Ladies, your workplace issues are being addressed!

A friend of mine, who admirably, manages a career, home and two kids, recently described doing house work as a form of slavery. She even encouraged me to explore it further on Contemporary Indian Woman. Indeed, there is a lot more that ladies today are managing than what was traditionally expected of them. But we clearly are in a stage of transition at present, where the old responsibilities have not given way to the new ones. As a result, women are under a lot of pressure, creating systemic imbalances.

This friend, along with many other women around the country, would then be made quite happy by the draft National Policy for Women, which was released by Union Minister for Women and Child Development last week. The policy, which is open for comments, recognises the need for a more conducive working environment for educated urban women, besides touching upon every other strata of women as well.

A particularly big positive consideration for many women, is the idea of a more supportive infrastructure. An infrastructure that recognises and supports women in meeting the demands of their enhanced roles today. Some of the suggestions in this regard are, finding ways to free women’s time for paid work through time-saving technologies, provision of child care services like creches and more child care leaves for parents.

Many companies have already enhanced maternity and child care leaves in India, a case in point being e-commerce biggie Flipkart. The company provides 24 weeks or 6 months of maternity leave, flexible working hours with full pay and if so required, a one year break without pay as well. Mandated maternity leave stands at 12 weeks at present. A number of other companies are also becoming increasingly progressive when it comes to maternity related work flexibility.

Women in the workplace are also expected to be supported through the addressing of gender wage gaps. A recent survey by job portal Monster.com has recently found out that there is as much as 35% wage gap between men and women. Even in highly skilled professions like consulting and IT, the wage gap is at 24% and 34% respectively!

The policy also talks of increasing women’s participation in governance and decision making bodies. Here too, there are glaring gaps. While India has mandated at least 1 woman on the board of every listed company, many Indian companies have been unable to ensure this. Even among the companies where the requirement has technically been fulfilled, the female representative is the spouse of the promoter or that of any other key decision maker in the organisation. This is not to take away from any woman's inherent abilities, but it is a reflection of the degree of to which the challenge remains unaddressed at a deeper level.

It remains to be seen how far these issues actually get addressed, given the change in mindsets required. But it is certainly a step in the right direction.