WORKSHOP ON

GENDER EQUALITY AT THE WORKPLACE

AN HR PERSPECTIVE
9 October 2006, Monday: 0930 hrs
The Regency Ball Room
Hotel Hyatt Regency, Sahar, Mumbai
A Summary of Proceedings
Sponsored by
WORKSHOP ON
GENDER EQUALITY AT THE WORKPLACE
- AN HR PERSPECTIVE
Background
The Constitution of India guarantees equality of opportunity and status to women and
men. It directs that women shall not only have equal rights and privileges with men but
also that the State shall make provisions both general and special for the welfare of
women. Despite this constitutional guarantee, it is observed that women in India who
constitute nearly half the population are still subjected to various disadvantages and
inequalities in our male dominated society.
Their participation in the economic development has come into focus only during recent
years. Improvement in the status of women can be ensured by corporate sector only
through sensitisation and participation of HR Heads. Towards this direction, their role
has been effective and result oriented and has brought about enhanced and recognized
participation of women in many companies.
Workshop Objective
Organisations need HR Heads to be fully aware and understanding of the ideas,
assumptions, attitudes and behaviour which create an environment in which they will
enable employees to feel valued as individuals, to flourish and add value to their
organisations. Many companies, in the present day context, have started giving focus on
gender equality and balance, thereby enabling HR officials to create a working
environment in which women and men will not be discriminated against.
In order to increase capacity of HR Heads to fully engage with gender equality in the
workplace and meet their responsibilities to the employees of the companies, CII is
holding a WORKSHOP ON GENDER EQUALITY AT THE WORKPLACE AN HR
PERSPECTIVE on 9 October 2006 at 1000 Hrs at The Regency Ball Room; Hotel
Hyatt Regency, Sahar, Mumbai
Learning and Development Outcomes
By the end of the workshop, HR Heads of companies should be able to:
state how gender policy would help the company
implement practical ideas about how to address gender equality challenges
faced in their workplace
examine further their own and others experience, values and attitudes towards
issues of gender equality
develop action plans to take their learning into their workplace
WORKSHOP ON
GENDER EQUALITY AT THE WORKPLACE AN HR PERSPECTIVE
9 October 2006 : 0930 Hrs : The Regency Ball Room ;
Hotel Hyatt Regency, Sahar, Mumbai
PROGRAMME
0930 Hrs REGISTRATION
1000 Hrs Setting the Context
Overview, aims, and objectives
Mrs Anu Aga, Chairperson,
CII National Committee on Women Empowerment
(CHAIRPERSON)
1010 Hrs Special Address -
Ms Chanda Kochhar, Deputy Managing Director,
ICICI Bank Limited
1030 Hrs
1045 Hrs
Presentation - Business Case for Diversity -Challenges to Change
Ms Matangi Gowrishankar, HR Director
Transcon Lubes, BP India Services Pvt. Ltd.
Interaction
1100 Hrs TEA/COFFEE BREAK
1120 Hrs
1135 Hrs
Experience sharing
Mr K Ramkumar Head, Human Resources,
ICICI Bank Limited
Interaction
1200 Hrs
1215 Hrs
Experience Sharing
Ms Kalpana Margabandhu, Programme Director,
IBM India Software Labs.
Interaction
1240 Hrs
1255 Hrs
Presentation on Taking leadership
Mr Satish Pradhan, Executive Vice President (Group HR)
Tata Sons Ltd.
Interaction
1315 Hrs Presentation on Workshop Learnings
1320 Hrs CLOSE / LUNCH
A Summary of Proceedings
CII organized an Interactive Session on 'Gender Equality At The
Workplace - An HR Perspective', on Monday, 09 October 2006 in
Mumbai.
Speakers at the CII session spoke of the need to increase capacity of
HR Heads to fully engage with gender equality in the workplace and
meet their responsibilities to the employees of the companies.
