It has been PAFI’s endeavour to take forward the agenda of SAFE PAFI and connect more with like-minded organisations who are working towards accelerating pathways for women in leadership, especially in the corporate sector. Udaiti Foundation, along with PAFI, Dasra, CEDA at Ashoka University, and Catalytic Corps, organised stakeholder consultation on Women in India Inc: Pathways to Progress in the Private Sector in New Delhi on 12 December ’23.

Participants including President PAFI, Ms. Vinita Sethi shared diverse experiences of women through their careers’ pipelines but with a common thread of how each one faced challenges from gender stereotypes to unconscious biases.

It was evident that more data-based policy interventions could help plug the leaky pipelines from the time women enter the workforce till they reach leadership positions and even the Boards.

PAFI would continue to join hands with #UdaitiFoundation and other organisations to analyse the leakages in women’s pipeline at workplaces and put together a convergence of policies that impact and accelerate women’s leadership. These could include greater access to resources in caregiving, more women-friendly HR policies, peer learnings, mentoring, fiscal incentives to employers to contribute to women’s health and augmenting women’s own skills and knowledge trajectory over the years. Return-ship from maternity is for instance challenged by what is called maternity risk but this is something that continues through a woman’s career as a caregiver. Mainstreaming these issues in national policies will go a long way to alleviate the challenges and Private sector can contribute in a big way to strengthen the capacity for women to aspire and have long fulfilling careers.