Non-IT Sector can Become Bigger Employer for Women in India, Report

According to a consulting firm, AVTAR Group's annual report 2017, it was found that the non-IT sectors have more potential to employ women.

AVTAR specialises in the inclusion of diversity and workplace. The survey was conducted among 25 large firms and 250 senior women leaders to find out the important factors that can help address the challenges against the increased participation of women in the workforce in India.

The study incorporated the two key social samples relevant to the objective, viz. senior leaders in sales of Corporate firms and successful women professionals in order get a 360-degree view of the perception.

• The report pointed out that the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) hiring rates of women at the entry levels is 21 per cent lower than IT/ITES while in the pharmaceuticals it is 11 per cent lower than IT/ITES.
• The report stated the reasons for such a trend could be due to the fact that 30 per cent of the roles at the entry-level of such industries are based on sales, and that women are overlooked for such positions.
• It also highlighted the essential key skills for women to build a career in sales. The SUPTHAA (Survive, Urgency, Prospecting, Target Decision Makers, Hearing, Authoritativeness and Approval) Competency Model emerged as a result of the study could be used to address the challenges regarding the same by shaping the gender diversity and challenging the stereotypes of women entering sales.
• Studies on Indian women professionals show they are 3% more employable than men with Sales & Business
  Development amongst the top in-demand job roles in the market.
• Women in sales spend as much as 80% of their "sales time" listening to others and only 20% of their time
  talking.

The founder-president, AVTAR Group, Saundarya Rajesh said a huge opportunity is missed as women are not being absorbed in sales roles as these constitute a third of entry-level positions. She also added that by welcoming women into this relatively uncharted territory of sales, the non- IT sectors in the country can make their pursuit of incorporating gender balance, more intentional and intelligent.

Source: DejaVu Blog

Also Read: Tech Women: Meet Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer

Heena Manghani is an intern with SheThePeople.TV.