The Big Debate On Workforce Gender Gap In India Post-Pandemic: Is It Really Narrowing?

In 2022, India ranked 135 out of 156 countries in the Gender Gap report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The index paints a rather gloomy picture of gender equality in the vast country with a 1.4 billion populace, comprising about 662 million women.

A closer look at the index over the years will reveal that our nation has consistently fallen down the rankings. Sadly enough, we are not much better off compared to Afghanistan, where the Taliban prohibit women from even attending schools, let alone exercising their democratic rights and liberties.

Workforce Gender Gap In India Post-Pandemic

The big gender gap debate has taken steam especially post-pandemic when India’s workforce witnessed a mass exit of capable women, dropping out of the workforce. Reasons for this steep fall included societal pressure, the need for playing a caregiver’s role within households and child-rearing responsibilities for women.

While the Indian economy has grown more than 10 times since 1990, its female workforce participation has fallen from 30 per cent to 19 per cent in 2021 as per World Bank data. The fall has been particularly steep in the past 15 years when female labour participation plunged while interestingly, the economy nearly quadrupled in this period.

Contributing factors and remedial measures

Notably, India’s educational attainment for women is nearly equal to that of its men, according to the WEF Global &t=264s">Gender Gap Report 2022. But the chasm widens when it comes to economic participation. Where 1 refers to parity between men and women, Indian women scored 0.961 in educational attainment, but the score plummeted to 0.350 for economic participation and opportunity. Evidently, the scope for women to hold office whether in enterprise or the parliament is low, contributing to the widening of the gender gap.

In my experience of working with competent, qualified and confident women in business, I have come to believe that the force that the fairer sex brings to the table is unmatchable if recognised and rewarded.

Other factors contributing to the widening of this gap may be attributed to the lack of access to business loans and financial tools, the tropes of a patriarchal society system where women have to work twice as hard to be even seen as a harbinger of success and change, literacy and encouragement and preventive measures at work such as POSH policies, maternity leaves, menstrual leaves and favourable human resource policies play a crucial role in promoting women’s overall growth. Some of these problems are already being addressed by leaders in corporate business, and financial literacy.

With greater smartphone penetration, an array of modern-day fintech companies and neo-banks offer easy access to financial management and investment tools, reaching deep into the heart of India’s hinterlands.

Women as decision makers in a household are learning to save, propagate and manage wealth for the future of their ambitions - be it sending the girl child to college or starting a small business with the help of Self-Help Groups (SHG).

Areas of improvement

Only talking about narrowing the gap has to be complimented with action, at a national level as well as in deeper trenches of economic participation. The WEF report criticises the rising inequality in the number of women holding offices in India. This can be remedied by passing the Women's Reservation Bill which proposes to reserve 33 per cent of all seats in the Lok Sabha and all State legislative assemblies for women. Measures could also be taken to address the gender wage gap across industries, by greater cognisance taken by corporate leaders and growth-oriented startups to adjust pay equity when it comes to women.

How women are hired in leading job roles will play a key role in eradicating the inequity that exists by systemically addressing workplace stereotypes that hinder growth for women professionals.

This is possible with a fundamental thought shift as it will imply that no longer can maternity leaves, and availability beyond the articulated work hours be factors that feed into our choice of candidates.

Startup leaders who have made a mark as women trailblazers will also need to step forward to improve the working conditions of women in the workplace. Greater focus on addressing and implementing POSH policies, non-judgmental attitude in enabling the growth of candidates performing well and inclusivity to welcome women of lower economic backgrounds to associate with outreach programmes and thereby contribute to a company’s social growth are crucial steps towards attaining this goal.

Conclusion

With India’s G20 presidency in 2023, the country is poised to move from the paradigm of women’s development to women-led development. Under the Women 20 programme, India has launched the prestigious Nari Shakti Scheme, which funds women entrepreneurs by providing soft loans. There is also the Women in Engineering, Science and Technology (WEST) programme to encourage women to pursue education in STEM subjects, and the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), a unified access portal that brings together an ecosystem for women. These are only some of the necessary steps taken by the Government to provide a much-needed fillip to the development of and led by women.

While they are commendable steps towards a more equitable economy, much more needs to be done in terms of encouraging women’s participation and leadership in the impetus to reduce the big gender gap that undoubtedly continues to exist in our country.

Archana Khosla Burman

Authored by Archana Khosla Burman, Founder Partner, Vertices Partners and Chairperson, FICCI FLO, Mumbai Chapter

Suggested reading: Development Of STEM Education Over The Decades And Where Do Women Stand In It