Manufacturing is an inspiring and fulfilling career for both men and women, alike. One that offers challenging, interesting roles and a clear path for progression. Today, organizations world-over are impacted by competition and challenges owing to an ever-changing market. Diversity and inclusion initiatives are increasingly becoming embedded into organizations as a core business goal to sustain development, attract talent, and retain employees. Diversity extends to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender. Amongst these aspects, the largest issue that needs to be addressed & prioritized is the gender gap. However, from the early 1900s, communities have made significant progress to change this perception, and broaden minds to understand that the manufacturing industry has scope for women too. Since then, the focus on empowering women to take on various job functions across industries has been a priority. Business is never about gender, but about professionalism and the ability to work.Â
Research shows that gender diversity benefits a manufacturing organization through improved ability to innovate, a higher return on equity, and increased profitability. Organizations can also unleash the full potential of their female workforces by creating a culture where unique strengths thrive.
Over the past decade, the manufacturing industry has been experiencing an extreme transformation. Historically, society has often equated this industry with a dirty, dangerous factory floor occupied by men. Fast forward to the present; the manufacturing industry is advanced and modern, requiring a diverse level of skills from both men and women. With technological advancement and the convergence of conventional and digital manufacturing, the skillset demands are changing. Talent, apart from being key, is also in shortage, and manufacturers’ top concerns have been the inability to attract and retain a quality workforce.
While global studies reveal that women make up at least 40 percent of the workforce across over 80 countries, women are largely underrepresented and underutilized in the manufacturing workforce; thereby presenting one of the largest pools of untapped talent for manufacturers all over the world. A study on Indian women in the manufacturing sector reveals that women represent just about 3 percent of the workforce in core engineering industries, as opposed to over 12 percent, in sectors such as electronics.
The best innovations have come from diverse teams. A diverse team of men and women tends to approach problems differently and is better at finding creative solutions. I strongly believe in establishing a diverse working environment; one that values diverse perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds which could bring positive implications for product and process innovation, customer relationship management, and talent recruitment.
While there is a surfeit of data indicating the impact of gender diversity on tangible and intangible business metrics, what I believe is that diversity of all kinds is a necessary condition for a business unit to thrive and for its members to be happy. This is very clearly seen in a family unit and manufacturing companies must work towards re-creating the same in their organisational context.
Organisations must encourage goal-oriented, purpose-driven culture to bring the authentic selves of the women employees to the table. It results in continuous learning, and creating a sense of belonging and fulfillment, for every employee, every day. Implementation of flexible working hours and a flexible location policy has become established best practices to encourage women employees to pursue their career with manufacturing companies.
Organisations with a more equal gender balance are found to be up to 20% more profitable and the ones with greater ethnic and cultural diversity are up to 30% more profitable (Source: McKinsey). Hence, organizations must continuously work towards improving gender diversity and creating an equal opportunity environment, as opposed to being singularly obsessed with achieving gender diversity in terms of the ratio alone. Having said that, we do have a long way to go when it comes to achieving optimal gender balance. Across the world, manufacturers and educators must work closely together to create and raise awareness for programs that provide more exposure to the true image behind modern manufacturing.
Today, manufacturing is a progressive industry offering immense and diverse opportunities to women leaders. A true opportunity exists for women to let their talent be leveraged in the manufacturing industry. In today’s world, women employees are making a difference across all functions, roles, and levels within the organisation. Women leaders in functions like design, manufacturing, marketing, human resources, product management, and quality make a tremendous impact in the workplace. They are also role models for women across the world who are considering a career in manufacturing.