UpGrad-Led Harappa's Study reveals that gender wage gap is widest in top leadership roles

By: WE Staff | Friday, 17 March 2023

The Grand Women & Workplace Report, the nation's most extensive assessment of women's professional ambitions, barriers to their careers, and workplace realities, was released by Harappa, a division of upGrad, Asia's premier integrated learning, skilling, and workforce development firm.

The findings, which are based on feedback from more than 1,500 professionals at India Inc. and are stacked across career milestones, draw attention to a number of significant issues that women in the workforce face. The provoking observations consist of:

Professional progress (82% of respondents) and better income (78%), as well as an atmosphere that supports these aspirations, are of the utmost importance to women. Contrary to popular belief, less than a third of the women surveyed thought that flexible work options and work-life balance were key issues.

The playing field is far from a level more than a century after the inaugural International Women's Day was recognised. Sadly, the gender wage gap is most pronounced at the highest levels of leadership. For every rupee that men make at these levels in CXO roles, women make 74 rupees.

Despite the fact that businesswomen excel at completing agreements and earning revenue, they lack the power to make investment decisions. Profit and loss mandates represent the area where there is the greatest gender gap among department heads, with women still behind men by 65% to 29%, respectively.

While the majority of women take work vacations for children (58%), males are more likely to take time off to further their education (48%). Having children is just the beginning of the difference; women spend 2.5 times as much time each day providing care in all aspects of their jobs.

"Unfortunately, women's professions continue to provide the greatest challenge in history, characterised by broken rungs, glass cliffs, glass ceilings, and deep valleys of salary and role discrepancies. These are significant problems that must be addressed and resolved.

India will need all of its talent to contribute effectively and grow equitably if it is to become one of the world's top economies, according to Shreyasi Singh and Pramath Raj Sinha, co-founders of Harappa. They said, "We hope that our study is yet another reminder to keep trying to improve issues.

"The study Women and Workplace, which examines the challenges women face at work, serves as a wake-up call. It highlights the crucial concerns we must address to guarantee that every employee, regardless of gender, feels valued and respected”. Co-Founder and Chairman of upGrad, Ronnie Screwvala, stated, "In addition to being the right thing to do, improving our support for and empowerment of women is essential to our long-term success”.