SHOULD DIVERSITY REPORTING BE MANDATORY?

Though firms realise the need for a gender diverse workforce, diversity for most is a tick-in-the-box activity.

- RUKMINI RAO

IN UNION BUDGET 2024-25, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a ₹3 lakh crore outlay for empowering women. It not just includes imparting skill-based education to women, but a public-private model to build creches and playschools. The challenge, however, is that not too many organisations consider it important to hire women. Hence, it’s not surprising that though 37% of the workforce in India is women, most are employed in unorganised sectors such as agriculture. So, how does one ensure a higher participation of women in the workforce? India Inc. leaders believe diversity reporting, if mandated by the government, would compel organisations to take diversity hiring seriously.

“Listed companies are already reporting their diversity percentage,” says Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder, Teamlease. “Some unlisted MNCs governed by global diktats are also reporting diversity initiatives in their annual report. The government needs to mandate diversity reporting for both listed and unlisted companies,” she adds.

Madhura DasGupta Sinha, founder of diversity hiring platform, Aspire For Her, stresses for incentives to be given to organisations (especially MSMEs) which are taking diversity hiring seriously. “Just as we have PLI in manufacturing, can we have a similar incentive for diversity hiring, too? It will automatically lead to reporting,” she explains.

Reporting Helps

The gender pay gap is still a hard reality in many advanced economies. Across the European Union, the pay gap differs widely, from 20.5% in Estonia to 3.6% in Romania. But, there is change in the air, with countries, including France, Spain and Australia, taking significant strides. (See: Global Efforts Towards DEI.)