plays the key role in shaping the future of a child and hence the country. But this should not happen at the cost of her rights of promotion or employment.

Gender Discrimination