Women around the globe and particularly in India have been affected by gender disparity both in workplace and at home. And although, a lot of policies have been advocated by the country to improve the situation at workplace, it has not been of much help. These views were reiterated by experts at the first National Conclave in Hyderabad organised by CII (Indian Women Network) and Women Empowerment on Women in Leadership.
Speaking about the low representation of women in the workforce and particularly at the higher position, Cyient founder and executive chairman, B V R Mohan Reddy said, “Although with various policies and guidelines, the IT industry has been helpful in getting many women on-board, but there is a need to do lot more. In comparison to the other industries where the women participation in workforce is 1 out of 4, the IT industry boosts of 1 out of 3 ratio. However, as they grow up the leadership ladder, the numbers keep dwindling and the C Level executives have less than one per cent women.”
For this to change, Reddy says that apart from help from the company’s side, there is a need for a push from society as well. It is important that the society creates a conducive and equal environment for women to balance their work and home properly. And there is an urgent need for change in mindset, he informs.
Outlining the various things that the 26-year-old Hyderabad-based company Cyient is doing for its women employees, Reddy says, “We make sure that during the recruitment process only we get as many applications as possible from women candidates. Apart from this, we also mask the age, gender, caste of the candidate applying for a certain post till the last step so as to maintain diversity. We are also looking at changing our parental leave guidelines wherein we plan to give leave for our male colleagues as well after childbirth. We are also setting programmes to train women for leadership roles and build a culture of values first.”
The event also saw GVK Industries vice-chairman Sanjay Reddy and promoter director Pinky Reddy talk about their entrepreneurial journey so far and why is it important to imbibe values. In the backdrop of the recent incidents of rapes happening in the country, Sanjay Reddy informed that social media has a major role to play as now the culprit cannot escape scot-free. However, he also informed that it is important the Indian society and the youth in particular move towards achieving higher economic status through education. “The lack of education and poverty are the beginning of a lot of evils in our country and we need to fight these battles every day,” he said.
