Can India rise with its women left behind, unsafe?

Dear Friends of Udaiti,

India’s celebrations of its 78th Independence Day witnessed a strong emphasis on the ‘Viksit Bharat Abhiyan’ of transforming India into a global powerhouse by 2047. The 4 pillars of transformation, as stated by Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech were: ‘Garib’ (Poor), ‘Mahilayen’ (Women), ‘Yuva’ (Youth) and ‘Annadata’ (Farmer).

Despite the nation’s fervent vision for women-led development, India stood shaken to its core as the tricolor unfurled this year to mark our independence. The atrocity unfolding in a government hospital in Kolkata, on a female resident doctor on duty raised several questions about whether the nation is truly free - as the Indian woman continues to be bound by shackles of brutality, harassment, unsafe environments, and limited work opportunities.

The nation’s fears and doubts were quick to cascade into a rather grave overarching concern –

India’s dream of becoming a $10 trillion economy and a global powerhouse is not independent of the contribution of its 232 million employable women. To unlock India’s growth in the true sense of the term, the Indian woman’s economic empowerment ought to be leveraged. But women’s decision to work remains severely curbed by the high rates of crime and the mere possibility of sexual assault, leading to self-censorship and declining FLFPR.

These rising concerns have further strengthened Udaiti’s resolve to enable women’s participation in the workforce by addressing barriers surrounding organizational levers, infrastructure, safety, mobility and more. While we continue to drive needle-moving action on ground, it becomes crucial for us to pause and reflect on the challenges faced by each of our stakeholders in the ecosystem.

This month, we had deep dive discussions with the senior leadership of Mahindra Group to increase women in manufacturing?and with the board members of the Indian Staffing Federation to understand their challenges around hiring, retention, and on supporting more women to advance in their career trajectory. The conversation broadly centered around policy, infrastructure, and skill gaps, and revealed some harsh ground-level realities.

In this edition, we largely ponder over data’s role in contributing to workplace safety for the Indian woman, we think about what organizations can do to continue inviting more women into the formal workforce by addressing these lurking safety concerns, we also harness our learning from our work with the Government of Uttar Pradesh to understand what public-private partnerships can unlock for women-inclusive growth in the nation.

Warmly,

Pooja Sharma Goyal,

Founding CEO, The Udaiti Foundation

Women’s safety is a concern that we as a nation have grappled with, for centuries. But the conversation gains centre stage only when particularly tragic events such as the sexual assault and death of a female resident doctor on duty, strike media headlines. They make us wonder whether women are truly safe at work, at all? Unsurprisingly, this tragedy is not an isolated case. It is a direct reflection of a larger syndrome that the society suffers from - a serious dearth of workplace safety for women in India. The stark absence of safety has a direct impact on women’s decision to work and thereby on the Female Labour Force Participation Rates (FLFPR) in the country.

This research brief draws upon the data of 708 NSE listed firms for FY 23-24, as part of our Close the Gender Gap – 30 by 30 initiative to analyze sector-wise POSH and Discrimination at workplace complaints and generate data-backed insights. It concludes with a discussion on best practices for fostering organizational safety.

Some highlights from the brief:

• For every additional crime per 1,000 women in a district, roughly 32 women are deterred from joining the workforce, suggests a 2021 Global Labour Organization Discussion paper by Tanika Chakraborty and Nafisa Lohawala .
• Services sector has the highest number of POSH cases per 1000 women, followed by Metals and Mining, Construction Materials and Consumer Services sectors.
• As the number of women employees in an organization increases, the number of POSH cases per 1000 women reduces
• A survey of over 6000 employees by the National Bar Association, indicates that most women choose not to file harassment complaints because of the stigma attached, the fear of retribution, lack of awareness about the laws, lack of confidence in the mechanism, and the consequential embarrassment associated with the issue.

Read the complete brief to understand where Indian workplaces stand, as of today and what they can do to boost workplace safety for women.

Uttar Pradesh has recognized WEE as a key lever for its $1 trillion economy goal. Central to this effort is Mission U.N.N.A.T.I. (Uttar Pradesh Naari–Nayi Akanksha, Tarakki aur Icchayein), launched on 25th July in Lucknow by the Planning Department in collaboration with The Udaiti Foundation. Dignitaries like Shri Manoj Kumar Singh, Chief Secretary; Shri Awanish Kumar Awasthi, Advisor to the Chief Minister, and Shri Alok kumar , Principal Secretary, Planning Department graced the occasion.

The event saw the unveiling of a comprehensive landscape study titled "???????? | ????? | ??????: Potential Levers and Opportunities for Advancing Women’s Economic Empowerment in U.P.” Additionally, the multistakeholder convening facilitated a key dialogue between private sector players and the government on matters of advancing women-led enterprises and increasing quality jobs for women, through 3 power packed panel discussions.

Panel 1: Strengthening market linkages for women led micro-enterprises

• The panel noted that the increased FLFPR in the state of UP can be attributed to the strict enforcement of law and order over the past few years
• It discussed the potential of using digital transaction histories as credit histories, suggesting that this approach could be considered by the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) and other banking agencies to improve access to finance for women entrepreneurs.
• The panel established that providing specialized financial products and services for women entrepreneurs including micro-loans and insurance schemes, as well as establishing centralized databases and information hubs, would offer market insights, trends, and opportunities specifically for women-led enterprises.

Panel 2: Enabling infrastructure for women's economic empowerment: Mobility, safety, childcare

• The panel highlighted the need for private sector to act more proactively on provisions made for childcare, such as the law that mandates every factory with more than 20 employees to have a creche.
• It acknowledged how many states have launched free bus rides for women to cater to women’s unique needs. But it also impressed upon incentivizing women ridership of 2-wheelers to empower women’s mobility.
• A lack of effective rental housing schemes for female migrant workers was identified. Private rental housing is challenging for single working women. There is a need to develop group-housing or contractual housing models such as working women hostels to boost women’s participation in the workforce.

Panel 3: Effective strategies to unlock employment opportunities for women

• The panel discussed government's initiative to establish 'All-Women ITIs' which offer vocational training and technical skills development to better prepare women for industry demands.
• It highlighted some successful private-sector initiatives, such as the all-girls assembly line at Tata Motors and Quess Corp Limited commitment to being one of the largest employers of women in the country. It additionally called for expanded government incentives for companies that hire women.
• Emphasizing the removal of societal and workplace biases, the panel called for increased private sector involvement, innovative financing models, and technology-driven solutions to support women's participation and advancement in traditionally male-dominated sectors.

Read event report.

India Today Magazine cover story features CGG data on workplace safety for women.

India Inc's POSH promises aren't saving women from workplace abuse, indicates Udaiti’s CGG data, in this article by Economic Times.

“For women to go out of the house to work, the benefit needs to be significantly more than what it is for a man since they are the ones doing the caregiving”, says Pooja Sharma Goyal , in this article by Economic Times.

Maharashtra government has targeted making 2.5 million women - Lakhpati Didis - Read Article.

The presence of women directors in active corporate companies has increased over three-fold in the last 10 years, while in Tamil Nadu it has jumped over four-fold - Read Article.

With Karnataka performing exceptionally well on women-led development, policy brief examines government schemes on fiscal efficiency and impact - View Policy Brief.