A mudança para uma organização mais equilibrada em termos de gênero requer mudanças estruturais e sistêmicas.
Por Atul Raja
For long, organizations have ignored the value, importance and power play of gender diversity despite many studies postulating that teams with a ‘balanced’ gender mix perform significantly better on critical parameters like revenue and growth.
Gender Diversity in India: In India, gender diversity bias is even more predominant. As per the ‘DivHERsity Benchmarking Report 2019’ which studied gender diversity in the Indian workplace across 300+ companies, only a quarter of India’s workforce is female. This is corroborated by the ‘India Skills Report 2018’ that puts the economic participation of women in the workforce at 23% in 2018, a disconcerting fall from 32% in 2016.
It is universally acknowledged that bridging the gender gap in India is not just a dire need, but a herculean task loaded with multiples challenges like work-family balance, choice of job profiles, work-place conditions and most importantly a mindset and attitudinal change.
With India ranked 142 out of 149 countries in the economic opportunity and participation of women index [as per The Global Gender Gap Report 2018 of WEF], there needs to be concerted effort to increase India’s female labour force participation closer to the global average of 49%.
Benefits of a Gender-balanced Workforce: The nascent gender diversity across most companies in India has seen many roles such as oil and gas, manufacturing, construction and engineering with a male skew. On the flip side, there are also traditionally female-dominated jobs, such as elementary education and nursing. This is a glaring gap as global research, surveys and data-points clearly exhibit that companies which practice greater gender diversity have reported inherent benefits as they fully leverage and utilize the talent available:
- Improved financials and profitability: women in leadership positions, mixed-gender boards and pervasive presence across the rank and file have yielded better financial performance.
- A better ‘employer brand’ perception: a progressive and positive reputation will attract the best talent.
- Employee retention: inclusive culture is a booster for motivation and morale.
- A loyal and broadened customer base: a diverse talent pool makes it easier to attract an increasingly diverse customer base.
- A quality-focused shift: since diverse teams are more creative and better at problem-solving, a better gender-mix signifies the shift from quantity to quality.
Creating Greater Gender Diversity: There has to be a clear distinction between gender diversity and gender equality. Gender diversity doesn’t mean a 50:50 mix of males and females across the organization but a fair representation of both sexes and the critical fact that the hiring team should have an open mind for any openings without assumptions or prejudices.
A shift towards a more gender-balanced organization requires structural and systemic changes:
- A shift in the ‘human capital’ strategy: the diversity strategy to be strongly intertwined with the recruiting strategy e.g. removal of gender-coded words from job descriptions and postings.
- Internal Communications thrust: an internal mindset build-up is essential to begin on the right footing and to shake-up any pre-conceived notions.
- Leaders to be champions of diversity: creating an open, inclusive culture.
- Women Leadership Programs: developing an internal pipeline as a ‘walk the talk’ showcase both internally and externally.
- A balanced pay and benefits structure: robust, family-oriented perks that account for any ‘unintentional’ bias.
Small steps at organizational and employer levels can prove to be a great national asset. As per a McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report titled, “The Power of Parity: Advancing Women’s Equality in Asia Pacific”, addressing the gender parity issues could lead to 18% higher GDP for India, i.e. $770 billion by 2025. So, if we are able to bring more women into the workforce, the potential for impact is immense, transformational and with far reaching implications.
Fonte: Business Insider
