Status of Indian Women Marks Stifling Descent at Workplaces

Software engineer, Pooja Mahajan never planned to give away her hard-made career of 12 years. But just after the 33 year old returned to her workplace post her maternity leave, the scenario had taken rapid shift. Her perks were cut down and her managerial work was transferred to another employee expecting less output during her parenting period.

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.

In an economy like India which is annually growing at a significant rate of 6.5 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 urbanisation and modern thinking 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 government 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 utilise the productive efficiency of both the genders. Hence it becomes important for employers to have egalitarian approach in their corporate world.

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.

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