Chennai, India

There are nearly 15,80,000 women working in industries (manufacturing sector) in India; of this, 6,79,000 women, or 43 per cent, are working in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This data has been revealed in the Annual Survey of Industry (2019–20) by the Indian Labour Ministry. The Southern Indian state also ranks second in the share of women-owned enterprises in all proprietary micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Notably, Tamil Nadu's population is around 6 per cent of the Indian population.

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"If you want to progress, don't incentivize poverty or population; instead, incentivize what percentage of girls get to go to school, stay in school, graduate, get employed, etc." Palanivel Thiagarajan, the Minister for IT and Digital Services, Tamil Nadu, said. He was speaking at an event titled 'Avtar and Seramount Best of the Best Conference', where firms were awarded on the basis of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). The categories included Best Companies for Women in India, Most Inclusive Companies, and many more.

Listing out a few of the women-centric initiatives in Tamil Nadu, the minister mentioned that maternity leave for those in government jobs was extended to a whole year. Free bus services for women and free breakfast in government-run schools were the other benefits being provided.

He also said that self-respect marriages in Tamil Nadu had drastically reduced the cases of female infanticide. Elaborating on this, he said that families with girl children once felt burdened by high marriage expenses, which led to rampant female infanticide.

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However, the introduction of self-respect measures, which could be done on a small scale and registered by the government, had brought about reform. Adding further, he said that economic independence has become a priority for women over getting married.

Quoting a study by BlackRock, the minister said that organisations with more diverse workforces performed better than those with less gender-balanced workforces. He also added that similar studies revealed how above-average profitability in organisations was linked to gender diversity.

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"From 53 per cent of companies in 2021 stating that having a diverse workforce has positively impacted their innovation revenue, the number rose to 77 per cent in 2023. This indicator is set to cross the 100 per cent mark by 2025", said Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Founder-President, Avtar Group.