Even after repeated attempts by various organisations, there still exist issues regarding the inclusion of diversity in workplaces / Photograph by Vojtech Okenka
Women Inclusivity in Hyderabad’s Corporate Workforce
Hyderabad was recently ranked as one of the leading women-friendly cities. The city has good representation of women in the workforce. However, there seems to be a divide between the actual concept of women’s inclusivity and its understanding among people and organisations.
T. Riya
Hyderabad is the fourth most women-friendly city in India / Photograph by William Fortunato
A study of 111 cities in India conducted by the talent strategy consulting firm Avtar for their 2022 report ‘Top 25 cities for women in India’ cites Hyderabad as the fourth most women-friendly city in India with a City Inclusion Score (CIS) of 62.47. The ranks were distributed in terms of each city’s scores in ease of living, safety, women’s representation rate, and women empowerment initiatives.
With Hyderabad being the second largest IT hub, the workforce consists of more than 34% of female employees. In terms of numbers, the result seems to favour women’s inclusion, even in the corporate sectors, but is that all there is to the inclusivity of women, or is there more?
As is very evident, Hyderabad has witnessed rapid urbanisation since the 1990s, especially with the growth of information technology and the support and efforts by the state government to promote the same. With all this growth and expansion comes a great demand for professionals in various workplaces, and more employment means more opportunities for women as well.
Along with this comes soaring mobility of both women and men from across the country to these employment-generating centres. However, with such huge mobilisation comes a big challenge of accommodating diversity and inclusivity in both the city and the actual workplace.
Understanding Diversity and Inclusivity
Even after repeated attempts by various organisations, there still exist issues regarding the inclusion of diversity. Avtar Vice President Anju G. Pavarthy states, “The basic understanding of the diversity and inclusivity among masses and organizations itself is very weak.”
The issues regarding inclusivity seem to be born out of this understanding of the people that diversity guarantees or comes with predisposed inclusivity.
The word inclusivity is rarely understood among people / Illustration by T. Riya
“Diversity is a fact, inclusivity is a mindset, a choice,” states Dr Swathi Alok, an Assistant Professor at BITS Pilani’s Hyderabad Campus. A former HR executive, Dr Alok’s research interests are workplace well-being, organisational behaviour, and gender in management.
Factors Determining the Inclusivity of Women
In most workspaces, there seem to be two types of factors that determine the inclusivity of women: social and professional.
Social factors would be the factors that help women to thrive and grow in their social circle, such as supportive households.
“Equity is where you systematically remove barriers and allow everybody to learn, grow and thrive,” says Sonica Aron, CEO of Marching Sheep and a board member at Gender at Work India Trust.
However, professional factors such as equal pay are the enablers that let women thrive in their workplace. As Pavarthy puts it, “Workplace inclusivity comprises a sensitive work culture and pay parity resulting in advancement in career paths for everyone.”
“Diversity is a fact, inclusivity is a mindset, a choice.”
The working of these two factors stresses that there is a well-established symbiosis between them, where the social factors lay out the values of inclusion while the professional factors go about achieving it.
Equity Determines Inclusivity
Even though we have come a long way, both the physical and social factors determining the inclusivity of women in the workplace remain quite fundamental.
While some of the physical factors are the same old ones, such as infrastructure, hygiene, safety, commute etc., some of the major social determinants could be equal professional and social representation, equal access to opportunities, and advancement in career paths.
Hyderabad, in this regard, seems to be adapting well. When casually asked how much would she rate her workplace in terms of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Fatima Ali, an employee at Capgemini, Hyderabad, says, “An easy eight and the two points are not on the organisation because currently, they are doing more than enough in terms of all this, in fact, even overdoing it sometimes. At this stage, it is just some people with their preemptive vices against diversity and acceptance.”
With this being said, having a certain amount of sensitivity and allyship in the workplace is important too. It further strengthens the team and also improves the quality of productivity.
A certain amount of workplace sensitivity and allyship always helps everyone / Photograph from Pixabay
Pandemic and Inclusivity
The Covid-19 pandemic has cast a shadow over the workplace inclusion of women.
Globally, workplaces were impacted by the pandemic. It has caused a looming recession. Companies worldwide are announcing layoffs in big numbers.
According to the World Economic Forum, the pandemic has widened the inequalities, with more women losing their jobs than men.
During the pandemic, the stereotype that women are the sole caregivers came to the fore once again, not just in India but in the western world too. It was a global phenomenon.
“During the pandemic, organisational stereotypes also came out where it was easy for them to say that because women will have more responsibilities of domestic chores so their productivity would be lower and therefore who is the first person to lay off? Of course, women. As women, we were also not assertive that my work is equally important,” explains Aron.
“Because of the pandemic, there are a lesser number of jobs. So, if there are a lesser number of jobs then it is automatically being taken up by men because it is the business cycle. More inclusivity can only happen if there is more generation of jobs or any other kind of economic growth,” explains Himani Gupta, Co-founder and trustee at Kriti Social Initiatives.
Kriti works for the economic development of women and the education of children among the urban poor of Hyderabad.
With this being said, having a certain amount of sensitivity and allyship in the workplace is important too. It further strengthens the team and also improves the quality of productivity.
The Numbers Game
“When certain research started coming up that the businesses with women at the leadership level do better, then there came this cognisance that there needs to be more women representation. Unfortunately, that led to a phenomenon of an overdrive where it became more of a numbers game,” explains Aron.
The recruitment numbers when it comes to women look seemingly upbeat. It may leave the feeling that all this is about equal participation and that women’s inclusivity is going somewhere.
However, a closer look at the employee hierarchy of many organisations proves you wrong. The inclusivity at the bottom looks almost commendable. But only a few manage to climb up the ladder. The number of women representatives or women employees at the top is very less.
Most women drop out after six or seven years of entering a job because of various reasons. Often, familial and social aspirations overpower women’s professional and personal aspirations.
Hiring women is not enough. There is a need to provide an ecosystem where they can thrive and grow.
“There is more recruitment forward strategy than inclusion forward strategy,” says Aron.
“There is more recruitment forward strategy than inclusion forward strategy.”
Along with coming up with as many career enablers as possible, it is also very important that we conduct studies and learn the patterns extensively that dictate the flow of women employees in the workplace: everything from what drives them to the cultural barriers that stop them.
We should not only be maintaining a good number while recruiting but make a sustainable ecosystem conducive enough for all genders to thrive and grow.
“Belongingness is an outcome only when diversity is accommodated,” Aron says.
This article was published on April 26, 2023.
T. Riya covers stories straddling multiple genres as she believes in the power of a well-informed society. tailyangriya@gmail.com