Opinion Addressing India’s wage gap: How Adani foundation works with other players to realise the dream

These stories of transformation in the lead up to International Women’s Day provide an occasion to consider where we stand as a society on women’s empowerment, to acknowledge the progress made, and to reflect on what will accelerate the pace of change given the enormity of the challenge.

India’s ambition to be a developed economy by 2047, to mark the 100th anniversary of our Independence, is an exciting prospect. But neither our nation nor our people can achieve that goal without the inclusion and involvement of India’s women.

Much of the discussion has focused on the achievement of economic indicators, and rightly so, as GDP growth with consequent employment creation is a critical enabler of broader social progress.

Much has also been written about how society and the economy can leverage the untapped human potential of India’s women population. A 2018 report by McKinsey noted that women contributed only 18 per cent to the GDP of India, despite constituting 48.4 per cent of the population. The report further noted that bridging the gender gap in employment could potentially elevate India’s GDP by 30 per cent. The case is as compelling today as it was then.

There is growing evidence of social and health benefits to the family unit when women are economically engaged. More importantly, employed women are role models for their daughters — a critical factor as closing the gap is a multi-generational effort.

To understand the scale of the problem, it is worth looking at how India compares with the global and the OECD averages in terms of percentage of women in the labour force, defined as the number of women, ages 15 and older, who are in employment or looking for employment. The figure for India in 2023 was 37 per cent, the global average being 48.7 per cent and the corresponding OECD figure at 66.7 per cent. The corresponding figures for men are 78.5 per cent for India, with the global average being 73 per cent and 80.9 per cent for OECD.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aspiration of achieving 50 per cent women’s participation in the workforce by 2047 is both ambitious and laudable. The recent trajectory of improvement is very encouraging — as the 2017-18 figure for women’s participation was only 23.3 per cent. This improvement is a result of government policies to ensure that women go to school, learn skills, start their own businesses and feel safe at work.

The story of Harsha Sidar and that of the tribal women from Tamnar are examples of interventions by the Adani Foundation as part of a multi-generational commitment to improving the lives of women in the communities where our businesses operate. Given our growing business footprint, our activities now span 19 states and 33 sites. Our women’s well-being activities focus on three critical enablers — education, health, and economic empowerment/entrepreneurship. Of all the interventions, education is key to increasing women’s participation in the formal economy.

Collaboration between government, corporate and social sectors will be key. Each has a vital role to play. At the Adani Foundation, we have tailored our interventions to make government programmes more effective — in a sense, addressing the last mile in the intervention.

Bhumika Sidar, a class 12 student and the daughter of a daily wage worker, persevered to hone her kabaddi skills with the Adani Foundation’s Utthan Khelkumbh Kabaddi Training, despite many challenges and the untimely demise of her father. The training enabled her to be selected to represent Chhattisgarh in the Khelo India Rural Indigenous National Games 2023 organised by the Government of India and the Ministry of Culture. Bhumika quickly became one of the top players on the team and secured the third rank in the National Games 2023, winning a trophy and a cash prize for the Chhattisgarh Team.

These are all inspirational examples of resilience, of striving against odds and of boundless aspiration. Many organisations are doing similar work. I strongly believe there is a great opportunity for us to collaborate, learn from each other’s best practices and encourage each other to do more. A repository of proven and tested interventions will go a long way in accelerating the work of women’s empowerment.

Our young women have overcome the shackles of past thinking and are ready to take their place as full contributors to a developed India. The enormity of the problem and the benefit to the nation demand that we lend them a helping hand.

The writer is chairperson of the Adani Foundation