From the pillar of primary health care to the climate warriors, women have rediscovered themselves with the changes in the environment both socially and politically. Most people may say that gender barriers have softened not only in the workplace ecosystem but to the entire nature of changing gender roles. When it comes to promoting gender equality in general, there is still a lot of ground to cover. According to the Prime Database, only 67 or 3.69 percent of the 1814 chief executives and MDs listed on the NSE in India in 2019 are women. This depicts the gender gap of our female workforce in India when it comes to the roles of top management.

How can gender prejudices in the workplace be eliminated?

Here are a few recommendations to empower women and promote equal opportunities as their male counterparts.

Open to hiring more women:

The very first step is to open opportunities for women to take a long journey is by recruiting them. By doing this, women employees will have the chance for prolonged and equal growth opportunities. Acquiring new skill sets and an inclusive working environment will help the corporates to shred their biases and provide more dynamic roles to women while recruiting.

Sensitization of Male Workforce:

True qualities are promoted only when the support from fellow employees is realized towards empowering women at the workplace. Men act as true allies and should be sensitized to promote diversity, especially in the corporate working environment. Flexible policies for women employees should be contoured in the workplace is important to realize their full potential.

Timey Recognition Initiatives:

Another beneficial step would be to increase the number of prizes and recognitions given to women at work. These initiatives help women to continue in their professional journey more enthusiastically and strive to secure leadership roles.

Gender Diversity:

Tangible goals and reassessing the targets until gender parity is achieved should be the organizations’ working culture towards gender diversity. The leadership of the organizations must be completely aligned with the company’s diversity agenda and the need to remove gender parity at work.

Policy Change & Benefits:

Major obstacles that come along while rising the ladder which women face are when they return to work post starting a family. Therefore, enabling environment for women by implementing policies like POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) & Maternity benefits and facilitating measures like flexible leave/work hours and so to help women to adhere to a stress-free working. Long breaks or sabbaticals also help them by providing time for upskilling or resetting their skills.

Such effective measures for boosting the participation of women in the workplace and opening up a host of opportunities for them empower the women to be economically independent. Such positive and achievable initiatives help the organizations to create role models who have the potential to inspire other fellow women by setting a cycle of success stories.

Written by Faber Aleena & compiled by Faber Mayuri