Relevance: GS-3: Inclusive Growth and issues arising from it; Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilisation of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment;

Relevance: GS-1: Role of Women and Women’s Organization

Key Phrases: Direct correlation between greater gender diversity and higher GDPs, breaking the glass ceiling, levelling up the playing field; Sandhya Rasakatla

Why in News?

• COVID pandemic has had a disastrous impact on the economy causing job losses which are comparable to that of the post 1930-Great Depression.
• Women have been disproportionately affected as they are last to be hired and first to be fired.

Key Highlights of the article

• Direct correlation between greater gender diversity and higher GDPs
  • It has been proven time and again that when more women enter the workforce, economies grow faster.
  • IMF Chief: Where women are more educated and empowered, economies are more productive and strong.
  • When women are empowered, the battle to eradicate poverty is more fruitful. Studies conducted in various nations have proven that there is a.
• Creation of virtuous cycle
  • We must ensure that all of India’s women get
    • Equal access to education,
    • Equal access to opportunities, and
    • Equal pay at work.
  • By empowering women, we increase their
    • Right to economic resources and
    • Decision-making powers.
  • This, in turn, benefits their households and their communities.
  • Women begin investing more in their children’s education, the quality of human capital improves, and we as a nation reap the benefits of economic prosperity.
• If women are not empowered, the nation’s economy loses.
  • A recent study by the World Bank found that countries lose $160 trillion in wealth due to the differences in lifetime earnings between men and women.
  • Women’s participation in the workforce in India is still among the lowest in the world at 19.9% (according to World Bank’s data of 2020).
  • Only 3.7% of the leadership positions in corporate India are occupied by women.
    • Right from boardroom representation to entry-level roles, India is striving hard to ensure a balance in gender diversity.

Progress made

• Women are breaking the glass ceiling in all sectors.
  • In India, women have made it to the top as ministers and chief ministers, administrators in the government system and financial sector CEOs.
• Indian women are entering the world’s third-largest start-up ecosystem.
  • According to a report by Bain & Company, female entrepreneurs can generate 150-170 million job opportunities in India by 2030 – that’s more so why such entrepreneurs must be supported.
  • Great emphasis on the empowerment of women, beginning from their education and health, improving their quality of life to providing them loans to set up businesses.
  • The private sector and civil society must pitch in to make this a mass movement.
• Women have started taking up jobs which have been traditionally kept closed to females
  • In the mining industry more and more women are taking up unconventional roles, whether it be working at mining sites, in manufacturing or security outfits.
  • Glass ceilings are beginning to shatter but there is a lot more to be done. Sandhya Rasakatla from Hindustan Zinc made history last year when she was appointed the country’s first-ever woman underground mine manager.
  • The physical nature of the work and the use of heavy equipment made regulators shy away from permitting women to work in mines.
  • Women begin to enter other male-dominated professions like the armed forces — women are now getting commissioned as fighter pilots

Way forward

• Traditionally male-dominated sectors like mining need to improve in terms of
  • Their gender representation
  • The work culture they foster
• It is the culture at the workplace that determines not just whether a woman gets a seat at the table, but also whether her voice is heard

Conclusion

• Every woman in our country deserves equal access to opportunities. It is only when we level up the playing field, do we see the true potential of our Bhartiya naari. Their success will define our nation’s success.
• As a nation, we need to continue empowering our women to achieve our full potential as a superpower.
• As Swami Vivekananda has said “there is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing” And hence development must be engendered.

Source: Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. What are the Socio-Economic benefits of gender parity in Employment on Individual and National Interests. How will India be able to achieve this target?