International Women's Day 2024: Promoting gender equality at workplace
A multifaceted approach needs to be taken to promote gender equality, especially in the workplace.
Did you know that no country has achieved full gender parity and fewer than 1 percent of women and girls live in a country with high women’s empowerment and a small gender gap? That is what a 2023 global report launched by UN Women and UNDP has to say.
Women empowerment, equal pay, gender gap, work-life balance, etc are some of the terms that we hear frequently. One might assume that there is a lot of awareness about the same. Yet when the question arises if things have changed for women, especially at their workplaces, the number says otherwise.
Globally, women are empowered to achieve on average only 60 percent of their full potential, as measured by the Women's Empowerment Index (WEI). They achieve, on average, 72 percent of what men achieve across key human development dimensions, as measured by the Global Gender Parity Index (GPPI), reflecting a 28 percent gender gap, states the global report UN Women and UNDP.
Various reasons contribute to this poor show of statistics picturing women's empowerment at a time when there is an immense scope of opportunities and development.
“ I think the first step to achieving gender equality in the workplace is to acknowledge that an inequality exists and see that as an opportunity to learn about our personal bias. I think this helps the way we work with and perceive each other. And this will help make more effective workplace policies,” says Soumya Krishnamurthy, Content Marketing Associate at a leading Irish Tech company.
“ As a female journalist, I've missed out on a bunch of late-night and out-of-town assignments. Safety's a big concern, you know? And even if I do get one of those gigs, the company usually ends up sending a male colleague along, arranging transport, and all that. With limited resources, guess who gets first dibs? Yes, the guys,” says a journalist working for a leading news organisation.
Way Forward:
A multifaceted approach needs to be taken to promote gender equality, especially in the workplace. Policies that enable equal pay for employees irrespective of gender are a start to effective strategies to bring in gender equality. Offering programs that benefit the work-life balance needs to be the priority of organisations to help employees manage their personal and professional lives without having to make compromises.
The hiring practices of firms need to be revamped to include diverse candidates, including women at all levels of the organisation, thereby breaking the glass ceiling that hinders women from scaling leadership positions in a firm.
“ I think organisations should provide women employees mentoring and mentee opportunities. I think it is a uniquely beneficial relationship to both parties involved,” says Soumya.
Fostering a sense of inclusivity in a workplace can help go a long way, which is also the campaign theme chosen to celebrate International Women's Day this year. Encouraging open dialogues about issues with gender inequality and creating a space for awareness is the need of the hour.
