Rising Women: Exploring New Sectors, Embracing Collaborations

According to the PLFS Report, the female labor force participation in India rose by 4.2% in 2022-23 compared to the previous year. However, more advocacy is still needed to increase the number of women in the workforce. It is the need of the time to find more ways to generate employment for women, encourage women to take up entrepreneurship, and raise awareness on women’s financial independence in the South East Asia. Despite several schemes, policies, and programs, women’s workforce participation remains critical both in rural and urban areas. The recent reports by Udaiti Foundation underscore that support mechanisms for women in the workforce are still not adequate. In Uttar Pradesh, their study on Rural Economy based on Entrepreneurship reveals that training programs provided by the government are not sufficient to encourage women in taking up entrepreneurship. There is a lack of support to pipeline from training to enterprise, a lack of information on sustaining businesses, and a lack of follow-up with the trainees. On the other hand, the Gender Report presented at India Inc. Summit 2023 revealed the persisting gender gap in urban formal workplaces. Challenges such as the absence of Internal Complaint Committees, lack of priority in imbibing gender-inclusive policies and practices, the disparity in pay level, care burden, and gender disparity in the selection process were highlighted as the key reasons for decreasing women’s participation.

The initiative Women Wielding the Workplace, has been working to address the same needs to increase women’s participation in the workforce by uplifting women entrepreneurs through solution support networks, raising awareness on gender-sensitive workplace well-being and promoting positive portrayal of women in the media. The WWW initiative supported by U.S. Consulate General Kolkata, intervened in the North-eastern states of India along with Nepal and Bangladesh.  A two-day-long capstone event named, ‘Rising Women’ at the American Center Kolkata on 14^th and 15^th of April 2024 took place as part of the said initiative. Women leaders, academicians, and entrepreneurs across India, Nepal, Bangladesh and U.S.A. were present to initiate dialogues, build networks, and evolve ideas aligned with women’s economic empowerment. The speakers delved deeper into conversations toward finding pathways to increasing women’s participation in the economy.  The event was vocal on exploring new sectors and tools that are being used worldwide to harness women’s potential across sectors in diverse roles and the roles of networks in fostering collaboration for growth.

Unleashing the power of unconventional sectors:

Along with addressing challenges for women doing business, conversations were initiated on the upcoming sectors of business and career choices for women and girls. Academicians, development professionals and women leaders talked about emerging sectors aligned with 21^st century skills and highlighted information technology and science, finance, automobile, renewable energy, manufacturing etc. as the most upcoming sectors. The professor and network director Lisa Glidden from State University of New York College at Oswego, underscored the importance of the renewable sector in the coming years. According to her, ‘The sector has a lot of entry points through which women around the world can enter the sector both as professionals and entrepreneurs. Be it natural energy generation or changing the narrative in energy resources, with sustainability at its core, renewable energy or the green economy have tremendous opportunities for growth. The projections for green economy are that it will reach $10.3 trillion by 2050. Overall energy demand is projected to increase by 50% and much of that growth will be met by renewable energy.’ She also mentioned the need for having a proper pipeline to let women enter the field. She talked about systemic thinking as the moving force and identifying entry points where women can enter the field followed by reduction of barriers and the purposeful crossing of barriers or silos that might be inhibiting entry, continuity, and success. Nishi Srivastava, the HR Head of East Region from Tata Motors talked about the possibility of women joining the manufacturing sectors. While most commoners mistake manufacturing as typical men’s work, she highlighted that with automotive and emerging artificial intelligent technology, the sector is opening up opportunities for women too. Apart from the factory jobs, with the Industrial Revolution 5.0 job openings are available in the sector for professionals from different fields. Prof. Lipika Das also shared the opportunities in STEM for women and girls.

Pipe-lining opportunities:

Despite ample openings in various sectors for women, entry to them remains difficult. Experts in the meet mentioned that networks can play a significant role in pipe-lining opportunities for aspiring women. On this note, Prof. Lisa Glidden shared, ‘Ideally our networks can serve as pipelines and create the kind of future we want to sustain’. She talked about the importance of communication and consultation to run an effective network that aims to support a community. Highlighting her experience at ‘OUTSTEPS’ a network “focused on co-producing knowledge, valuing wisdom, and recognizing the complex linkages of sharing a large part of the Lower Great Lakes Biosphere”, she shared on sustaining networks and consultation with stakeholders. According to her, communication, co-production, and creating opportunities are important for networks to continue their work.

Lisa also highlighted that,

• Communication with the right kind of resource at the right time through the right mechanisms is important for engaging stakeholders that are instrumental in driving growth.
• Having a clear understanding of the network members, their needs, and their relation with the network to effectively address emerging issues.
• Maintaining communication and using suitable infrastructure and technologies to continue communication within the network and beyond.

She underscored that intervention of networks to uplift women in the economy across the world is inevitable to make sure that the half strength of the human resource is not wasted.

Conclusion:

Women are coming forward and taking center stage in leadership roles. Be it conventional sectors or unconventional ones, women nowadays are making their mark in the economy. By embracing collaboration as a core principle, women-led organizations can leverage their collective strengths, diverse perspectives, and collaborative spirit to navigate new opportunities with confidence and resilience. Moreover, networks play a crucial role in pipeline women into the economy, providing access to opportunities, mentorship, and support systems that propel them forward. Together, individuals and networks working for women’s economic empowerment can redefine the boundaries of possibility, break down barriers, and pave the way for a future where women thrive as pioneers, collaborators, and changemakers in every sector.

Acknowledgement:

Prof. Lisa Glidden, Professor at SUNY College at Oswego

Dr. Lipika Dey, Professor, Ashoka University 

Nishi Srivastava, Head HR East – Sales & Marketing and Diversity Equity Inclusion Lead, Tata Motors