Assocham bats for greater participation of women in workforce

Industry body Assocham Saturday underlined the need to create an enabling workplace environment aligned with requirements of working mothers as part of efforts to boost participation of women in workforce.

Committing itself to women's empowerment on International Mother's Day, Assocham reached out to its members and India Inc in general.

"Rising participation of women in the workforce will need a different environment in which childcare, working hours, and workplace structures should be transformed. Several firms have already started reorienting and aligning their operational structures with the changing needs of working women, given today's environment of increased mobility and nuclear family structures," Assocham President B K Goenka said in a statement here.

Goenka said he has been passionately working on 'Women Empowerment,' which has been made one of the pillars of the Assocham Vision.

While women have in many cases far exceeded workplace requirements and capabilities, their proportion of the workforce needs to be more commensurate, he said.

Despite their parity, if not superiority, in terms of employability, their participation at the workplace has remained at a static 25 per cent of the total population over the past five years.

"Their representation at the workplace needs to be augmented. This can be done by providing a conducive environment for them to balance their dual responsibilities," the Assocham president said.

Assocham has been taking several initiatives for facilitating and augmenting the role of women in economic activity, although their contribution in improving the country's human development index is beyond any measurable metric.

Under 'Start-Up' initiatives, the chamber has devised partnership programmes through skill development and vocational training. The market access support will be the additional to-do for Assocham, he said.

Encouraging individuals and organisations through Awards and initiatives like All Women-Run Manufacturing Company would also be pursued. Besides, there would be an 'All-Women Industry' mission, he said.

Given the multiple roles that women balance in their life, Assocham believes that empowering women actually empowers families and communities, Goenka added.