What are Companies Doing to Empower Women at Work

The year 2018 has been instrumental for women in terms of giving them a strong platform to voice their thoughts and ask for their rights. We came across numerous movements started by women across the globe towards making the world a better place for them to live in. One of the most important areas of concern is the empowerment of women at work. It is a well-known fact that women around the world are facing different kinds of issues at work ranging from the gender pay gap, harassment, career opportunities, and more. Globally the wage gap between women and men is around 57%. Only 22% of managerial positions worldwide are currently occupied by women. In the wake of this situation, many companies have started taking initiatives and making policies to combat these trends and make it more comfortable for women in the workplace. Let’s read more about what different companies are doing in this regard.

Closing the gender pay gap

Companies like Adobe and Kellogg India have taken commendable measures to alleviate the gender pay gap. Adobe signed the ‘Equal Pay Pledge’ two years ago with companies including Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft, and the pledge read as follows:

Adobe is proud to join the list of companies committed to equal pay. Paychecks are important, not only because they cover the needs of employees and their families, but also because they are an important indicator of fair treatment. Gender should have no part in driving pay decisions.

Adobe has stayed true to this pledge and has achieved a 100% pay parity in the information technology sector (IT). The company believes that women play multiple roles in their lives and their strengths and styles bring a different set of advantages to the table. They should be given due regard to this fact and rewarded equally as men.

Giving women equal responsibilities as men

Companies have started hiring more women into their talent pool and giving them responsibilities equal to men. The management at Indigo has started a few mentoring initiatives including a women executive shadow program and Lean In circles, a voluntary peer group initiative. The Indigo management says that they celebrate ‘pilots’ and not ‘women pilots’, and applaud managers, not “lady managers”. Indigo has been hiring many women professionals and today women constitute 43% of their workforce. The company has nearly a third of our managers and above positions are held by women, and a fourth of their leadership positions are held by women too. This shows that companies like Indigo are making efforts to give more opportunities to women.

Taking strict measures against sexual harassment

Sexual harassment of women has been a topic of heavy discussion this year. With the #MeToo movement many women across the world have come forward talking about sexual advancement my colleagues and superiors. In the wake of this situation, many companies have come up with special training and policies to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Google’s training is based on studies that reveal that awareness of our own unconscious biases can help reverse them. Google makes its videos and self-paced online training available to everyone. Microsoft also relies heavily on unconscious bias training, with coursework that includes introducing students to unconscious bias and helping them understand how it influences behavior and impacts an organization.

Encouraging women to return to work after career breaks

Companies like Vodafone have taken up the challenging task of becoming the world’s best company for women to work by 2025. As part of this initiative, Vodafone has come with the ReConnect project. This is a talent program aimed to encourage women who’ve taken career breaks to come back to work. It helps these women make professional connections and find opportunities. The program aims to bring 1,000 women back into the workforce in three years. Vodafone also runs a global maternity policy which ensures that employees get a minimum of 16-weeks maternity leave at full pay.

These measures and many more have to come in place and need to be well executed by all the companies across the world. The Glow & Lovely Careers (formerly known as Fair & Lovely Career Foundation) encourages women to come together and fight for their right not only at the workplace but on every other platform. For those looking to make bigger impacts on life and climb up the professional ladder, we have free online courses on various subjects. You can also take up our free online psychometric test to figure out what exactly your professional inclination is. You can also utilize our career guidance tool to make sure you have made you take the right road as far as your career is concerned.