The corporate sector should introduce flexible working hours for married women and it cannot be an excuse for any company to remove women employees after they have children, NCW Chairperson Lalita Kumarmangalam said today.
Addressing a CII event, she said it cannot be an excuse for any company to drop women employees after they get married and have children.
"Flexi-working hours should become a norm..." she said.
NCW called upon the corporate sector to impart skill-based training to women for inclusive growth rather than being sympathetic to them.
"Inclusion means invest in women. Don't look on us as you are doing us a favour," she said while addressing a session on 'Inclusion and Gender: Building India'.
Kumarmangalam said that women in India lack access to skills.
"May be we are very good at multi-tasking, but we often lack the skills that would increase our productivity and make us contribute in a better manner or in what is expected from us," she said.
Kumarmangalam said that the agriculture sector has the highest concentration of unskilled women labourers who account for 70 to 80 per cent of the total workforce.
"Women own less than five per cent of the property in the agricultural sector. Think about the profits that we could achieve in agricultural exports if products are actually developed to help women increase their productivity," she said.
"Empowerment is not merely economic empowerment or financial inclusion. Women are not yet skilled enough to become totally a part of this movement," she said.
Speaking on the influence of patriarchal society in making women drop out of work, she said it is more often about 'women vs women' than 'men vs women'.
"Men are not always at fault. It is often women keeping other women down too," she said.
