GENDER DIVERSITY INDEX

INTRODUCTION

Gender Diversity Index is used to compare the amount of people across two genders (or groups
of genders e.g., women and non-binary to men). It is most used to calculate the women to men
ratio. Knowing your Gender Ratio will help with your effort to create an inclusive and diverse
workplace and allow you to identify whether there is any over or under representation

Relevance of Gender Diversity Index

 Fostering Innovation: A diverse classroom environment where spirited debate, differing

opinions, and viewpoints exist encourages innovation

 Creating an inclusive environment: A diverse classroom creates an environment which is

representative of the world that we inhabit

 Understanding the nuances of business: With globalization and the increased pace of
innovation, an unprecedented number of choices are available both to modern
consumers and corporations. This results in market fluctuations and thus organizations
must consider the shifting expectations of a diverse pool of customers. These customers
themselves belong to a different age, sex, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural groups.

IIM index for last 2 years

For over half a century, India’s premier business schools were collectively seen as a male
bastion. That is now changing. Since the beginning of this decade, the Indian Institutes of
Management (IIMs), especially the new ones, have made a conscious effort to improve gender
diversity on their campuses. There is no policy as such across the institutions, but each one has
tweaked its admission process to give women a better chance.
These measures were in response to the findings that in the prior years, close to 90 percent of
the new entrants were male and engineers. The IIMs decided to correct this skewed ratio by
giving extra weightage to women and candidates from other academic backgrounds in their
admission processes.
While there is a long way to go before the gender ratio is equal, some progress has clearly been
made. In the 2019 batch, over 30 percent of the new entrants are women.

For the 2019-2020 academic year, IIMC granted admission to 32% women candidates — the
highest ever — up from 27% last year. The number of women students at IIM-C used to average
around 20% till 2016, when it drastically dipped to 16%. This had prompted the B-school to
adopt several measures — like awarding extra marks at the pre-interview stage — to bring
more girl students into its fold. The B-school’s primary objective has always been to get a wider
pool of female candidates, which prompted it to give the girls a little push by awarding them
two additional marks at the pre-interview stage.
 Source:Career 360

Current Status

% Female(Class of 2021)
60%
50%
50%
42%
40% 37% 37%
31% 30%
30% 24%
20%

10%

0%
k re re a e
ta o o o
w
tt d ad
o
h d al kn cu ik
o ab
R In g c al zh
d
M M an Lu C o em
II II B M IM
K A
h
M II I M
II II M
II
 % Female(Class of 2022)
80%

69%
70%

60%
52%
50%

40%
33% 32%
30%
30%
22%
20%

10%

0%
k e a re
ta d o
w
tt o ad
h ik
o n u l ab
o ck lc ga d
R zh Lu C
a
an em
M o B
II K M M A
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M II II M
II II M
II

Source: Economic Times

Strategies followed by Institutes to improve this index

 IIM Udaipur: The Udaipur institute had set itself the target of having women in
at least a third of a batch. To encourage female candidates, they give an
additional diversity score of 5 points. IIM Udaipur has different facilities and
support systems available on campus to ensure a safe and respectful
environment for female students, staff, and faculty members. They have a
gender sensitivity committee - ‘Samman’ – which has representation from the
faculty, staff, and students. In addition, the institute regularly engages with
women staff members to address their needs in a better way.
 IIM Kozhikode: IIM Kozhikode introduced 60 supernumerary seats for women in 2018,
the first institute to do so
 IIM Rohtak: It held ‘Meet and Greet’ sessions with prospective students.
Women students and their parents were invited to see the campus and
facilities at Rohtak. The institute also covered the fare for three-tier train
berths for all students and the cost of travelling from Delhi to the campus.
These measures improved access in general. With the increasing number of
 female students, the institution is also working on increasing the number of
women faculty members. IIM Rohtak has recruited eight women teachers in
the last two years. All faculty members are also given equal opportunities in
heading various administrative positions and several major departments are
chaired by women faculty members. To ensure they remain, the institute
even assists with employment of spouses.
 IIM Lucknow: IIM Lucknow has allocated five points out of a total 50 to
candidates from non-engineering backgrounds and women
 IIM Calcutta: It has changed its admission process, allocating three points to
women candidates and another two for graduates in disciplines other than
engineering before the “personal interview” stage of the admission process.
After the interview, it allocates one point to postgraduates in non-
engineering disciplines.

WHAT CAN NITIE DO AND ROAD AHEAD?

What can be started right now?

 As right now NITIE does not give weightage to gender diversity during application stage
we lose a lot of female crowd so we can start doing this during initial shortlist as well as
while preparing merit list.
 We can reserve some percentage of seats especially for women or we can introduce
some extra seats for women only.
 Operations and Supply chain Management is often seen as working in a factory with a
lot of machines, but this is not true so female candidates from IT backgrounds does not
feel comfortable in doing this role and prefer IIMs over NITIE. We can start video series
regarding this to make them aware about the actual work and the scope and need of
supply chain and operations domain. We can also conduct webinars (live streaming) for
major UG Colleges for creating awareness.
 We can also do “Meet and Greet” sessions with prospective students. Women students
and their parents can be invited to see the campus and facilities. Travelling cost can be
reimbursed. These measures will improve access in general.
 We can also work on creating a campus atmosphere and environment in which women
students are treated equally and feel safe, we can have a “Gender Sensitivity
Committee” which will have representation from the faculty, staff and students who will
ensure safety, equality and take care of any concern faced by the female students and
faculty by regularly conducting meetings with them.
  We can even assist with employment of spouses of the faculty members in areas near to
campus. Spousal employment is a very important tool in the recruitment and retention
of faculty members.
 We can start a Video Series highlighting the achievements of our Female Alumni, can
also post frequently on our social media platforms regarding this, can conduct webinars
based on women empowerment to encourage women for higher studies.
What can be achieved in a period of 2-3 years:

 If for most of the current programmes engineering is a prerequisite, we can start new
courses such as PGD in HR, Marketing, Finance in which candidates having any degree
can apply and extra marks will be allocated to female candidates as well as candidates
having non-engineering backgrounds
 Work on increasing the number of women faculty members, all faculty members should
be given equal opportunities in heading various administrative positions and several
major departments can be chaired by women faculty members. Periodic rotation of
roles can also be very effective in this regard
 As now online classes are a new normal, we can also introduce online MBA courses with
flexible timings so that working women as well as married women can also pursue MBA

REFERENCES

 https://news.careers360.com/women-in-iims-levelling-field ,
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-gender-diversity-low-at-NITIE-at-any-particular-reason
 https://insideiim.com/iim-calcutta-iim-indore-mica-iim-rohtak-iim-trichy-ximb-indias-
gender-diverse-business-schools-class-2018-2020
 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/education/class-of-2021-
gender-diversity-gets-a-big-boost-at-iims/articleshow/70169120.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
 https://m.economictimes.com/industry/services/education/class-of-2021-gender-
diversity-gets-a-big-boost-at-iims/articleshow/70169120.cms
 https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/iims-bangalore-ahmedabad-to-see-fewer-
women-in-the-new-batch-report-5643971.html
 https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/with-33-women-students-iim-lucknow-
ensures-gender-diversity/story-6TGToTml1kPpXaQLaftiaI.html