Big Leaps Vs. Incremental Changes - Does A Piecemeal Approach To Gender Diversity Work?

The benefits of gender diversity and inclusion are not unknown and neither is the imperative of building a better working world for all genders. EY in partnership with the confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Indian Women Network (IWN) released a research paper ‘The future is HERe’ that gives a peek into the current maturity levels of organizations and understand how the benefits of D&I can be optimized for all stakeholders.

- Suparna Chawla Bhasin

Occupying the top position (in almost all spheres of life) is still seen as a man’s craft. This is a fact, a truth, and a reality that we have failed to redress.

From the legally mandated appointment to boards to the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, although there have been consistent efforts from the Indian government to elevate the inclusion of women at the workplace and provide increased benefits to women employees, we are still at a snail’s pace when it comes to identifying, cultivating, and managing the talent that women bring to organizations. Many term these legally mandated provisions as giant leaps; but are they really making a difference? Do we need more grassroot-level, incremental initiatives? Countries like Iceland, Norway, and Finland have already made exceptional progress in eliminating the gender gap. Iceland has legally mandated equal pay for equal work and has made it mandatory for companies to have 40 percent women on their boards. So, where are Indian organizations in terms of gender diversity? Who is assessing as to how we are moving ahead in this direction?