Top 100 cos may achieve 50:50 gender balance by 2027: Study
If companies continue to increase the women in their workforce then gender balance may be a reality by 2027.
Women's representation is expected to get a 50-50 gender balance by 2027, if the 100 Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI) continue to increase the number of women workforce, according to a study.
The representation of women rose from 31 per cent in 2018 to 33 per cent in 2019, the fourth edition of Working Mother and Avtar 100 BCWI 2019 revealed.
The 100 Best Companies together employ over 4.9 lakh (half a million) women professionals in the current year, 2019, and as per the projections these companies will get to a 50-50 gender balance by 2027, it added.
The study is based on the response from the 100 Best Companies for women in India, who were chosen based on their policy framework towards women's career enablement.
"It is heartening to note that a milestone, originally envisaged as taking several decades to achieve, is now less then a decade away. The vanguard leadership of the companies participating in the Best Companies initiative has ensured that it is possible to achieve a 50-50 gender balance," AVTAR Group founderpresident, Saundarya Rajeshsaid.
By utilising data about effectiveness of measures, companies are now very strategic about gender inclusion, which has translated into rapid results, Rajeshsaid.
The study also revealed that women's hiring, as of 2019, is the highest in the professional services and consulting industry at 44 per cent, followed by BFSI sector at 41 per cent and IT at 36 per cent.
Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector is poised to continue hiring women, the hiring rate is likely to go up to 42 per cent, by 2020, it added.
Substantiating the higher employability of women and their retention potential, the attrition rates of women are lower than that of men at all levels in the corporate hierarchy in 2019, it revealed.
At the corporate executive level, the attrition rates of men are almost double that of women, the study added.
Further, it found that 80 per cent of the top 10 and 53 per cent of 100 best companies have formal programmes for returning women or second career women.
In 2017, 40 per cent had a formal second career programmes, which rose to 51 per cent in 2018, and going by the trends, by 2025, all the 100 Best Companies will have formal programmes to identify and hire second career women (women returning after breaks), which shows the rising conviction in corporate India in the talent potential of women on career breaks, it added.
It said as gender pay parity is of utmost importance, 86 per cent of these companies have mechanisms to measure and benchmark gender pay equity, showing that 100 Best companies consider pay parity as a very important pre- requisite for gender inclusion.
While in 2016, 14 per cent of top 10 per cent earners in the 100 Best were women, this stands at 16 per cent in 2019, it added.
