Evolving Participation Heralding Women Empowerment
Reports cite that gender parity is changing for the worse in India. What are your views and experience on this?
There are challenges no doubt but many indicators pertaining to the status of women in the country are moving in the right direction. The Total Fertility Rate has further declined from 2.2 to 2.0 at the national level between the fourth and fifth rounds of the National Family Health Survey. Institutional deliveries have increased substantially from 79 percent to 89 percent as per the Survey data. Further, menstrual hygiene and sex ratio at birth have shown significant improvement. For the first time, female Infant Mortality Rate was equal to male IMR in 2019-21. With respect to educational attainment, analysis of NFHS-5 data indicates that the share of women with more than 10 years of schooling has increased by 5.5 percentage points compared to NFHS-4. More women are enrolling in college as compared to men. Further, India has the fifth highest fraction of STEM enrolment for women globally -- 42% of all female undergraduates compared to about 30% in the United States. Indicators driving women’s economic participation, such as bank account ownership and mobile phone ownership, have improved by 28 percentage points and 10 percentage points respectively since 2015. Women’s political participation has also been a silent revolution with 294 million women voting in the last parliamentary election, up from 78 million in the first Lok Sabha poll. At the grassroots level, out of the 3 million women globally who are appointed to political offices, 1.4 million women are from India.
What is your advice to regulators, decision-makers and industry captains on how to grow women in the workforce and senior leadership positions?
Government plays a key role in enabling a safe and conducive environment for women which allows them to achieve their full economic potential. Civil society has a critical role to play in changing mindsets through social behavior change communication. The private sector can do its bit by ensuring transparency in recruitment and promotion policies as well as correcting any biases that might creep in with respect to wages for women. Leveraging technology to develop more part-time and work-from-home models can also go a long way in enhancing women's participation in the labor force. Ultimately investing in women has a strong economic and business rationale too apart from social equity reasons and it is vital that all stakeholders appreciate this fact.
What are some of the high points of your journey that you believe have shaped the leader you are today?
I have had the opportunity to work in different capacities in the public health and development sector - from grassroots NGOs to philanthropic foundations and now in the policy space working at the Indian government's premier policy think tank. Growing up, I was blessed with the most progressive and supportive parents who never let me feel that there was anything that I was not capable of achieving because of my gender. I have also had some very supportive mentors and bosses who have encouraged and enabled my growth.
Please share one anecdote of a challenge you faced, particularly for being a woman working professional or leader, and how you overcame this. Or any example of when you saw women working professionals face challenges unique to them and how some of these are being addressed today to gender parity.
I think as a woman professional or even a woman leader you are often outnumbered in a meeting room and you might hesitate to get your opinion across. Over time, one develops the confidence to make one's presence felt no matter what the circumstances but this is no doubt a challenge that many working women face. It is definitely more difficult for women professionals in many ways but supportive colleagues, bosses and mentors can play a pivotal role in addressing these barriers.
