The 2024 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum paints a sobering picture: at the current pace, India is a staggering 134 years away from achieving gender parity. While some progress has been made in female labour force participation which sits at 35.09% (as of 2024) – still significantly lower than the Southeast Asian average of 59.14% – significant hurdles remain. India’s ranking in the report also reflects this challenge: third-to-last in South and Southeast Asia, ahead of only Pakistan and the Maldives. It also reveals that India has closed just 64.1% of its Gender Gap, which is a regression of 0.17 percentage points compared to last year.
To explore the prevailing challenges and identify solutions, we spoke with Pooja Sharma Goyal, Founding CEO, The Udaiti Foundation. A social impact leader and advocate for gender equality, she brings a wealth of experience to the table, having co-founded successful education ventures and actively supported women entrepreneurs through organisations like the Udaiti Foundation and the SheEO club.
In this conversation, Pooja dismantles stereotypes, sheds light on the specific challenges women face in their careers, and outlines practical steps to bridge the gender gap and empower women to take their rightful place at the leadership table.
Here are some excerpts.
How can we encourage and support women to take on leadership roles?
More than encouraging and supporting women to take on leadership roles, the need of the hour is to understand that women’s career trajectories are fundamentally different from men’s and design workplaces to take advantage of this difference. Careers have traditionally been cast as a steady climb on a ladder towards leadership positions, bigger paychecks, and access to power. For women the reality is different.
The first half of their career is spent balancing professional growth with family responsibilities. Even the most privileged and educated women move in and out of the workforce and many times pay the price for that in the first phase of their careers because workplaces were not designed with women in mind. It is the second half that affords the opportunity to push the pedal and accelerate their careers.
As such, it is important to design flexible pathways for retention (shared parental leaves, flexible working arrangements), advancement (sponsorship programmes) and return to work in India Inc.
It is time that we move away from the ‘missing middle’ and the ‘leaky pipeline’ narrative and design workplace policies that take advantage of careers that stretch over 50 years and for women.
These leadership positions come slightly later in the career journey, as is evident in how 80% of the Forbes 100 most powerful women are 50+.
What skill development programmes are crucial for women to bridge the skill gap and thrive in the workplace?
Yes, we need to invest in skilling women, but we need to do more than that. Women are getting educated, women are getting trained, and women are entering the workforce, but they are dropping out within a few years of starting their careers. It has less to do with skills than it has to do with societal expectations and conditions, unsafe roads, and hostile working conditions.
In addition to skill-building interventions targeted at women, we need to address systemic barriers in workplaces that hold them back, we need to invest in childcare infrastructure and provide safe working conditions. We need to invest in building inclusive cultures where diverse perspectives are valued, we need to ensure that some of the policies like the POSH Act and Maternity Benefits Bill are implemented with rigour and in the right spirit to address sexual harassment at workplaces and provide support for childcare because those are two of the biggest reasons why women drop out of the workplace.
In a survey of over 200 senior HR leaders in Indian corporates by The Udaiti Foundation, over 59% of respondents said that their organisations had not set up Internal Complaints Committees that are mandated by the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act, highlighting the magnitude of the challenge.
How can we promote mentorship and sponsorship programmes for women in the corporate world?
It is important that we frame the problem statement differently.
Instead of placing the onus on women employees to seek mentors, we need to talk about what mechanisms can organisations establish to provide mentorship and sponsorship opportunities to support the career advancement of women employees.
It is a well-established fact that women employees face additional barriers as they grow in their careers, especially because women face the big challenge of their biological clocks and career advancement clocks being at complete odds with each other. It is also a well-researched fact that gender-diverse organisations perform better. As such, it is in the economic interest of organisations to have tailored development programmes as enablers for women to ascend within their organisations and curate sponsorship and mentorship opportunities for them.
Some key insights from a panel discussion conducted on Leading the Shift: Transitioning to Gender Inclusive Workplaces, shed light on Wipro’s ENRICH program. The programme calls upon members of Wipro’s leadership team to become sponsors of high-potential women employees. It has successfully supported over 100 women in advancing their careers and taking on roles with greater accountability. Sponsors possess the ability to secure opportunities for their proteges to engage in high-profile assignments that lay the ground for enhanced visibility and career growth. This support is particularly crucial because many women professionals may not actively pursue such positions due to deep-rooted biases, social conditioning and scarcity of role models in leadership positions.
How can we address unconscious bias in recruitment and promotion processes within companies?
Here’s what can be done:
Organisations should implement structured training programmes for hiring managers and decision-makers to raise awareness about unconscious bias. These programmes should educate on how biases can impact decisions and provide practical techniques to mitigate them, such as standardised interview questions and diverse interview panels.
Revising job descriptions to focus on essential qualifications and skills rather than preferred characteristics that could introduce bias is crucial. Using gender-neutral language and emphasising qualifications that are truly necessary for the role can attract a more diverse applicant pool.
Implementing blind recruitment techniques where possible can help mitigate bias. This includes removing identifying information (such as name, gender, age) from resumes during the initial screening process to ensure candidates are evaluated based solely on their skills and experience.
Establishing clear criteria and evaluation metrics for promotions can enhance transparency and reduce bias. This should include regular reviews of promotion decisions to ensure they align with organisational values of diversity and fairness.
Collecting and analysing data on recruitment, promotion, and retention rates by demographic factors can provide insights into where biases may exist and help guide targeted interventions.
How can we leverage government initiatives and support systems to further empower women in the workplace?
Advocating for policies that promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, such as equal pay legislation, anti-discrimination laws, and paid family leave policies, is crucial. Engaging in advocacy efforts and collaborating with government agencies and policymakers can amplify the impact of these initiatives and ensure they address the specific challenges women face in the workplace.
Participating in government-sponsored programmes aimed at supporting women entrepreneurs and business owners can also be beneficial. This includes accessing grants, loans, and training programs tailored to women-led businesses, facilitating their growth and success in traditionally male-dominated industries. Furthermore, advocating for policies that promote flexible working arrangements, affordable childcare options, and support for caregivers can help alleviate the disproportionate burden women often face in balancing work and family responsibilities.
Additionally, actively participating in public-private partnerships and corporate social responsibility initiatives that support women’s empowerment can demonstrate organisational commitment and contribute to broader societal change.