Following an inter-ministerial event titled “Women in the Workforce for Viksit Bharat” held in January, 2024, the Ministry of Labour and Employment (“Ministry”) has come up with a comprehensive advisory for employers on steps they need to take to promote the participation of women in the workforce. While there is a detailed reiteration of the existing regulatory regime meant to encourage women’s employment in the workplace, what particularly caught our attention are a set of general advisories issued by the Ministry to all employers. These do not emanate from any of the current laws but is an indication of the likely direction that labour laws, particularly those promoting general equality, are likely to take.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we wanted to delve deeper into some of these advisories. Needless to say, smart employers should start exploring possible ways in which they can gear themselves to implement these so that they are fully prepared when these finally take the shape of law.

Some of the ways in which employees can implement this internally in their organization is as follows:

• Strike a balance between employment and employee welfare:

  • Employers should implement family-friendly measures such as paternity leave and flexible working time arrangements that allow both men and women to undertake household and care-giving responsibilities.
  • Employers must create a supportive workplace culture and a positive outlook to allow both men and women equal opportunities to take care of their children or dependents by providing gender neutral creche breaks.

• Encourage women’s representation in leadership positions and women entrepreneurs:

  • Employers should assess the presence of any internal biases by evaluating their organisational structure and promotion patterns.
  • The Business Responsibility & Sustainability Reporting Format has provided for the top 1000 listed companies to record the representation of women within the Board of Directors and Key Management Personnel. All companies must integrate a similar practice that will allow them to acknowledge and rectify women’s representation in management and leadership positions.
  • Provide women-led enterprises support facilities including business development services, network, and finance.

• Eliminate Gender bias in recruitment, promotion, and performance review:

  • Employers should assess their recruitment, promotion and review processes periodically and evaluate the journey of their employees against the established policies and processes.
  • With a transparent Remuneration Policy based on skills & qualifications employers can ensure fairness while instilling confidence among the employees.
  • Periodic review of the payment structure must be conducted to rectify any gender-based payment gap to be in line with the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.

• Promote Gender neutral job advertisements:

  • Gender specific language must be avoided in company brochures, websites, job descriptions etc to create and promote inclusivity.
  • Special attention must be paid to the image that employers are trying to project of the establishment and the roles in which women and men are depicted.

• Training and Sensitization:

  • Employers must foster an atmosphere where women are encouraged to recognise and report instances of sexual harassment, violence and work towards their redressal.
  • Employers should conduct trainings, seminars, internal sessions to sensitize employees and management on topics of gender sensitivity, diversity, inclusiveness, disabilities, mental health and the prevention of sexual harassment.
  • Conduct and collaborate to promote skill development programs would ensure that all employees have an equal opportunity to gain experience and undertake higher-paying jobs.
  • Training and mentorship programmes can be conducted for returning employees, to encourage women to re-enter the workforce with ease. Women should be encouraged to return to the workplace despite any halts and changes in their career.

• Working Women Hubs:

  • Large organisations must collaborate to provide common working facilities for women like – women’s hostels, travelling facilities, creche and senior care facilities etc.
  • Employers must give women an option to work at night while providing complimentary safety and transportation facilities.

The role of employers is not only limited to providing a safe working environment for women but to have transparent policies creating an overall culture of equality. Equality would imply policies and initiatives that are not solely targeted towards women but have a family-friendly approach for the entire workforce. The aim is to provide overall equality to allow men to participate actively towards care giving responsibilities and providing parental leaves, family emergency leaves and flexible working arrangements including flexible working hours for all employees while providing women opportunities to enter and grow in the workforce.

Written by: Namrata Deashi

Co-authored by: Baishali Chakraborty

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