India’s white-collar sector has seen a 35 percent spike in job openings for women, compared to last year, according to a report released on Monday.
It is primarily because women, who dropped out of work during the pandemic to become full-time caregivers, have now re-joined the workforce, revealed the report by the talent management platform found (formerly known as Monster jobs).
In addition, the focused efforts by India Inc such as introducing benefits such as menstrual leaves and childcare, introducing programs to fight bias in the workplace, allowing flexibility at work, and diversity-focused hiring, among others are helping increase female participation in the workforce.
The highest demand share of women in the workforce is currently held by the ITES/BPO (36 percent) industry, followed by IT/computers-software (35 percent), and banking/accounting/financial services (22 percent).
Further, Delhi-NCR (21 percent) is leading with the highest percentage of jobs available for women, followed by Mumbai (15 percent), Bengaluru (10 percent), Chennai (9 percent), and Pune (7 percent).
It is also interesting to note that 6 percent of the total women workforce on the platform are those who have taken a career break and returned to work. Moreover, freelance roles account for 4 percent of the total jobs for women, indicating a rise in gig-based opportunities in the white-collar economy.
“There have been many economic success stories of women in the last 50 years, but one of the biggest has been the stride they have made in the labor market. Women leaders worldwide have made headlines for how well they managed to stay afloat in times of great crisis. But there is still work to be done and miles to walk,” said Sekhar Garisa, CEO, and founder (formerly Monster, APAC & ME).
The report also showed that the job roles with the most significant percentage of women are customer service/ call center/BPO at 25 percent. IT roles hold the second largest share at 23 percent, followed by HR roles at 18 percent and sales/ business development at 12 percent.
Across experience levels, women in leadership hold 8 percent of the total share, indicating a great scope for more growth and inclusivity in workplaces.
“There is a radical need for increasing women’s participation in the workforce across all sectors if we were to achieve our dream of becoming a 5 trillion-dollar nation,” Garisa said.
“Companies need to innovate their work modes to ensure flexibility, actively work to foster an inclusive workplace, and ensure that diversity extends beyond their hiring pamphlet,” he added.
