Companies are monitoring the gender equation and proactively hiring women

They're still a minority in boardrooms and in the higher echelons of India Inc. That's the bad news. The good news is that this is changing fast. Women now occupy a much larger-though far from equitable-percentage of middle management berths than was the case even a few years ago. There are both push and pull factors behind this. The felt need to appear politically correct is undoubtedly playing an important role; but the economic pull of the fairer sex is making the process irreversible. Two years back, research data at Coke India showed that women were key decision makers behind the purchase of its products. So, in order to mirror its consumer demography, the soft drinks giant launched a programme to hire and retain women employees. Rival Pepsi goes a step further; its Marketing Director is usually a woman.

Diversity is the new buzzword in India Inc. But one rider here: this phenomenon is more in evidence at multinationals than in Indian corporates. Says Nancy Reisig, Vice President, Human Resources, Ford Motor Company India: "Our strong commitment to diversity is a part of Ford's global philosophy."

General Electric (GE) launched its GE Women's Network (GEWN)-which was started in the us in 1997-in India in July 2002 with three hubs in Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. GEWN provides opportunities for women to engage with GE leaders and learn from their experiences. A variety of fora are used, including seminars, workshops, networking dinners and regional mega-events. Participants share information on job opportunities and exchange views with successful role models. "To continue to be a global player and have the best talent, GE has to be able to access half the world's population and that's women. It is just the right thing to do," says Scott Bayman, President & CEO of GE India. So as a policy, GE does not recruit from campuses with less than 20 per cent women candidates.

Adil Malia, Vice President, Human Resources at Coca-Cola India, says communication and propaganda are of little use without structured interventions to ensure greater gender diversity. So, about three years back, Coke hired a batch of 25 women from local B-schools-it now does so twice a year under its WOTEs (Women Operational Trainees) programme-for front-end sales functions, till then a male bastion. It also created a position of gm, In Charge of Diversity. Besides, at least one of four shortlisted candidates for senior-level recruitments have to be female. These initiatives are paying off. Women now make up 20 per cent of its payrolls compared to 14.5 per cent 36 months ago. "Women bring grace, poise and sensitivity to the workplace," says Malia. Adds Pavan Bhatia, VP (HR), Pepsi: "Female employees can have opinions and perspectives that are very different from those of their male colleagues, and these can be very useful while preparing business plans." Rahul Varma, India hr Director, Accenture, sums up: "Companies need a right gender mix to foster creativity." A Mercer-BT study a few months ago showed that women make up 30 per cent of its workforce (see More Than Lip Service).

"One Indian software company actually asked me whether I'd continue working after marriage" Pallavi Muralidharan Manager/Software Development/Cisco

The concept of diversity in the workplace was born in the US; so it's not surprising that American companies are driving this trend in India. "Gender diversity helps employees become more tolerant of each other and prepares them to be a part of global team," says Ford's Reisig. Diversity also helps in a highly competitive environment where customers are also diverse and demand the same of their vendors. Concurs Jayashree Satagopan, Global Sourcing Manager, GE Healthcare India, who opted to be a part of GEWN out of curiosity and is co-leader of the Bangalore hub: "Diversity brings in different leadership styles that complement and balance one another and enriches a company's talent pool."

Women currently account for 18 per cent of Cisco India's bench strength. The goal: take this figure up to 25-30 per cent figure over the next one year. "One of our focus areas in India is to bring more women into the technology space," says Lokesh Mehra, the company's Regional Manager, Corporate Responsibility, South Asia. It has tied up with engineering institutes across the country to train women who are then hired by the company. Pallavi Muralidharan, Manager, Software Development, Cisco, joined the company in 1998 after a two-year stint in the us. "Much has changed over the last 6-8 years," she says. "One Indian software company actually asked me then whether I'd continue working after marriage. But such questions have become rare today."

Flexible work hours when expecting her second child helped her to stay on course Purnima Sahni Mohanty Region Leader/GE Women's Network

Motorola, which aims to increase the representation of women on its rolls from 18 per cent at present to 22 per cent over the next one year, is in the process of setting up a Country Diversity Council for India. Raghuram Reddam, Director (HR), Motorola India, defines diversity as something that is "more holistic and goes beyond just numbers". To guard against gender biases, recruitment panels have a fair number of women. Myrelle Machado, Financial Controller, Mobile Devices, was recruited into Motorola's global leadership programme in Chicago and has been with the company for over 10 years. She believes that "the focus on diversity at Motorola will bring great value to the organisation-in terms of thought leadership, innovation, creativity and energy."

At Pepsi, for instance, women employees drove the compulsory 30 days leave initiative in place of the previous practice of leave encashment. Now, even the men accept that is a great work-life balance enabler and enhances productivity. And when the in-house women's group invited children to visit the office during school holidays, working fathers were seen cleaning up their workstations.

But recruiting women is just one side of the story; retaining them is often the more difficult thing to do. In order to arrest post-maternity attrition levels-that's the single largest reason for women leaving their jobs-companies like GE, Motorola, Cisco and Ford have set up crèches on campus or have tied up with them. Motorola, Accenture and GE also set up office infrastructure-laptops and high-speed broadband and telephone connections at company expense-at the homes of new mothers to enable them to carry on with their careers.

IT'S JUST NOT FAIR Women enjoy the following five rights that men don't.

» I-T exemption of Rs 35,000 » Flexi-timing » Tele-commuting » Extended maternity leave » Day-care centres

Women often have to give up their careers due to transfers of spouses. Companies nowadays also walk that extra mile to accommodate such employees by creating a job opportunity or by transferring them to another department. When Purnima Sahni Mohanty, Region Leader, GE Women's Network in India, opted for flexible work hours when she was expecting her second child in 2003, Bayman, her boss, was completely supportive. And Accenture routinely reschedules shift allocations for women in its business process outsourcing business.

But can these affirmative action programmes result in sympathy and, eventually, create a glass ceiling? "No way," retorts Punita Lal, Director, Marketing, Pepsi. "It is important for an organisation to understand my special needs as a woman, but beyond that I am a professional who is here on merit." Adds Sahni Mohanty: "GE is a meritocracy where performance is the foundation for growth. A diverse organisation ensures that we get the best people to come and work for us from the entire talent pool. We get different perspectives and several new ideas-all of these add up to making a better GE." This was echoed by everyone BT spoke to: creating a gender-diverse work environment is not incompatible with the goal of rewarding merit; in fact, it's a great enabler.

But are the traditional Indian business houses listening?