RAGINI
MENON, ANUSHREE PAREKH, NAINISH TIKOO
Ranking
at 127 out of 189 countries on the gender equality index in 2017, India does
not provide a supportive environment in which women and girls can access their
full potential. A number of demand and supply side barriers, underpinned by
patriarchal attitudes and norms, keep them from education, employment, asset
ownership, decision-making and ultimately, economic empowerment.
What
do companies have to do with it?
The
2030 SDG Agenda acknowledges the corporate sector as a key partner to the
achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), including the
achievement of gender equality.
In
order to nudge companies towards a more gender transformative approach, the
UNDP and our team at Samhita undertook a study to generate evidence on how
India’s top 100 companies (as represented by the BSE 100 index) are currently
supporting the cause, thereby highlighting the gaps, good practices, and the
way forward.
Our
report presents a ‘continuum of responsible corporate citizenship’ through
which companies can facilitate women’s economic empowerment, ranging from
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, to business practices such
as supply chain and human resource management. In India, the role of the
corporate sector has been further institutionalised via Section 135 of
Companies Act, 2013, which made CSR mandatory for qualifying companies.
Source: Corporate Engagement in Women’s Economic Empowerment
Top line CSR findings
Our
analysis finds that while CSR interest in women’s economic empowerment is high —
72 BSE 100 companies reported at least one CSR intervention related to the
cause, the total expenditure is low — a cumulative of Rs 250.62 crore across
the 48 companies who reported this explicitly. This accounts for only four per cent
of total CSR expenditure.
As
observed with overall CSR expenditure, the distribution of CSR support for
women’s empowerment is not addressing areas that need it most. States with high
need (as defined by the McKinsey Femdex), including Bihar, Jharkhand, and
Assam, have seen very little CSR intervention.
As
observed with overall CSR expenditure, the distribution of CSR support for
women’s empowerment is not addressing areas that need it most. States with high
need (as defined by the McKinsey Femdex), including Bihar, Jharkhand, and
Assam, have seen very little CSR intervention.
What kind of support do women need?
The
report defines a three-step, lifecycle approach that most women have to
navigate to participate in the workforce — prepare, enter, grow and sustain.
Each
stage comprises a set of interventions that help ease three of the four
barriers to women’s economic empowerment as defined by the UN High Level Panel
— adverse social norms, failure to recognise, reduce and redistribute unpaid
care work, and lack of access to financial, digital, and property assets.
Interventions
range from scholarships, career counselling, and training in the ‘prepare’
stage; to placements, entrepreneurship, and financial and digital inclusion
during the ‘enter’ stage; and access to capital, markets during the ‘grow &
sustain’ stage. A set of ‘enablers,’ such as life skills training, behaviour
change communication (BCC) with families and communities, and prevention of
violence, cut across all three stages.
CSR
support is concentrated in the ‘prepare’ (76 per cent) and ‘enter’ (67 per cent)
stages, with less emphasis on the ‘grow and sustain’ stage (51 per cent) and
‘enablers’ (26 per cent).
Vocational
training for women is the single most popular intervention supported through
CSR, with 68 per cent of companies reporting it. Self-help group (SHG) creation
and strengthening follow at 42 per cent companies, and entrepreneurship is also
popular at 33 per cent. Surprisingly, not many companies reported supporting
digital and financial inclusion explicitly — 11 per cent and 15 per cent — despite
the presence of well-established and scalable models, and non-profits working
in these sectors. Of the 21 banking and financial services companies in the
database, only six reported supporting financial inclusion.
The
‘enablers’ also see low levels of support. Soft and life skills development —which
are critical in building a women’s agency, equipping her to navigate power
imbalances within her family, community and other institutions — were only
reported by 22%. Safety promotion and domestic violence support interventions
were reported by just four and two companies respectively.