Mrs Anu Aga, Chairperson, CII National Committee on Women
Empowerment welcomed all the speakers and participants to the
Workshop and thanked them for sparing their time to participate in
the deliberations. Thereafter she briefed the participants about the
Workshop objectives, which was to increase capacity of HR Heads to
fully engage with gender equality in the workplace. The Improvement
in the status of women can be ensured by corporate sector only
through sensitisation and participation of HR Heads. Towards this
direction, their role has been effective and result oriented and has
brought about enhanced and recognized participation of women in
many companies," said Mrs Aga,
Referring to the CII Study on Understanding the Levels of Women
Empowerment at the Workplace, she said that the incidence of
working women across organisations stood at only 6% which was
very disappointing. Mrs Aga briefed the participants about the
pupose of the Study, which was to establish measures, related to the
incidence and ratios of working women at the workplace, across
zones, industries and posts within the organizations; and, to
understand HR practices and benefits given to women employees in
an effort towards comprehending barriers felt by women themselves
at various levels of the organisation, which translate into bottlenecks
to their career growth.
In her Special Address, Ms Chanda Kochhar, Deputy Managing
Director, ICICI Bank Limited said, Women's contribution to the
workplace has been increasing and Indian women have been setting
benchmarks at the domestic and international levels.
She shared what she termed were her 'mantras' for dealing with
gender equality at the workplace, beginning with the need for merit.
First, "Do not do anything special for women, they need to be
selected on basis of merit and not 'quotas'.
Second, she said, organizations should expect hard work from
women.
Third, caring environments needed to be created within the
organization as also give them the flexibility of operating from home
especially on some assignments and in distress. But the
environment to be created should be gender neutral.
Explaining the concept of caring environment, Ms Kochhar described
it as something that would address support structures of both,
physical and emotional sorts. A crche would be an apt example of
physical infrastructure, while a policy that created an emotionally
conducive environment would best describe the emotional support
structure. Explaining the positive effect of such a set up, Ms Kochhar
said organizations that are diverse in terms of gender, do well. The
challenge for HR professionals was to recruit and retain women.
Ms Kochhar also dwelt on sexual harassment at the workplace. There
should be a clear communication as regards existence of a sexual
harassment policy, how an issue should be made and providing a
quick response to such issues, which again, should be transparent.
"It should be ensured that the policy does not get misused. It should
not just be a quick response, but also a fair response," she added.
In ICICI, she said, an email goes to seniors in such cases and the
action is very quick.
Ms Matangi Gowrishankar, HR Director - Transcon Lubes, BP
India Services Pvt. Ltd spoke on 'Business case for diversity and
Inclusion - Making the balance work'. She set the context, dwelling on
the choices between a woman being a home maker vs the bread
winner, of issues like compulsion vs choice, of debates between base
culture vs evolving culture and issues relating to being an effective
contributor vs token presence.
She focused on the real business case for diversity, given a diverse
customer base, a diverse supplier base, changing patterns of
decision making, the need for Innovation and speed to market. She
also spoke on what an inclusive environment must comprise of,
mentioning that it should have real focus, have a critical mass, enable
influence through position and roles, deal with education and
reinforcement and finally, have a programmed approach.
Referring to HR function as being 'the change masters', she said they
should influence top leadership, clearly articulate and track values as
also create options for creating an inclusive environment.
A copy of the presentation is annexed. (annexure I)
Mr K Ramkumar- Head, Human Resources, ICICI Bank Limited
shared his experiences, stressing that no organization should be
happy with 'check boxes' and 'good numbers', there would always be
a need for taking up issues which the organization needed to sort out.
He dwelt on the issue of stereotypes, and spoke of the 'power of
choice' that women had, the moot question being: "when does a
woman lose that choice?" He said it made business sense to recruit
women, adding that care took centre stage when one looked at HR
function in a diverse work environment. "Care is not just handing over
a handkerchief, but taking action that actually has an impact," he
said.
He also said, women are taken for sales job in the age group of 29-35
but for every five women the organization supports, only one woman
takes advantage.
Rather than working towards what women want to be, it is important
to realize what others want the women to be, he said. He also
stressed the need to influence teachers and professors on Gender
Equality.
Ms Kalpana Margabandhu, Programme Director, IBM India
Software Labs spoke of IBM's initiatives in terms of equality in the
workplace, globally as also what it was doing in the Indian scenario.
