“Lady candidates do not need to apply.” So read the postscript in a job announcement from Telco (now Tata Motors) on a notice board in the corridors of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (now Bengaluru), in 1974. Irked, Sudha Murty, who was then pursuing her master’s degree in computer science at institute, wrote a postcard to JRD Tata, expressing her surprise at this gender discrimination, especially since the Tata Group was pioneers on many fronts. Murty soon became the first woman on the company’s work floor.
About five decades later, 13 percent of Tata Motors’ workforce and 23 percent of its workplace employees are women. And the car giant has just set itself the goal of increasing the share of women in the workplace to 25 percent in the future.
Tata Motors is not the only company looking to increase gender inclusivity in the manufacturing sector. Efforts to achieve gender diversity are increasing across all industries.
Deloitte’s 2023 Blue Collar Workforce Trends Report shows that the current employment rate of female workers is 8 percent (1 in 12), up from
A change in mentality
Soni Singh, 38, now regional manager of the electricity department – Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, was one of 12 women recruited from a pool of 120 in 2001. It was the first group of business students at Tata Steel that also included women. However, over the past few years, the percentage of women at company entry levels has risen to 45-50 percent.
Singh has been posted in various sections, from the sinter plant to the central maintenance team and the blast furnace. “Now I work in a design role where plants are designed for production.”
The environment in a steel mill is harsh, with exposure to extreme heat and dust. But the female employees here are also tough as nails. Of Tata Steel India’s 36,000 employees, women in the workplace make up 7.5 percent (until September 2023) of the workforce.
The company is now planning a ‘pink’ coke oven battery in Jamshedpur, which will be operated entirely by women by the end of next year.
At JSW Steel facilities, some production lines are managed by women. A coil-to-plate and plate processing line in Vijayanagar in Karnataka is run entirely by women. Two steel coating lines and a new cold rolling mill at Vasind in Maharashtra are also largely operated by women.
Currently, almost 6 percent of JSW Steel’s total workforce is female and the company aims to bring this number to 15 percent by 2030.
Others are not far behind. ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) has doubled the percentage of women in the workplace over the past four years. But Ashutosh Telang, head of human resources at AM/NS India, believes much more needs to be done.
The $2 billion auto parts manufacturer Anand Group currently employs 1,700 women, who make up 20 percent of its workforce. It plans to increase this number to 30 percent by 2025. In some of its units, female representation reaches as high as 70 to 100 percent.
The country’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland has implemented an “all-female production line” at its Hosur plant in Tamil Nadu. And Ola Electric’s Future Factory has a 100 percent female workforce in Tamil Nadu.
Instances of higher representation of women in the workplace are common in the southern states. Apple Inc’s ecosystem, including its suppliers Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron, and component makers such as Salcomp, Avery and Jabil, is now the largest single-brand employer of women in India. A large portion of these women employees are in Tamil Nadu, at Foxconn and Pegatron units.
Similarly, in ITC’s Integrated Manufacturing and Logistics Facilities (ICMLs), including units in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, women constitute between 50 and 75 percent of the total workforce.
According to Aditya Narayan Mishra, Managing Director and CEO of CIEL HR, a survey conducted by his company across 131 companies in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu shows that the number of women employees in the workplace has increased by 26 percent in 2023 compared to 2022. “The ratio of men to women in this position will be 4:10 in 2023, compared to 1:10 in 2022,” says Mishra.
In the male-dominated rail industry, Wabtec Corporation (formerly GE Transportation) recently introduced a special Pink Line to the workplace. “We are committed to a target of more than 20 percent women in our workplaces, white-collar roles and technical teams,” said Sujatha Narayan, senior vice president and India regional head, Wabtec Corporation.
Why the urge for women
There are several reasons for companies to put the pedal to the metal to improve gender diversity. As Jaya Singh Panda, Chief Learning & Development and Chief Diversity Officer at Tata Steel, notes: “If you don’t increase women’s participation in the workplace across all sectors, a large talent pool falls out of the system, apart from the fact that the economic growth is affected.”
Jagdish Kumar, group president and chief financial officer of Anand Group, added: “There are several benefits to recruiting women – first and foremost, reduced turnover.”
Ashok Leyland’s Raja Radhakrishnan, president and chief human resources officer, believes that having more women in the workplace not only ensures inclusivity but also a positive and productive work environment.
For AM/NS India’s Telang, hiring more women leverages the potential of a workforce with unique strengths and perspectives, and is necessary to achieve the 40 million tonnes per year target by 2035.
And ITC’s Amitav Mukherji, head of human resources, is betting big on hiring women, enthusiastic about their regularity, agility and discipline.
Diversity is also an important part of ESG (environmental, social, governance) reporting. The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s new ESG framework will be applicable to the top 150 companies from this fiscal.
The barriers
For women in the workplace, the journey has often not been easy. Vaishnavi Sudhakar Wakale, 22, who works at Tata Motors’ trim, chassis and final (TCF)-2 plant in Pune, says the idea of going to work was unthinkable for women in her village. “Now my parents are proud of what I have achieved, and assembling cars gives me a sense of empowerment,” says Wakale.
Successfully performing what was traditionally considered a man’s job has given them a unique sense of empowerment, says Sitaram Kandi, vice president of human resources, passenger cars and electric vehicles at Tata Motors. “They are now our strongest advocates, encouraging other women in their networks to enter the workforce.”
Wakale’s tribe is certainly growing, albeit at a slow pace. “In the blue-collar environment, there is a stigma against working, which is why the representation of women is lower,” points out Neelesh Gupta, managing director, Deloitte India.
While Deloitte’s research shows that one in 12 workers in India is female, “traditional industries such as chemicals, cement and EPC/infra, which have less automation, operate in remote locations and place more emphasis on physical labor , a lower ratio (1:15) in the manufacturing sector,” added Gupta.
Women’s representation among white-collar workers is obviously much higher: 14 to 16 percent in manufacturing compared to 8 percent in blue-collar jobs. The difference is likely due to the fact that these jobs require less manual work, pay a premium and have greater flexibility compared to blue-collar jobs, explains Gupta.
But whether blue-collar or white-collar, there is also the overarching problem of the gender pay gap. India Inc’s journey towards gender justice must address all factors to improve women’s participation in the workforce.