Women’s Day: Corporate giants rewrite the 'unconventional jobs for women' script

In the dynamic and rapidly evolving corporate world of India, a transformative wave is sweeping through the traditionally male-dominated bastions of certain industries. On International Women’s Day, Moneycontrol looks at major companies across the nation that are challenging deeply ingrained biases and stereotypes by actively working towards increasing the representation of women in fields long deemed "unconventional for women."

This paradigm shift reflects not only a commitment to gender diversity but also a recognition of the immense untapped potential that lies within the female workforce.

Vedanta 

At some business locations such as the aluminium business in Odisha’s Jharsuguda and Lanjigarh, mining major Vedanta has started deployment of female employees in all the shifts – morning, day, and night.

The initiative began in Jharsuguda in October last year and in Lanjigarh in January 2024. Women are mainly responsible for operating and controlling Pot Tending Machines (PTM).

ALSO READ | Women find Chennai 'safest' for less crime, more jobs; Delhi enters 10 safe cities list

The primary tasks of a Pot Tending Machine include the extraction of aluminium metal from the pots, maintenance of the pots, and other essential operations within the smelting cell.

Under its Project Panchhi, Vedanta hired more than 250 girls in 2023 across Vedanta Jharsuguda, BALCO, Vedanta Lanjigarh, ESL Steel, Vedanta Aluminium Mines

In Balco, the company is in discussion with the government for the deployment of females in night shifts.

During the journey, some of the hurdles faced include unconscious bias, safety concerns in remote plant locations, and alignment with families of employees.

“When it comes to encouraging women to break ceilings and shackles of age-old biases, a lot of effort goes into convincing them that they are born to take up challenges and succeed in every facet of life. Trust must be built; society and families need to be taken into confidence and we need to make sure that the right infrastructure and conducive environment is put into place,” said Madhu Srivastava, Chief Human Resources Officer of Vedanta.

Tata Steel

Historically, women have had lower participation in the workforce and faced exclusion and discrimination in employment in the industries like mining and manufacturing sectors, when compared to the service sector.

However, companies like Tata Steel are changing the narratives. In April 2019, Tata Steel opened its Jamshedpur steel plant shop floor for women employees in A & B shifts, between 6 AM and 10 PM.

ALSO READ | Breaking Barriers: PwDs lead charge in corporate accessibility revolution

Through its “Women@Mines” initiative, Tata Steel became the first company in India to deploy women in all shifts in mines in September 2019. Tata Steel has also onboarded 100 women as heavy earth moving machinery (HEMM) operators through the Tejaswini 2.0 programme – a major step in breaking mental barriers and increasing women's participation in the workforce.

The company is also inducting its first batch of 23 women firefighter trainees who will undergo training in Basic Fire Fighting and Rescue Operations and will be the first-ever women firefighters in Tata Steel.

“We have been working with the government to allow women in all shifts at our operations. At our mining and manufacturing locations where 3 shift working of women is permitted, necessary infrastructure enablement has been done to create a safe and inclusive workplace,” said Atrayee Sanyal, Vice President, Human Resource Management (HRM) of Tata Steel.

Blue Dart

Logistics major Blue Dart embarked on a progressive journey in attracting and employing women in roles seen as “unconventional” to women employees by introducing fully women-operated service centres in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai in 2021. 70 percent of women run the service centres.

The centres cater to all the product lines handling domestic priority shipments (documents like passports, bank documents, property documents, credit/debit cards etc.) and E-Commerce shipments, and consistently achieved a 90 percent on-time delivery rate, monitored through the key performance indicator (KPI) called EDD (Expected Date of Delivery).

ALSO READ | LGBTQ+ professionals in India welcome in specific industries, underrepresented in others

Besides, the company also has 15 female bikers who complete all the last-mile deliveries.

The centres are also starting to create leadership talent as well. The current female service centre in charge joined as a courier staff. Seeing her performance, potential, passion and enthusiasm, she was groomed under a regional leadership team to systematically handle other activities like vendor management, escalation resolutions, customer-related issues, effective manpower allocation and so on, before becoming in charge.

“Throughout our journey, we encountered gender biases, logistical challenges, and the need for inclusivity during remote work transitions. To address these issues, we implemented targeted initiatives such as workshops on micro-validation to foster inclusion and minimise hostility in the workplace for women,” said Rajendra Ghag, Chief Human Resources Officer at Blue Dart.

Nayara Energy 

Private refiner Nayara Energy's initiatives for women in senior roles achieved a remarkable shift from 5 percent in 2021 to 40 percent in 2023 overall representation, marking a substantial stride towards gender equality in the corporate workforce.

Women now hold key leadership positions, including chief financial officer (CFO), chief people officer, Head of Safety, Legal, and Corporate Communications, challenging norms in the male-dominated Oil and Gas industry.

ALSO READ | Breastfeeding at workplace remains taboo despite growing narrative around inclusion

Further, five of Nayara Energy's fuel retail outlets are run by women in JP Energy Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Surat, Coimbatore and Baroda.

“As an industry norm, given that Fuel Dispensing Attendants are typically males, hiring females in this profession was not an easy task. There was a need for a mindset shift and finding women who were keen to take on this job opportunity,” a spokesperson for Nayara Energy said.

All the progress in diversity was achieved through various initiatives including Executive Coaching, Action Learning projects, Simulation workshops, and educational opportunities from business schools.

Allcargo Logistics

At Allcargo Logistics’ express logistics division Allcargo Gati, the company has introduced all-women first shifts in 14 operating units in July 2022. More than 50 women staff members oversee the first shift, which runs from 7 AM to 3 PM in various job roles including Associate of operations, Shift leader of operations, among others.

ALSO READ | Workforce woes: India's Infra boom strains under blue-collar shortage

The overarching objective is to expand the current operational units from 14 to 24 units across India in the long term. Currently, the representation of women employees at Allcargo group including ECU Global, Allcargo Logistics’ wholly-owned global subsidiary has gone up to 33 percent.

“Misplaced perception related to work environment, career advancement and sustainability puts hurdles in the process of hiring women professionals and retaining them. Despite the challenges, we managed to build confidence and comfort level in the group’s women workforce by developing women-friendly policies and infrastructure and facilities,” said Indrani Chatterjee, Group CHRO of Allcargo Group.