Inclusive Working Spaces! India's White-Collar Sector Sees 35% Increase In Job Openings For Women

During a speech, the honourable Prime Minister of India had mentioned how the economy would have to accommodate women to see a progressive growth. Women's participation was considered crucial for their social empowerment as well as the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

With the country shifting its focus on building women's participation, a recent report has revealed that there has been a positive increase in the number of women engaged in the white-collar economy. The report revealed that there had been a rise by 35 per cent in job openings for the fairer sex in the white-collar economy during February 2023 as compared to the month in 2022.

Focus On Building Diversity

As per a report released by Foundit, there has been a rising demand for women employees in the country's white-collar economy. The demand rose by about 35 per cent in a year's time from February 2022 to 2023. The report suggested that the two main driving factors to this growth in numbers were,

• Focused efforts by India Inc to increase women's participation in the workforce
• Re-joining of many who dropped out of work to become full-time caregivers during the pandemic

It also explored many companies' progressive and inclusive policies, such as menstrual leaves and childcare. Such elements backed women in rejoining the workforce by aiding them to strike a balance between personal and professional life. Several companies also took genuine efforts to fight workplace bias and bring diversity-focused hiring.

Progressive & Inclusive Team-Building

According to a report by Economic Times, the Foundit report further revealed that the ITES/BPO industry currently holds the highest demand for women in the workforce by 36 per cent. This is followed by the IT/Computers and Software sector (35 per cent) and the Banking/Accounting/Financial Services (22 per cent). In terms of geographic distribution, the highest per cent of jobs were available for women in metropolitan cities like Delhi NCR (21 per cent), Mumbai (15 per cent), and Bangalore (10 per cent). This is shortly followed by cities like Chennai (9 per cent) and Pune (7 per cent).

Interestingly, the report also added that six per cent of the total women workforce on the platform are those who took a career break and returned to work. While the driving factor has not been analysed, it is likely due to the shift towards progressive and inclusive team-building. Freelancers also accounted for about four per cent of the total jobs for women, indicating a rise in gig-based opportunities in the white-collar economy.

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