Rendering an inclusive work-space culture is vital. Manan Sharma Vashisht lists reasons to incorporate more women in the sector

Every year Women’s day is celebrated, on March 8, to stand as a united force and to advance gender equality around the world. However, gender inequality and biases still remain a global challenge. In order to fill the gap, there is a need to empower women through employment. Following this has myriad advantages. Let us discuss the benefits in detail.

• Employing women can make them independent

There should be more work openings accessible to women that are not just exclusively open to the females who live in metropolitan cities but also to the individuals who live in tier II, III cities and villages. According to the International Finance corporation study, incorporating more females in workplaces makes them independent but at the same time, it is also good for business growth. When a woman is independent, she can stand against any physical and emotional abuses.

• Women strengthen team dynamics

Women have the skills to unite people and draw together opinions and proposals, this is the reason more women should be given a chance to work in the organisation. Overall, this favours the creation of teams, furthers participation and optimises the decision-making process. Organisations should be committed to building policies focussed on encouraging women to take up leadership roles and try every way to fight back gender inequality.

• Improved productivity and innovation

Diversity is key to the company’s growth where women should be employed equally with the number of male employees in any organisation. There is evidence highlighting that the co-existence of men and women in the same organisation delivers better and enhanced productivity.

These are only a few reasons why women should be empowered and included in work-sectors more. To achieve this, providing proper skills to them is of utmost importance. It is crucial to hone skills of women so that they can sustain competition and stay relevant. However, it is also essential to connect with mentors and peers who can support and enable growth. Having said that, companies have started realising that empowering a woman is equal to empowering the entire society.  While there have been trailblazers like  Rebecca Parsonsi, Indra Nooy and Gita Gopinath, recently people are realising that business benefits through a diverse leadership. For example, SEBI regulations from 2014 made it mandatory to have at least one woman on a company’s board. The step was initiated to increase the diversity in the boardroom from just six per cent in March 2014 to 17 per cent in 2020.

Companies like Nestle are internally building a more diverse culture through their Gender Acceleration plan, aiming to raise the proportion of women in its top 200 senior executive positions to 30 per cent by 2022. Many organisations today have robust diversity and inclusion programmes.

But there are still some areas where inequality appears entrenched in many organisations. In the public sectors of India, the benefits and compensation are equal regardless of gender, but the private sector still has a long way to fill the gender gap. Companies still showcase a certain level of hesitation in the matter like maternity leave, during probation periods and in the cases like hiring of female personnel right after maternity leave.

Reducing limitations and ensuring equitable access to quality jobs for females requires focused and targeted action by the private sector as well as from the government, even though the Indian Government has taken certain steps in this direction. Their role is also pivotal in empowering women. To encourage the women owners of MSME, the government offers them certain schemes with lucrative offers. Some of the schemes like Bharatiya Mahila Bank Business loan, Mudra Yojana scheme, and so on, are few of the initiatives that aim to improve the status of women by making them financially independent and self-reliant.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Mann Ki Baat radio programme, asserted, “Our dream of new India is an India where women are empowered, strengthened, and where they become equal partners in the all-round development of the country.”

It can be concluded that empowering women is essential. No country can gain its actual potential if half of its human capital is not contributing to its growth. However, Indian society will have to dampen gender inequality in all forms. With the hybrid working model gaining prominence, bringing more women back into the work-force post Covid-19 is expected.

(The writer is the founder of and director at ReBrand Gurus, a tech-branding organisation working towards women empowerment.)