1. Introduction to the SDG:

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in September 2015. The goals covered issues like poverty, hunger, health, education, work, energy, environment, etc., which affect everyone in the world to varying degrees. Two of these goals, ie., SDG5 and SDG10 had to do with issues related to inclusiveness and equality among genders and those with mental and psychosocial disabilities. The intention was “leaving no one behind” and finding a holistic approach to ensure sustainable development for all.

SDG5 aims to achieve gender equality for women, girls, and LGBTQ+ community with respect to men. Apart from considering equal rights in terms of economic resources, ownership of property, inheritance, and natural resources, it considers effective participation and accessibility to equal opportunities for leadership and decision making in economic, political, and public life. It also targets end of discrimination against these groups, most importantly, of violence, sexual or otherwise, at home or outside. Stopping harmful practices like child marriage and female genital mutilation, as well as recognizing unpaid work and promoting sharing household responsibilities are part of its aims. It underscores the need for suitable policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality, social protection and the empowerment of women and others.

Since women and girls form approximately 50% of the world population, to achieve a sustainable development and well-being of the society at large, as well as secure the fruits of women’s contribution in decision making, the group needs to be assured with equitable resources and opportunities in order to guarantee them equal human rights and freedom.

2. Relevance of the SDG to India:

While all of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are very much applicable to India, looking at the traditional roles women have played in the Indian society for centuries and the patriarchal mindsets commonly encountered across India, Goal No. 5 assumes significant importance. The proportion of working-age women in paid jobs is much less than is desired and worse, it is dropping over the years. Compared to urban conditions, it is much worse in rural India as women’s contribution to agricultural work is largely unrecognized and the sector has not generated formal employment for women. Root cause of the gender gap which exists in the labour force is similar to the challenges faced by working women in other parts of the world including multitasking work and family responsibilities, unsafe work environments, sexism at the workplace, wage imparity, lack of other facilities at work and crèche, etc.

Research indicates that even in rural and semi-urban settings to this day, families exercise unreasonable control on women’s mobility linking it to ‘honour’ with a number of restrictions related to behaviour, dress, and persons to speak to or not to, when they step outside the house. It is unfortunate that women’s working, earning power or their ability to maintain a responsible role in a competitive work arena or even decision making in the domestic environment on financial matters or inheritance of property is not appreciated and respected, rather feared as a cause for the man to lose ‘control’ over her. Early marriages or lack of women’s say on population control is still prevalent in India.

While the Government, at the Central and State level and NGOs are attempting to provide awareness of opportunities to women, both in education, skill development, employment, political participation and schemes for women and girls, the change in vital societal attitude and acceptance still has a long way to go.

Policies and laws to uphold gender equality in the Government sector or the private/corporate world in India are still far from adequate and not exercised with desired intent. As an example, even if Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a 158-year-old Law was eradicated by the honorable Supreme Court of India in 2018 in favour of LGBTQ community, there is still a lot to achieve to give the community equal rights and respect in the society.

3. Business implications and responses:

It is said that “Gender equality in work is not possible without gender equality in society.” While there is an overall challenge of gender inequality in society, this is why it has been considered as a Sustainable Goals; we focus our discussion on the impacts on the business front and response opportunities. While women constitute almost half of the world’s population and are accordingly expected to be about a near equal of the labor force, women are only half as likely as men to have a full-time wage-earning job, and fewer women are engaged as entrepreneurs or traders.

Today, it has become pertinent for businesses to understand the benefits of having a healthy proportion of female employees at all organizational levels. It enhances the overall culture, corporate image, economics, and profitability of the organization. When women are involved in decision-making processes, the discussions are richer, and the results are better. Gender philosophies make women out to be more risk-averse than men with longer-term goals, essentially redressing the aggressive risk-taking attitude of men, which exists in financial decision-making at higher management levels. In fact, diverse boards are found to create better corporate governance.

Moving forward, one should progress from gender equality to diversity as a competitive strategy. Gender mainstreaming and diversity management play a specific role here. This shift could result in opening up opportunities for women to progress towards leadership roles within large, mid-size, and small businesses as their careers advance.

To achieve gender equality and empower women and girls, the Indian government has taken several measures to educate and strengthen the institutional mechanism to eliminate this gender gap and inequality. Some of the schemes like Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS), Janina Suraksha Yojna (JSY) implementation, help reduce Infant Mortality and scheme like Mudra Yojna scheme for women, Udyogini scheme, and Dena Shakti Scheme to incentivize more women entrepreneurs. Many businesses have made firm commitments to assist and are working to realize the goal of education of Gender Equality.

Mahindra & Mahindra: Mahindra group has moved far beyond the actionable plan for the advancement of gender Inequality by including women in the workplaces as their national agenda. Mahindra has believed in inclusive growth, with women playing an important part in the Company’s Growth journey. Talking about new hires, 26%^(a) of them are women. To accommodate and encourage women in their workforce, various policies have been modified to find a balance between work and family.

