Indian Working Women Face Most Gender Bias across Asia Pacific Region

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 2 March 2021

Indian women face the strongest gender bias with respect to equal pay and opportunity the Asia Pacific countries said a recent report. The LinkedIn Opportunity Index 2021 concluded that four out of five Indian working women (85 per cent) claim to have missed out on a raise, promotion, or work offer because of their gender, compared to the regional average of 60 per cent. The report also concluded that more working women have been impacted by the Covid 19 pandemic that their global counterparts.

Launched in collaboration with independent market research firm GfK to conduct a research between January 26-31, 2021, over 10,000 respondents participated in the study. The respondents were between the age group of 18 to 65 and hailed from across the Asia Pacific region, from Australia, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. The report surveyed 2,285 respondents in India, 1,223 of whom were males and 1,053 were females.

Delving deep into the gender bias faced by women at work, The LinkedIn Opportunity Index 2021 said that about one in five women (22 percent) in India is unhappy with the opportunities to advance in their career. Respondents added that their companies are favorably biased towards male employees. A whopping 85 percent of working women in India claim that they have missed out on raise, promotion, or work offer in India, as compared to 60 percent in Asia-Pacific region.

Although 66 per cent of people in India feel that gender equality has improved compared to their parents' age, more than 7 out of 10 working women and working mothers felt that their career development is hampered owing to managing familial responsibilities. 63 percent of women and 69 percent of working mothers in India responded that they have had to face discrimination at work because of familial and household responsibilities.

“It is the need of the hour for organizations to reimagine their diversity practices and offer greater flexibility to caregivers, to increase female participation in the workforce. Reduced and flexible schedules, more sabbaticals, and new opportunities to upskill and learn are critical offerings that can help organizations attract, hire, and retain more female talent," said Ruchee Anand, director, talent and learning solutions, India, LinkedIn.