Speaking about the 'heritage of inclusion', she spoke of women in
technology initiatives, stressing that while the initiatives applied to
women, they were not limited just to women. Speaking of flexibility at
the workplace, she pointed out that despite all the positive aspects it
had, flexibility was not an entitlement.
A copy of the presentation is annexed. (annxure II)
Mr Satish Pradhan, Executive Vice President (Group H R), Tata
Sons Ltd in his presentation on 'Taking Leadership' mentioned the
initiatives by Tata Group companies in terms of gender equality at the
workplace. "It all depends on the sort of culture we build within our
organizations, the practices we follow," he said. The manufacturing
sector needs to do more to get females into the workplace, he said
the shop floor was an ideal challenge. He described 'Tejaswini' as an
initiative that made efforts to breach what was essentially a male
bastion, by getting competent women employees to handle what was
always seen as 'a man's job'. Tata Steel's Tejaswini project is a
remarkable empowerment initiative that has seen 23 ordinary women
become operators and drivers of heavy-duty machinery and vehicles
He also spoke of a TCS support group, MAITREYI which dealt with
support groups. The major objective of Maitreyi is to develop a
feminist perspective in understanding women's issues and the
women's movement, and to sensitize everyone about women's
issues. Maitreyi sponsors and indirectly supports the following
activities: women's studies workshops, research, documentation,
support centers for women in distress, mobilization of women in
villages to join Ladies Club, and publication of books and annual
reports.
In her concluding remarks, Ms Anu Aga said HR Heads of companies
should be able to state how gender policy would help the company;
Implement practical ideas about how to address gender equality
challenges faced in their workplace; Examine further their own and
others' experience, values and attitudes towards issues of gender
equality and Develop action plans to take their learning into their
workplace.
She requested all the participants present, to practice the learnings of
the Workshop and help CII in its efforts to make the Gender Equality
at the Workplace possible.
On behalf of CII, she thanked all the speakers and participants once
again. She also extended a special thanks to IBM for their
sponsoring the event.
List of Participants and contact details annexed (annexure III)
Annexure III
List of Participants
S. NO Name Designation Company Contact details
1 Anu Aga Director Thermax Thermax House
4 Mumbai-Pune Road
Shivajinagar
PUNE 411 005
Tel: 020 25512122/263
Email:aaga@THERMAXINDIA.COM
2 Chanda Kochhar Deputy Managing
Director
ICICI Bank ICICI Towers
Bandra-Kurla Complex
Bandra (East)
Mumbai 400051
Tel: 91-22-6536816 / 6531414
chanda@icici.com
3 K RamKumar Head- HR ICICI Bank ICICI Bank Towers
Bandra-Kurla Complex
Mumbai 400 051
Tel: 91-22-26536010/26531414
ramkumar.k@icicibank.com
4 Lynette Dsilva Manager Learning &
Development
Zensar
Technologies
Zensar Technologies Ltd, Ashoka
Plaza Nagar Road Pune-14 Tel: 91-
20-56057000
Email: l.lemos@zensar.com
5 M Kalpana Programme Director IBM India Software IBM Software Group
Bagalore
Tel: 080-51927981
Email: mkalpana@in.ibm.com
6 Manjiri Gokhale Head HR, BPO Zensar
Technologies
Zensar Technologies Ltd, Ashoka
Plaza Nagar Road Pune-14 Tel: 91-
20-56057000
Email: m.gokhale@zensar.com
7 Matangi Gowrishankar HR, Director- Transcon
Lubes
BP India Services
Pvt. Ltd
Tel: 022-66984311
Email:
mantangi.gowrishankar@seibp.com
8 B Madhu Manager HR Johnson & Johnson 30, Forjett Street
Mumbai 400 036
Maharashtra
Tel: 022-66646393
Email: bmadhu@jnjin.jnj.com
9 K Arun Kumar Management
Development Manager
HLL Nalanda Training Centre
Brookefields, Marathahalli PO
Bangalore 560 037
Ph 080 39830000
Email: K.Arunkumar@Unilever.com
10 Marcel R Parker President- HR Raymond India Mahindra Tower , B Wing , 3
rd
Floor
Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Worli,
Mumbai
Tel:91-22-56609999
Email: mrparker@raymondindia.com
11 Rajendra Ghare HR Head Praj Industries Ltd 1216/6, Fergusson College Road
Pune 411004
Maharashtra
Tel:91-20-321301, 329591
Email: RajendraGhare@praj.net
12 Arun Kumar Singh Sr Manager Dr Reddys
Laboratories
7-1-27 Ameerpet , Hyderabad
500016, A.P.
