Everyone has the right to be equal

'Status of Women' refers to the position of women in society in relation to men. Although, geographically, men and women share the same space, yet they are not treated equally in the world. In reality, there exists inequality in women’s access to education, health care, physical and financial resources and opportunities in the political, economic, social and cultural field. Everywhere in the world, women are accorded a lower status than men.

I was fortunate enough to have a family who provided me good education but I never got an opportunity to work. In the working field or in terms of setting up their own business, women face greater barriers that are hard to overcome. They are often confronted with a lack of government support in terms of policy, laws, and services, and in some countries have only limited access to formal bank accounts, which prevents them from accessing loans or credit. Lack of education, skills training or career guidance only adds up to the difficulties.

Cultural values can also hold women back. In countries with rigid views of traditionally male and female roles, frequently reinforced by cultural and religious beliefs, women’s opportunities for engaging in paid work or starting up enterprises are often limited. At the same time, perceptions of family responsibility pose a challenge, with patriarchal attitudes restricting women’s responsibilities to domestic and family work, and thus preventing them from acting independently.

Some measures that can help Organisations to foster an environment of empowering women as employees ~

Education is the first step through which the barriers to employment can be reduced. Important strategies are increasing women’s access to post-primary and vocational and technical education and improving the quality of education. Also with proper training and career guidance,

Discrimination at work is still a fact of life for too many women. Women earn just 77 percent of men’s wages on average. Women still face discrimination in pay and promotions and barriers to advancement because of family responsibilities. Barriers can be reduced by creating new employment opportunities

In both developed and developing countries, a common intervention to improve pay and working conditions is  implementation of equal opportunity or anti discrimination legislation.  This includes family leave policies, equal pay and equal opportunity laws and policies, and legislation guaranteeing rights at work.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued a notice to have at least one woman director on the board. According to the TOI-commissioned study on the relation between companies with women on their boards and profitability,  the board of a private sector company, run by a professional CEO with a mix of both men and women, helped ROE rise by 4.4% in 2014 over the last year. In contrast, a similar company with a men-only board saw its ROE rise by a mere.1.8% in the same period.

ICICI Bank, headed by Chanda Kochhar, has shown a positive difference on return on equity.

source #EveryWomenIsALeader