Indian MNCs have fewest women staff

MUMBAI: The same multinational firm may have a strikingly different work environment depending on whether you are in India or other parts of Asia. Your desi office may have noticeably fewer women than those in China, Malaysia or Singapore, if results of the Gender Diversity Benchmark for India 2011 are any indication.
The study looked at women’s representation and their progress in 21 leading MNCs and found India at the bottom of the gender rung among the six Asian countries analyzed.
The Indian MNCs studied not only had the lowest number of women employed in their plush offices but also held the infamous distinction of losing most women employees as they went along. Women participation stood at 24.43% of the total workforce in India, as compared to China’s healthy ratio of 49.79% women or Malaysia’s 47.35%. Independent analysts point out that many of these firms have inclusive and gender-friendly policies in place but the high attrition rate of women highlights the need to examine their actual implementation.
“Even where the leaking pipeline (decline in number of women from lower to upper levels in an organization) is concerned, most countries in Asia lost the largest percentage of women from middle to senior levels. In India however, the greatest loss is from the junior to the middle level,” says Kate Vernon, managing director of Community Business Limited, a non-profit research organization which spearheaded the study. She attributed cultural factors such as marriage, parental responsibility and the inability to strike a good work-life balance as the main reason for women kicking their careers at an early stage.
Among the few who survived the rat race, Manisha Girotra who is the CEO of a leading global financial company says she is aware about the daily challenges with her eight-year-old child expecting much more from her than her husband, though both have grueling careers. “It is disappointing that we don’t see too many women in our group. Women leave work due to several pressures.”
While organizations in all the other countries except India lost an average of 48.04% women from the middle to the senior levels, in India the highest drop in women’s representation, 48.07% was from the junior to the middle level. Malaysia had the least serious concern over the leaking pipeline.
Experts say gender-friendly policies must move beyond mere lip service. “Many of these MNCs have flexible work hours and inclusive policies, but it is worth questioning why not many such facilities are actually used. Is there a mindset gap?” asks Deepali Bagati, senior advisor with women’s nonprofit analysis firm Catalyst. Women workers admit to being perceived as incompetent or losing out to male colleagues, if they avail of flexi-hours, for instance.
Pointing out that inequality in India begins at the stage of seeking equal educational opportunities, Bagati says companies could do more where the education of the girl child was concerned as part of their CSR initiatives. Neeta Mirchandani, an HR professional, says a change in attitude could be initiated if more men were engaged in devising and implementing diversity measures in offices. For instance, diversity and inclusion officers in many leading firms are currently women.
The study was not without its shortfalls. A clearer picture might emerge if a larger sample were to be used.