MPW 2022: 'War for talent is so fierce, you shouldn’t let women drop out of workforce,' says Zia Mody

Gender gap in the workplace is one of the hottest topics of discussion in the 21st century, especially in a country like India, where the female labour force participation is well under 30 per cent. Millions of women either never enter the workforce or drop out for a myriad of reasons. How can the "leaky pipeline" be fixed?

“The main thing is education,” said eminent lawyer Zia Mody, Founder and Managing Partner of AZB & Partners. “If we need to change our leaky pipeline, it goes beyond Tier-1 cities, and we have to take active steps as a society coupled with government initiatives, NGOs, and other things.”

Mody was speaking at Business Today’s flagship ‘Most Powerful Women in Business’ event in Mumbai on Wednesday. She further shared that almost 46 per cent of Indian women drop out of the workforce annually. “Even if we take that down to 30 per cent, the impact on GDP will be significant,” she said, adding, “The war for talent is so fierce in urban India that you really should not be letting women go easily without fighting for each and every one of them.”

Mody’s words were echoed by former banker Arundhati Bhattacharya, who now serves as the Chairperson & CEO of Salesforce India. “We have to go to the root cause of [every woman’s problem] and need customized solutions. Otherwise, it’s very difficult to keep talent back,” she said.

But things have improved, of course. “There is a lot of awareness now. And good things come from the top. Today, Diversity & Inclusion is becoming a boardroom agenda in the private sector. The unconscious biases have to be constantly fought against," Bhattacharya explained.

She spoke of Salesforce’s famous gender parity audits, which revealed a $5 million pay gap one year, much to the shock of its Co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff. “Salesforce always espoused gender parity. And Marc was sure that there was no pay disparity. But yearly audits told a different story,” Bhattacharya revealed. “Salesforce has paid $22 million till date to bridge the [historical] gender pay gap,” she added.

Speaking of the importance of women in leadership roles, Swati Piramal, Vice Chairperson of Piramal Group, said: “You have to make the environment hospitable for women in your office. In my sector which is healthcare, women are naturally health givers. Be it doctors or nurses. The challenge is: How do we get more women in STEM?”

“So, for me, it’s not just women development, but women-led development that is the keyword,” she added.

Also Read: MPW 2022: 'WPL will change the perception of women’s cricket,' says Jhulan Goswami