Tel: 91-40-23731946
Email: arunsingh@drreddys.com
13 Ekkta Jawanpuria Manager & OD BASF India Ltd RBC Mahindra Towere , Dr G M
Bhosale Marg, Worli Mubai-400018
Tel: 91-22-66618079
Email: ekkta.jawanpuri@basf.com
14 Piloo Wadia Manager- GroupHR Vedanta Group Sterlite Industries (I) Ltd.
Vedanta 75, Nehru Road, Vile Parle
(East) , Mumbai-400099
Tel: 91-22-66461000
Email: piloo.wadia@vedanta.co.in
15 Ranjana Patel Manager-HR American
ExpressBank Ltd
Fort House , 1
st
Floor ,221 ,
Dr D N Road, Fort Mumbai
Tel: 91-22-56321094
Email: ranjana.v.patel@aexp.com
16 Ruby Thapar AVP-CSR Vedanta Group Sterlite Industries (I) Ltd
Vedanta , 75, Nehru Road, Vile Parle
(East)Mumbai-400099
Tel: 91-22-56461000
Email: ruby.thapar@vedanta.co.in
17 Harpreet Kaur GM- HR Godrej & Boyce
Mfg. Co. Ltd.
Plant 17
Security equipment division
Pirojshanagar
Vikhroli
Mumbai 400079
Tel : 022-67964102
Harpreet.kaur@godrej.com
18 Satish Pradhan EVP (Group HR) Tata Sons Ltd Tata Sons Ltd.
Bombay House
24 Homi Mody Street
Mumbai 400 001
Tel : 022 6657929
Email: spradhan@tata.com
19 Samit Kriplani Assistant Manager- HR S L Raheja Hospital Raheja Rugnalaya Marg, mahim ,
Mumbai-400016
Tel: 91-22-66529668
Email:
samitkriplani@rahejahospital.com
20 Sumita Nandy Off. Hr Forbes Marshall Mumbai-pune Road, Kasarwadi
Pune 411 034
Maharashtra
Tel: 022-7442020
Sn@forbesmarshall.com
21 Suresh Adav HR Personal S L Raheja Hospital Raheja Rugnalaya Marg, mahim ,
Mumbai-400016
Tel: 91-22-66529668
Email: sureshadav@rahejahospital.com
22 Swati Datye DGM ICICI Bank ICICI Bank Towers
Bandra-Kurla Complex
Mumbai 400 051
91-22-26536012/26531414
Email: swati.datye@icicibank.com
23 TSD Kirby Head HR HSBC India S2/60 M G Road, Fort, Mumbai-
400001
Tel: 91-22-22623890
Email: timkirby@hsbc.com
24 Violet Malekar Sr Manager Forbes Marshall Mumbai-pune Road, Kasarwadi
Pune 411 034
Maharashtra
Tel: 022-7442020
Email: vm@forbesmarshall.com
25 Anita S Guha Diversity Leader IBM IBM Software Group
Bagalore
Tel: 080-51927981
Email: ganita@in.ibm.com
26 Somya Katattil Correspondence DNA
27 Elina Mohante Reporter Hindu Business
CII Secretariat
28
Shefali Chturvedi Director & Head- SDI &
Healthcare
CII Plot No. 249-F Udyog Vihar Phase
IV
Sector-18
Gurgaon-122015
Tel: 95124-4014060-63
Email: Shefali@ciionline.org
29 Parvati Krishnan Deputy Director CII Plot No. 249-F Udyog Vihar
Phase IV
Sector-18
Gurgaon-122015
Tel: 95124-4014060-63
Email:
Parvati.krishnan@ciionline.org