Women earn Less than Men!

Gender Parity

Economists usually do not pay much attention to gender. A new official White House report shows that men have been dropping out of the US labour force at an alarming rate. This is particularly true of those with few skills. The most likely reason is vanishing factory jobs. It’s quite likely that the change in gender composition of the US labour force will eventually alter the balance of power between men and women there. 

India has the opposite problem. Too few women are part of the formal labour force. Millions of Indian women have actually exited the Indian labour force since the turn of the century. The most likely reason in this case is that higher family incomes are pushing women back into their homes. The one big exception to this rule could be agriculture. It has seen a gradual process of feminization. 

India needs more women in the formal workforce—not just for the economic benefits but also for financial independence. 

Source: Mint 22^nd June,2016

Women Executive Board….Zensar Technologies

Zensar Technologies is looking to double the proportion of women in middle management and above to 50% in 4 years.

The company’s women executive Board (WEB) is focused on identifying and raising women leaders from within existing associates.

The WEB derives organizational initiative for attracting diverse women talents and nurturing their growth at every step of their respective career. Zensar is in the process of identifying:

……200-300 female executives/potential leaders in the company;

……Mentoring these women;

…..Designing an in-house learning and development program  for networing, business leadership.

At Zensar, women make 50% of the staff at the entry level now the company plans to increase it to 60%.

In the middle management women account for 29% of the work force, which Zensar plans to increase to 50% by 2020. The company has 13% women at Vice-President level and 10% at the top management level.

Zensar offers paid maternity leave of 3 months with an option of extending it by up to another 12 months under a time of scheme without pay.

It offers in-house managed daycare centre for workers with children in the age group from 4 months to 10 years.

It partners with audit firms to do a gender audit to assess the existing growth opportunities of women, pay parity and identify the blind spots.

Prameela kaliva, Executive VP., Zensar Technologies says: “Our gender diversity strategy aims to deliver balanced leadership through balanced gender distribution across all levels.”

In the last few years the company claims to have moved mid-level women managers’ retention from 85% to 94%, reduced voluntary attrition of women form 17% to 10%.

Source: Economic Times, 10^th June 2016, p.8

Cross – Company Mentoring Programe

TataGroup – India’s largest conglomerate is putting in place a cross – company mentoring programme. This project will have 300 high potential women executives mentored by 180 CXO’s and 35 CEO’s for 45 group companies.

Tata the country’s biggest employer of women at 1.45 lakh, has limited number of women in CXO’s position.

The aim of the project is: To have more women in leadership position and it forms a gender diversity vision. At present the current gender diversity ratio is merely 10 % at the top level.

The features of the project are:

·      A women executive will not be restricted to the leaders in the company she operates in;

·         She gets wider network of leaders to choose from.

·         Acts as a retention tool, shielding women managers from dropping out.

The project has 2 phases: to elicit support for the programme; and to map mentors with mentees as well as logistics and technology framework.

This project provides an opportunity for Tata women employees to fulfill their potential and move up the ladder. Mentoring programme reinforces the grownups commitment to women and encourages them to stay and be an integral part of future leadership post.

 Source:  Jun 11 2016 : The Times of India (Chennai)

               In a first, Tatas to groom 300 women leaders for top posts across group cos

Namrata Singh & Reeba Zachariah

Gender Diversity

Marquee companies employ less than 2% women in their workforce

India Inc itself doesn't fare much better. In FY15, women comprise 18% of the workforce of Nifty companies, a study by ET Intelligence Group reveals. Excluding IT companies and banks, the proportion drops to 7% for the rest. 46 Nifty companies have reported these numbers for the last fiscal, as part of their business responsibility reporting. 

“Gender diversity in India does not get the place it deserves,“ says Bino Paul, professor and dean, School of Management and Labour Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences. “There is a need for change in culture from campuses to workplaces. It cannot only be incentive based. Such a change is possible if there is a large mandate coming either from business leaders or industry associations. For instance, a common code of conduct can be mooted by industry associations,” says Paul. “Firstly, on the supply side, the gender ratio in different sectors is skewed in India. For instance, household chores are predominantly performed by women. Secondly, on the demand side, Indian companies and proprietary firms have historically been masculine in nature and value system with diversity not being much appreciated,“ adds Paul. 

“It is not that companies are not giving opportunities to women, it is the woman and her family who more often than not determine the scope of her career,” says Usha Ananthasubramanian, managing director and CEO of Punjab National Bank and former chairperson of Bharatiya Mahila Bank. “There is no quota for women in PSUs. But because of their wider presence in the country, they have better access to hiring women across the country,“ explains Ananthasubramanian.

Hero MotoCorp's spokesperson said, “With Hero MotoCorp increasingly turning global in its operations, we have undertaken a robust initiative to enhance gender diversity...This not only involves reviewing our talent attraction and retention strategies, systems and procedures, but also drawing out tiered leadership development mantel for women employees. We have also been engaging in coaching and mentoring women staff to take up leadership positions.“

ET VIEW Hire More Women for India to Grow 

Source:Oct 30 2015 : The Economic Times (Bangalore) It's Time Corporate India Does a Gender Rethink Kiran Somvanshi