Interviews
with companies revealed that while a majority were aware of the importance of
such initiatives, they are thwarted by practical challenges such as the complex
nature of CSR decision-making within companies, difficulties in identifying
evidence-backed and effective models and experienced partners, inability to
quantify and measure outcomes, and inability to tackle perception of risks
among internal stakeholders while engaging in sensitive subjects such as
domestic violence.
India does not provide a supportive environment in which women and girls can access their full potential | Pic: Ragini Menon
CSR needs to join the dots
Of
the 72 companies investing in women’s economic empowerment, the majority — 61
per cent — have interventions in only one or two components of the lifecycle.
This indicates that companies are possibly working in silos and don’t address
the inflection periods when women are most at risk of dropping out of the
workforce. While it would be unreasonable to expect that any one organisation
would have the resources or capabilities to address needs across the lifecycle,
the framework provides a useful structure that puts women and their needs at
the centre, around which companies can collaborate with other stakeholders.
Turning scrutiny inward
While
CSR is a good opportunity for companies to consider the impact they have on
communities, they also need to consider the ways in which their own internal
policies and processes impact women. As detailed in the UN Global Compact’s
Women’s Empowerment Principles, the nature of corporate leadership, procurement
practices, HR policies, and employee access to training and development support
are all important to the achievement of gender equity at work.
Our
study shows that women make up less than 10 per cent of the permanent workforce
of the majority of BSE 100 companies, possibly because industries that have
historically been male-dominated, including manufacturing and automobile
sectors, are very highly represented in this sample. Such occupational
segregation is one of the most important factors limiting growth in women’s
employment.
The
study found examples of a few companies with gender-sensitive practices such as
safe travel policies, flexible and/or remote working hours, programmes to
enable new mothers’ transition back into regular work, development
opportunities for women working in factories — all of which can be important
determinants of whether women secure and stay in permanent employment.
The distribution of CSR support for women’s empowerment is not addressing areas that need it most. Pic: Gaon Connection
Paying close attention to the grow & sustain stage
Increased
representation of women in corporate leadership positions could have multiple positive
impacts, ranging from higher profitability, to more innovative leadership as
well as increased profits from innovation. Our study also indicates potential
positive effects of women board members on comprehensiveness of CSR strategies
for women’s economic empowerment.
In
keeping with mandatory requirements of the Companies Act, 2013, 98 per cent
companies reported having at least one woman board member, but more than half
stopped there. Only six per cent of companies reported having three or more women
board members, which is the number studies suggest is needed for sufficient
bargaining power in decision-making to avoid tokenism.
Beyond
board membership, increased representation of women in senior management is
critical to creating an inclusive environment. Having more women at senior
levels requires providing women with upskilling opportunities, resources, and
mentorship. Almost half of BSE 100 companies did not publish any data on the
proportion of women receiving skill upgradation training. Of those who did,
only 26 provided this support to 75 per cent or more of the women in their
workforce.
Similarly,
it was difficult to procure representative quantitative data to analyse gender
inclusion in supply chains. In the absence of this data, our report presents
select companies’ strategies to address gender parity in supply chains,
including training and enabling women in rural areas to integrate into
agricultural and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) procurement and distribution
processes.
Increased
accountability, reporting, and action at the grow and sustain stage is
desperately needed for there to be a meaningful shift in women’s representation
in corporate India.
The way forward
The
corporate sector has a significant role to play in enabling women’s economic
empowerment. Strategic CSR from companies with a long-term, lifecycle approach
can catalyse impactful, measurable programmes. Adopting a gender lens across
all business practices can result in more thoughtful and equitable inclusion of
women in workforce. The study reveals many challenges faced by companies in
their efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment and highlights the
collective responsibility of the larger ecosystem to ensure that we create an
enabling environment based on dialogue and shared values to support companies
in their role in contributing to a more gender equitable India.
(Ragini
Menon is a senior associate at Samhita. Anushree Parekh heads the research and
knowledge team at Samhita. Nainish Tikoo currently works with United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) on private sector partnerships)
This
article was originally published on India Development Review and can be viewed
here.
