Is the 'diversity drive' in corporates truly being taken in the spirit to increase women's inclusion, or is it only limited to slogans and getting the prescribed numbers right?
Is the ‘diversity drive’ in corporates truly being taken in the spirit to increase women’s inclusion, or is it only limited to slogans and getting the prescribed numbers right?
The last thirty years have seen women participation in corporate workforce increase substantially. A lot of companies profess the virtues of diversity and commitment to inclusive hiring with particular focus on women.
I wonder, though, if this is reduced only to slogans and limited to getting the numbers right. Or are companies truly making an effort to build an ‘equal opportunity’ workplace?
A recent McKinsey study on women in the workplace suggests that women hold only 38% of manager positions. This percentage keeps reducing as they move up to higher positions.
The same study says for every 100 men promoted to manager-level roles, only 79 women moved up into similar roles and eventually only 22% of women are in C-suite executive roles. While this may only be a sample, the trend it points toward is worrisome.
Research shows that diversity at work leads to better innovation, productivity, creativity and consequently improved financial results. From my discussions with women friends working in leading MNCs around the world, I learnt that some companies are actively working on ‘all in’ initiative as lack of workforce diversity affects performance.
There are many programs to encourage investment in diversity. But to make meaningful progress, companies have to move beyond simply hiring women to showcase diversity. Diversity is not just about getting the gender ratio right. Mind-sets have to change and women should be treated at par with their male counterparts.
Having children and managing homes while working are seen as additional impediments. Instead it should be recognised as skills of multi-tasking and managing priorities including a career. Often these guilt ridden women end up working harder to cover up for lost time in office since they have to leave on time compared to their male colleagues who are networking ‘after hours’.
There are often different expectations from women when assigning projects and evaluating performance. Social mores and pressures are hard to break. It reminds me of when Sania Mirza was asked as soon as she got married, “When are you going to ‘settle down’?”
Promotion of a woman is also gossip and rarely acknowledged as a reward for merit. In these circumstances, filling a workplace with women but not creating an environment where they can succeed is an even bigger injustice.
Companies would do well to introspect what real gender diversity should mean. It is important that male managers consider the following:
These attitudes sometimes are apparent but there are times, they may be sub-consciously playing on minds leading to discrimination and harassment.
It is critical that people are sensitised on these aspects and the tone from the top reflects in actual conduct what policies state in theory. Both male and female leaders should champion this cause within organisations and be agents of change.
Gender diversity is a noble goal but measuring it has to move from mere statistics to an actual ‘seat at the table’ for women. That can only happen where mental barriers break down and actions speak louder than words.
Image credits: Pixabay
Prerna Wahi worked in the corporate world for 7 years. In the past few years, she has been a stay-at-home mom. She has read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, indivisual posts do not necessarily represent the platofrom's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
We are often told that our 'value' diminishes with each person we give ourselves to sexually, but I believe pleasurable, casual sex with full consent made me a better, more honest, and deeply caring person.
We are often told that our ‘value’ diminishes with each person we give ourselves to sexually, but I believe pleasurable, casual sex with full consent made me a better, more honest, and deeply caring person.
It was a regular afternoon, and we were having lunch on the bleachers in the basketball court at school, when the question was first posed. We could not have been older than eleven and in retrospect it feels like we may have been too young for this discussion, but at the time it seemed like a perfectly natural thing to discuss.
In her book 'Devil's Daughter', Vidhie Mukerjea writes about the arrest of her mother Indrani Mukerjea for alleged murder of sister Sheena Bora which gripped the entire nation & created havoc in her life!
In her book ‘Devil’s Daughter’, Vidhie Mukerjea writes about the arrest of her mother Indrani Mukerjea for alleged murder of sister Sheena Bora which gripped the entire nation & created havoc in her life!
On the eve of her 18th birthday Vidhie Mukerjea returned from school excited to celebrate with her family and friends. Instead, she walked into a house full of cops and watched as her mother Indrani Mukerjea was arrested for a crime she couldn’t ever fathom.
Women in the workplace 2016 is a comprehensive study done by LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Company to study the state of women in corporate America. Though the study was done in the US, the findings are relevant to the state of women in corporate India as well.
The research report headline itself tells what details we can expect inside, “In corporate America, women fall behind early and continue to lose ground with every step.” I must admit that as somebody who believes in championing the cause of women’s advancement at the workplace, I did feel depressed on reading those lines. Its 2017, we are talking about leisure trips to the moon, driverless cars, cutting edge technology in every aspect of life and women are still struggling to get ahead at the workplace.
The recent Michael Arrington post on why women mustn’t blame men for their lower numbers in technology is eliciting reactions, fast and furious. While I don’t think Arrington’s tone helps, I am not going to get into the subject here. Instead, I’d like to refer you to Shefaly Yogendra’s excellent post, “Women in tech: What gives?”, where she puts forth many actionable ideas on what we can do to get more women into science and technology.
In India, interesting women in science and technology per se is not such a difficult problem. A lot of women study both the basic and applied sciences, and at entry level, the number of women in these professions is not poor, even it is not equal. Yet, as we move up the organizational charts, fewer women are in the picture, until, when one comes to the highest levels such as CEOs and board members, few women are left. A big part of the reason is of course that a large number of women drop out of the corporate world in their late 20s and early 30s – to have children and raise a family.