Microsoft: Microsoft has shown its commitment to the gender equality issue by creating a program that will help the transition of women return to work smoothly. Microsoft has always been vocal about equal participation and the policy of equitable pay.

Accenture: Accenture has always been a believer that diversity makes businesses stronger and boosts growth. They have set a goal of 40% women among new hires. Currently, in Accenture, the percentage of women managing directors has increased to 25%. They have set a goal to gender balance their workforce by 2025^(b)

State Street: It firmly believes in being transparent and is working to increase inclusion and diversity by bringing the right talents for the best outcome.

Tata Steel: In recent years, Tata Steel has opened two shifts between 6 am to 10 pm at its Jamshedpur shopfloor. Tata steel has planned to have a 10%^(c) women workforce on the shop floor by 2025. They have created new support structures, systems, and processes conducive to a safer workplace environment.

Capgemini: It is the first global IT services organization in India to be re-certified as a Level more organization. ^(d)Capgemini India has been awarded with EDGE(Economic dividends for gender equality) certification in recognition towards gender inclusivity.

4. Analysing the existing environment

Gender equity in education:

Indian women are more educated currently, but the gap in educational attainment has worsened. Determinants were:

Learning outcomes: Based on the results of the National Achievement Survey (22 lakh students), the difference between the subject scores of girls and boys spanning across different classes was approximately 1%
Mean years of schooling: While the means years of schooling for girls have tripled from 1.7 years to 4.7 years, boys' means years have increased from 4.1 years in 1990 to 8.2 years in 2018.
The number of boys enrolled in private education schools is significantly higher than in girls. Because private schools require an 'Out-of-pocket' expenditure from parents. Girls are predominantly enrolled in government schools.

Gender Disparity in government institutions:

The seats held by women in the Lok Sabha are 11% (2019), whereas the number of women in institutions of the Panchayati Raj has increased to 46%.

Violence against women:

The NFHS-4 indicates that 30% of Indian women between 15-49 have experienced physical violence, with 6% of the women having been subjected to sexual violence at least once in their life. Approximately 31% of married women are reported to have experienced domestic abuse. The number of cases reported for violence against women is on a steady rise.

Initiatives undertaken by the government:

● The government has identified the eradication of violence against women as one of the primary goals.

● 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao', 'Sukanya Samridhi Yojana' and 'Janani Suraksha Yojana' aim to provide girls/women with equal opportunities in employment as well as education.

5. The way forward

We need proactive measures to ensure that a gender viewpoint is used in every professional sector. In a civil society, every group should be made aware of all gender rights and equipped with adequate resources to facilitate equal representation of all genders in the public domain, including policy dialogues. Therefore, innovative approaches are required to improve the awareness level of the private sector on gender issues. To reach solutions, we need to understand the basis of all gender disparities, some of which are:

● Cultural standards set by societies where women are bound to fulfill specific roles in a household which excludes them from a plethora of unique opportunities in the society, both on a social and professional level.

● In terms of representation in policy making processes or the government bodies, fewer women are a major reason they are not able to put forward their points for getting equal financial and social status.

● The pipelines through which the decisions for gender inclusivity are determined are skewed due to societal and cultural issues hindering equal opportunities for both genders. An important example is the duty of a woman to carry out all household work, taking care of children and elders in the home. This biased societal behavior devoids women of their professional development leading to having the least access to growth resources.

Additionally, one aspect of gender disparity which remains hidden in popular discourse is the difference between equality and equity. Due to accumulated historical disadvantages, women are ill-equipped to leverage an environment of equality if such a utopic outcome could even be achieved. Hence, going forward, through affirmative action, it is necessary to ensure gender equity going far and beyond mere equality. Some steps in this direction that have been attempted and the gap present are the following:

● Reservation in decision-making bodies

While this step seems potent in placing women at the helm, the step has failed miserably in practice. Women serve as a proxy for dominating men, generally husbands or other relatives, meanwhile the power continues to be held by the men. It is therefore necessary to empower women at grassroots level through SHGs and block level women welfare councils run entirely by women.

● Impetus on education

Due to accumulated disadvantages women face in a patriarchy, the benefits of spread of education have not reached men and women equally. A driven initiative to boost educational outcomes including measures such as dedicated institutes of higher education, regular inspection of attendance of girl students at the school level, incentivizing education through guaranteed employment will ensure educational equity.

● Direct benefits transfer (DBT) to women of the family

While this is being implemented to some extent by various governments, the effect observed is less than desired. Due to weak social checks and balances, the money finds its way to the men of the household. An outcome-based benefits transfer and a dedicated point of contact on the block level will enable distressed women to air their grievances without fear of social sanctions.

While a lot can be said and done, the above trifecta of strengthening personal education, family status and societal leadership can go a long way to address some of the inequity between the dominant genders.