Hiver, a Gmail-based customer service solution, hosted an industry discussion with a panel of four highly-prolific women leaders from different realms of expertise in the startup ecosystem. The discussion, held to mark the occasion of International Women’s Day, brought out some great insights on the challenges in diversity hiring, and how companies and leaders can build a more gender-balanced workplace today.
According to LinkedIn’s Opportunity Index 2021, 85 percent of working women have missed out on a raise, promotion or work offer because of their gender. The report also highlights that India’s working women still contend the strongest gender bias across Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries, with one in five working women expressing that companies exhibit a ‘favourable bias‘ towards men at work.
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To understand more about how women leaders in India are campaigning to bridge this gender divide, and to make workplaces more diverse and inclusive, Hiver organised a webinar titled ‘First-hand experiences in Building A Gender-Balanced Workplace‘, on the 5th of March.
Moderated by Mohita Nagpal, VP Marketing at Hiver the webinar’s panel included Sunita Mohanty – Trust & Safety Director at Google & Investor at Xoogler Angels; Priya Mohan – Startup Sensei at Venture Highway; Ruchira Gokhale – Head of Consulting Solutions at Interweave; and Ratna Joshi – Head of Learning & Development for Mahindra & Mahindra.
Introducing the topic, the panelists spoke about what diversity means to them, and how organisations today are hiring for diversity. Priya Mohan of Venture Highway, a Founder turned VC, said, “In hiring, diversity is often looked at from the perspective of fulfilling a quota, and it isnt that. It’s important to democratize the opportunity but not lower the bar.” She also pointed out the privilege associated with diversity hiring – “Startups and VCs being young organisations have the opportunity to build a culture of diversity from the beginning. It comes at a significant cost that not all organisations have the privilege to bear.”
Sunita Mohanty – Trust & Safety Director, Goo