Why women need more and better jobs and why core problems like lack of safety, mobility need to be addressed
In Pimpri near Pune, when Tata Motors set the ball rolling to set up a pioneering all-woman line at its Harrier and Safari SUV plant, prospective employees —and their parents —had concerns about how they would travel and where they would stay. The management realised that for their mission to succeed, an important piece that had to fall in place was an assurance that the female workers would have a safe commute and accommodation. Says Sitaram Kandi, chief human resources officer, Tata Motors: “Where they would stay became our biggest concern since we didn’t have hostels. We shortlisted hostels near the plant and each one was visited by three different teams at different times of the day so that we could give the girls and their parents confidence.” After a tough initial phase, Tata Motors was able to increase the share of women on the shopfloor from 4% to 12%.
“When you think of women’s employment, three big infrastructural barriers end up being the lack of safety, mobility and childcare,” says Pooja Goyal, founding CEO of Udaiti Foundation, which focuses on women’s economic empowerment. “For women to go out of the house to work, the benefit needs to be significantly more than what it is for a man since they are the ones doing the caregiving.”
since they are the ones doing the caregiving.” These concerns around the challenges that stand in the way of women who want to go out and work were reflected in the 2024 Union Budget, with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing: “We will facilitate higher
