Women & India: Economic Cost Of Gender Inequality
When women are prevented from fully participating or are paid less than their male counterparts, it limits their potential to contribute to the economy. This wage gap not only affects individual women's economic prospects but also hurts overall economic growth.
For example, a study by the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that closing the gender pay gap could add USD 12 trillion to the global GDP by 2025.
The Most Influential Women (MIW) event organised by BW Businessworld brought up some interesting insights on the economic cost of gender inequality.
Role Of Policymakers
Highlighting the imperative role of policymakers in promoting gender parity, Dr Punita Kumar Sinha, Independent Director and Former Senior MD, Blackstone stated, "In 2013, it was mandated that at least one woman should be constituted as a board member, this in turn led to companies bringing in more than one woman to the board. Hence, at times all it requires is a nudge from policymakers to set things in motion. Moreover, Sebi initiatives like mandating companies to disclose gender pay gap in their annual reports are a step forward in this regard. The paradigm shifts in developing the pool of talent via increased participation of women in IIT, from 1 to 2 per cent participation to 15-20 per cent participation today, also mark witness to this change."
Outsourcing Problem To Policy Makers Not Enough
Delineating on a systematic approach to understanding the problem of gender inequality and addressing the root of the problem, Lavanya Nalli, Vice Chairman, Nalli Silk Sarees, said, "Outsourcing the problem nearly to policy makers won’t be sufficient if we want women to advance across social and economic parameters. Other than corporate policies inducive to women like flexible working hours, role modelling, mentorship programs, etc., we actually need to inquire why some women continue to progress while others don’t. A deeper comprehension of this will make one realise that women who are able to progress have a reliable support system, while the others lack it.”
Unfortunately, women's prime working years are incoherence with their prime biological years. Hence, women can be pulled out of the workforce in the absence of a reliable support system. However, they must remember that if you can bring value to the table, that is the only thing that will dominate, because the brain has no gender, Lavanya stated.
Decoding Career Drop-off In Women
Debanjali Sengupta, Country Head, Shell Lubricants India, while explaining the career drop-off in women said, "When it comes to women dropping off from their careers, a similar pattern is observed. The reasons for this pattern can be attributed to either their moving in with their husbands or the societal pressure of being the care giver for people at home. The next requisite is parental leave, six months of maternal leave along with two months of paternal leave to allow husband participate in caregiving too. Apart from this, flexibility in accordance with working from home and work timings will allow many mothers to continue with their careers.”
Debanjali mentioned that true progress will come when corporations take steps beyond what the policies are asking them to do. Moreover, support for women in non-conventional roles like commercial roles and STEM backgrounds will also help women retain their work roles and leverage their productive selves, she added.
Role Of Corporate In Gender Parity
Unearthing the corporate loopholes, Deepali Naair, director, Digital Sales, India, IBM, conveyed, "If we are seeing less than 5 per cent women in Fortune 500 companies globally and in India, we will probably see even less women's participation in future because we lack the women in our pipeline. In the societal aspects, the corporations need to have stronger CSR policies to ensure the pipeline is improving from a mindset perspective. However, the evolving policies have strengthened the base pipeline, i.e., from college to corporates and the initial 5 to 7 years of work life.
Speaking on affirmative steps to embrace equity, Deepali delineated that making the boards ensure that they report the gender pay gap and holding the boards accountable for the senior leadership gender gap and what has been done to bridge the gap can prove fruitful for establishing gender parity."
Actual Loss Is The Talent Loss
Reflecting on the strong push required for gender equality, Jaya Vaidhyanathan, CEO, BCT Digital, added, "More fundamental than what numbers convey is the fact that we are neglecting a huge chunk of our population overall. It means a lot of talent is going to waste, from the grass-roots level to the corporate level. We can separate rural India, as it is slightly more conducive for women to work in rural India because they have to. But if we talk about corporate India, the choice isn’t mainly exercised by women."
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