The hands that hold the economy aloft

Women constitute the core workforce in the country, but they rarely reach the boardrooms, nor do they get equal wages, basic facilities or promotions

Malvika Kaul Delhi

In India, there is very little room for women at the top, though the bottom is crowded with them. Take the now `shining’ private sector, that often flaunts Naina Kidwai and Chanda Kochhar as mascots of women’s corporate success. Actually, women make for only six per cent of the total industry workforce — "across all organisations and levels", according to a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) survey released in March 2006.

It’s not that women don’t make the mark. In fact, most placement agencies want to recruit women first. They find women committed and efficient and know that they will stay longer, say experts. They are as much of risk-takers as men and as much of strategists as their male counterparts.

The sunshine IT industry has already realised their potential — today, 24 per cent of the software professionals in IT companies are women.

Of course, there are some factors that actually work for working women in India. In one of her interviews, Naina Kidwai mentioned them as "being accepted as just another element in a diverse workforce consisting of many different ethnic and religious groups" with "the support of an extended family of mothers, sisters, and mothers-in-law ready to step in along with easily available domestic help".

Across the world, studies suggest that including women in the workforce not only boosts economic growth but also development. A woman who earns is far more likely to spend on improving health and education and be more vocal in demanding better infrastructure. Economic empowerment of women is one of the tried and tested routes to development.

Yet, as the CII survey says, women account for only four per cent in large companies and 18 per cent in medium-sized companies. Further, 16 per cent women are employed in the junior management category and only four per cent reach the middle and senior management posts. Women interviewed in the survey said that gender bias was prevalent during recruitment, especially for jobs in production, manufacturing and sales.

It is public knowledge that women in the private sector still don’t get paid as much as men. Even the NGO sector is guilty of this form of discrimination. In a way, ‘equal pay for equal work’ is more a phrase that appears in the Indian Constitution and has not been applied to several occupations. Worse, many companies hire women because they offer excellent resources at a much lower rate. Even companies like the ICICI bank, known to hire several women, some of whom have blossomed into leaders, prefers women because they agree to a salary lower than the market price.

In any corporate job, women rarely get the privileges men get. Although, they have become more `visible’, especially in the IT and service industry, they are put in posts that are neither strategic nor growth-oriented. Take the BPO industry, tapping the young and resourceful women of India.

Sadly, despite the encouragement some women have received, and despite the icons (Kiran Majumdar of Biocon), the glass ceiling has

grown strong and thick over the years. Take any average private company – the receptionist, telephone operator, secretary, hospitality in-charge and support desk staff – all are invariably women. Even the media, especially the electronic media, barely have women in key positions – anchoring and reporting is what most are forced to pick from.