Breaking the Glass Ceiling of Gender in Profession
Breaking the Glass Ceiling of Gender in Profession
Out of all entrepreneurs globally, approximately one-third are women entrepreneurs (World Bank, 2020). Latest statistics shows that there are 252 million female business owners in the world. Talking about Indian start-up ecosystem, women entrepreneurs are empowering 50% of the sector and out of 432 million women of working age, 13.5 to 15.7 million Women-owned businesses are directly employing 22 to 27 million people. According to Boston Consulting Group, over the course of five years, start-ups that were formed or co-founded by women will bring in 10% greater overall revenue. In addition, it is predicted that women-owned firms will expand by 90% during the following five years.Furthermore, McKinsey Global has claimed that by expanding women's involvement in business, India has the potential to boost the global GDP by 700 billion US dollars. Last year, 4 out of the 44 Indian start-ups that turned unicorns were led by women.
Primarily, women are making up a greater proportion of the workforce in different sectors than males do and with the alleviation of industrialization and technology, women are emerging as an economic force.The above mentioned statistics clearly depicts the emerging growth of women from the traditional society which believed that men only have the right to be self-employed. Nevertheless, they are breaking the glass ceiling of gender in professional front still there’s a long way to go. While there are significant improvements, yet potential of women is under exposed and not fully utilised the way it should have been. Generally women have to struggle for juggling the highly demanding professional, familial, personal and societal duties and needs.The main issues they are facing are lack of family & social support, dependent care issues, overloaded responsibilities, and problems of time management etc.
According to a 2021 study entitled Women in the Workplace, just 72 women are employed and promoted to executive positions over every 100 men, and this number drops to 58 for black women. Nearly 20% of all UK employees in the National LGBT Survey claimed that they did not feel at ease being open at work.
As mentioned in the latest Economic Census, Government of India, women entrepreneurship is very crucial for the global expedition and sustained economic development and social progress of the countryand hence, the accomplishment of gender equality, the empowerment of women, and their equal access to and control over economic and financial resources are very important.
For bridging the gender divide,a shift in socio-cultural climate is required through more and more educational options available to all section of the society, so that everyone’s innate talents and skills can be recognised and explored. For any of these cases, pursuing continuing or higher education is an excellent way to boost career opportunities and provide the required skills for the next step up.
Dr. Navneesh Tyagi
Associate Professor, NICE School of Business Studies,
Shobhit Institute of Engineering and Technology (Deemed- to -be University) Meerut.
