Gentlemen may prefer blondes when it's about trophy girlfriends or wives, but when it comes to companies they run, they most certainly prefer men - even giving them extra wages, besides preferring to hire more of them.India has among the worst ratios of gender equality at the workplace - with the proportion of women participating in the workforce in India almost half the global average.
The more experience a job title requires, the greater the chances that it will be for men rather than women. The difference between job advertisements for men and women increases dramatically from the time both the sexes start working - with nearly three times more job requirements for men with five or more years of experience than women with similar work experience.
Perceptions of what kind of jobs are suitable for women impact their hiring - their numbers dropping dramatically for jobs requiring working in the night shift, while for jobs like household help or caregivers, almost half the requirement is for women.
Women the world over tend to get paid lower wages than men in similar job profiles, and the situation is not much bright for them in India either. Except for secretarial jobs, which is where most companies prefer to women, women earn about a quarter to a fifth less than men.
There is 17 per cent difference in the mean monthly wages offered to women in favour of men, for the same job profile. Will salary disparity too have its time's up moment?