DEI — Let’s Break Stereotypes
India needs million women in the workforce to contribute USD 14 trillion to the economy which would necessitate nearly doubling the current female labour force participation rate (LFPR) from 37 per cent to 70 per cent by fiscal year 2047, according to a new report.
In this backdrop it is time to take a hard look at what ails female workforce participation and what will it take to enable the same.
It all starts at home!
Some of us who have sons who we have raised with a social consciousness to embrace Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in its complete form will be shocked to see a completely different world in certain segments of the society.
Even in families which have highly educated and professionally qualified men in senior corporate positions it is unsettling to see behaviors which stem from stereotyping of gender roles and dogmatic views on social constructs.
What can we do about these barriers to women’s empowerment and success?
Let’s Break Stereotypes
The focus on DEI begins at home. Whether it is a son or daughter, or your mother or father, brother or sister, uncle or aunt, or cousins you are speaking to, keep reiterating the value of treating people across genders equally whether it is about supporting their personal or professional choices. Help them unlearn age old beliefs about gender roles and show them the possibilities of a better world where gender equity thrives. Let’s break stereotypes.
The discrimination, subtle as it may be, starts with the kind of toys that are given to girl children as compared to the playthings given to boys. Do toddlers choose what they want to play with? Do they ask for Barbie dolls and such soft so called ‘girlish’ toys only? No. It is we as parents who start seeding the stereotyping right at that stage by getting dolls for girls and cars and bikes and superman for boys. Let’s break stereotypes and give similar toys to both.
How often we see colours such as pink being associated with girls and women, and blue being associated with boys and men? Again because of decades of social conditioning these are things we do unintentionally due to deeply entrenched beliefs and more importantly behaviors, which lay the foundation for stereotyping and gender bias. Let’s break stereotypes and swap colors and be gender neutral when it comes to color choices.
When it comes to choice of clothes, there are communities which impose highly regimented rules around what kind of clothes a girl can wear which are considered acceptable by the society and which ones aren’t. While there are basic tenets about how human beings as a species ought to present themselves in the communities they live and when they are public places, the extent to which restrictions are imposed on women and the gargantuan proportions in which they and their character is judged based on their clothing tends to be regressive. The same communities don’t prescribe such rules for boys and men. The absolute objectification of girls and women is a manifestation of the retrograde thinking of these people. This has to change. Giving space to girls and women to wear clothes that they are comfortable in, recognizing just like men, women are also cultured and responsible human beings, is key. Let’s break stereotypes and let girls choose what they should wear.
Talking of higher education and employment, statistics indicate that in tier 2/3 cities and rural areas, girls tend to get married after they finish their secondary school education, often deprioritizing their careers and professional ambitions for the sake of playing the ‘acceptable’ wife and mother roles in conservative households. These households see only males as the earning members of the family while expecting women to tend to household chores and raise children. This calls for a concerted effort from corporate sector, Government and civil society to work with these communities to sensitize them of the need for embracing gender equity, and the economic benefits that educating women and providing career opportunities will bring to their household. Let’s break stereotypes.
At the workplace, we see a marked gap in gender representation wherein women in workforce tends to drop from mid-thirties at the junior level to mid-teens in the mid senior level to single digit percentages at the senior levels. While there are a variety of factors at play, a holistic approach to provide an enabling environment to women is a priority; whether they are working on the shopfloor, or in an office environment, providing a safe and supportive environment is key. Measures such as extended maternity leave, flexible working hours, work from anywhere options, childcare support and skills development can provide a pathway to holistic career development. Constant training of teams on unconscious bias and gender sensitization programs need to be in focus. Celebrating male allies and putting a spotlight on women achievers who overcome odds to succeed can be powerful tools to reinforce the need for enhancing Diversity in the workplace.
Use of advanced technologies such as AI to remove the bias in CV selection and further having a diverse panel for interviews can be leveraged to drive better gender representation in the workforce. Unfortunately, at the moment, the data that is used to train machines is highly biased that the output from AI models is also reeking of stereotypes.
There is a need to remove the bias in the huge amount of data that is used for analytics related to people and future workforce, to bring a level playing field for women. Conscious efforts are required to revamp the approach and methodology. Challenging archaic views about hiring women and presumptions about their ability to balance home and work has to become a priority. Let’s break stereotypes.
By doing the above while we may not be able to address the yawning gap in India’s workforce, we may be able to bring in better gender representation at least in some sectors, which over the years can collectively bring about a marked change.
For that to happen, the change has to start now.
Let’s break stereotypes!
