(Eomen in the workforce)
The status of women’s education in India has improved in the last two decades. Fertility rates have declined. Due to these reasons women’s participation in remunerative work is increasing all over the world, but this is not happening in India. More women are coming out of the workforce than they are adding to the workforce.
Earlier this year news broke that for the first time in the history of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, a public sector giant, a woman has taken over as the chairman and managing director. Prior to this, women have also held the highest positions in some banks of the country. There are sporadic other such examples as well. All this may seem like the place that women deserve in India’s workforce, but the examples cited here are more the exception than the rule. Just as India lags behind many developing countries in many other respects, the position of the country is also not encouraging in terms of participation of women in the workforce.
Unemployment is definitely one of the major problems the country is facing. A large number of people are unemployed in the country, but the proportion of women among these unemployed people is high. Moreover, the share of women in all employed people is decreasing instead of increasing. Whether viewed from the perspective of social equality or from the perspective of human rights, the lack of proper representation of women in the country’s workforce is a matter of serious concern. The India that was envisioned with the country’s independence, even after seventy-five years the situation does not match it. We are still lagging behind in terms of gender equality. We need not go far in search of the reasons for this disparity. The male dominated nature of the society remains and somewhere there is also a view that women are being favored by giving them their rights.
However, some situations have definitely changed. In many homes, there is no distinction between boys and girls in the matter of studies. Just like boys have the freedom to choose the career of their choice, so are the girls. Now girls are also going away from home for studies and jobs. People are also giving up thinking that girls cannot work in every field. This change in attitude has given millions of young women today an opportunity to establish their feet in the field of information technology. Otherwise it was also assumed that the field of technology and technology is not for women. There are many families in the country who have not sheared the wings of daughters, they have not stopped them from moving forward and today girls from these houses are in civil service and other prestigious roles.
Psychologists and behavioral scientists have repeatedly reiterated that talent does not differentiate between men and women. It has not been proven in any experiment that women are less intelligent than men, but many roles have been reported in which women have been found to perform better. There is no dearth of examples in which women have been entrusted with important responsibilities by believing in their ability and they have fulfilled it well. Considering women as weak or incompetent without any basis indicates immature thinking somewhere. This thinking is changing, but not at the pace it should be. There will be a vast improvement in the condition of women only when this thinking is also completely improved.
If the participation of women in the workforce is not commensurate with their proportion in the population, it is mainly due to social reasons. It has been told in many researches and studies that for the prosperity of any country and its economy to flourish, there should be full participation of women in it. The United Nations also says that gender equality is essential for sustainable development and peaceful coexistence.
All progressive organizations have implemented policies of diversification and inclusion for human resources. Its purpose is to provide proper representation of all sections in the manpower and also to give opportunities to the weaker ones. It has yielded good results and opportunities are increasing for women in the corporate world, but only a limited number of people can get employment in big companies and firms from the available workforce in the country, because there is not a large number of jobs.
The status of women’s education in India has improved in the last two decades. Fertility rates have declined. For these reasons, women’s participation in remunerative work has been seen to increase all over the world, but this is not happening in India. More women are coming out of the workforce than they are adding to the workforce. By the way, a decent number of women will be seen working in banks, they have a small presence at railway counters in metros and big cities, some are also flying airplanes, but women are bus conductors, taxi and auto rickshaw drivers. Rarely seen in such roles. E-business has expanded a lot in India in the past.
Men as well as women are among those who order goods sitting at home, including ready-made food. But it is never seen that there is a woman delivering the goods at home. Even in factories, whether vehicles are made there or any other material like fertilizer, the number of women is negligible. Yes, such pictures are definitely seen in which women are working in watch or mobile phone factory. But overall the number of women employed in the manufacturing sector is very less.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had issued an important order a few years back, making it mandatory for listed companies with annual sales of Rs 300 crore to have an independent woman director on the board. Apart from this, it was also mandatory to appoint a woman member, who is also an independent director, on the board of directors of the top 1000 listed companies in the country by market capitalization. But companies faced a lot of difficulties in meeting these expectations.
Many companies were not ready for this and they followed this order to make ends meet, then the promoters of some companies got a leave by making a woman a director from their close relatives. This order of SEBI was to bring gender diversity in the management segment of companies, but the process of implementation of the order proved at many levels how indifferent many companies are to the participation of women in leadership as well as that such a huge In a populated country, it was not easy to find enough women to be appointed directors.
Whether it is a person or a country, its success is considered in that the possibilities inherent in it emerge and these possibilities are fully utilized. If new doors are opened for women in the workforce, it will pave the way for realizing the potential inherent in all women and we will be able to take advantage of the potential in our nation’s population. For this both the government and the private sector will have to come forward afresh.
