Women Equality at the Workplace

Overnight, the pandemic has turned our lives, both personal and professional upside down, giving us very little time to adapt, evolve and overcome. Studies have revealed that women have had to face the brunt of this pandemic even more than men – both at home and at work, balancing both achiever and care-giver. 

With the advent of the 21st century, women and their needs at the workplace have steadily received the spotlight. It would be utopian to say that there is absolute equality across organisations and geographies, but one cannot undermine the progress we have made in recent years. Post-pandemic changes like working from home and flexible hours have opened a world of opportunities to be explored. Opportunities that will especially benefit women who juggle multiple roles inside and outside the workplace. 

Very simply put, getting more women into the paid workforce makes economic sense, leads to diversity of thinking at the workplace and improves the bottom line. However, this is far from what reality is as, across Asia, the employment rate of women is 50% compared to 82% for men.

With the pandemic ensuring everyone’s working from home, domestic responsibilities are getting challenged as taking care of the household is now not just a woman’s job. In the past year, many men have turned to become the providers of education and comfort to their children, and this role reversal has only improved sharing of responsibilities, which has allowed women to participate much better at work. 

The most common reason for women failing to pursue careers to the C-Suite level is family responsibilities. Traditionally, women have been seen as the caregivers in the family, and this expectation in almost all cases leads to women giving up promising careers. 

While the pandemic has disrupted the normal and created ‘a new normal’, let us take this opportunity to allow women the attention they’ve been denied, not just at organisational levels but also personal ones.

The ultimate purpose of this blog is also to ask you how we can improve equality at the workplace and create an atmosphere of inclusivity irrespective of gender.