Even as progressive companies have taken up gender equality at the workplace on a war footing, research presents a rather bleak picture on the ground. A recent survey states that 55% of the overall respondents from India indicated that men are favoured over women when two candidates are equally qualified for the same job at their workplace. It is noteworthy that, 61% of the male and 47% of the female respondents agreed to this fact, while globally 70% of the respondents confirmed the same. When asked to reveal their preferences, 70% of the male respondents from India mentioned that they would prefer a male as their direct manager and, in reality, a vast majority (87%) are actually reporting to a male manager. However, the figures deviate among women respondents, with only 41% of the female respondents stating that they prefer a male as direct manager, with 50% actually having one.
The constant highlighting of the gender pay-gap issue notwithstanding, the study found 91% of the respondents from India believed that at their workplace, both men and women in similar roles were rewarded equally. This is much higher than the global average of 79%. A significant majority (88%) also felt both men and women are equally supported when asking for a promotion. On a more positive note, a large majority (89%) of the respondents from India said that they prefer to work in a gender-diverse team, while 86% believed that gender-diverse teams perform and achieve better results than single-gender teams.
