Top 100 firms in the country spent a mere 4% of their total expenditure on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities on women’s economic empowerment, according to a new report by United Nations Development Programme India prepared.
The study titled ‘Corporate Engagement in Women’s Economic Empowerment’ maps the efforts and initiatives of BSE 100 companies towards economic empowerment of women, identifies gaps and makes recommendations on how companies can work towards a more gender equitable India. The report has been prepared in partnership with a CSR consulting firm, Samhita.
It shows that the top 100 companies reported a total expenditure of ₹423.84 crore on women’s empowerment and ₹250.62 crore on their economic empowerment out of the total ₹6,314.30 crore spent on CSR activities in financial year 2017-2018 . The average median per company was ₹1.97 crore.
The top five companies where expenditure data was available were Hindustan Unilever, TATA Steel, Ambuja Cement, Larsen & Toubro, and Bharti Infratel.
The study notes that there is a scope for enhancing the focus on women’s economic empowerment as 72% of the BSE top 100 companies reported intervention in this area, implying there is an opportunity to tap into this widespread interest on the issue.
But States such as Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam that need interventions on this issue the most due to a low female labour participation rate saw a huge dearth of CSR programming.
Among other gaps, is a lack of focus throughout the entire life-cycle of women’s employment. Most programmes are focussed on “prepare and enter” stage such as through career counselling and vocational training. But a lack of support during the later stages through financial and digital literacy were missing, therefore, which may lead to many dropping out of their jobs.
The study argues for more comprehensive measures for gender inclusivity, beyond the realm of CSR, through efforts to ensure a larger number of women employees as well as an increased participation of women in board-level leadership.
Data shows that women comprised less than 10% of the permanent workforce of the majority of BSE 100 companies as manufacturing and automobile sectors, which are male dominated, are highly represented in this category.
It recommends the need for various stakeholders to join hands so that different CSR programmes can focus on the entire life cycle of women’s economic empowerment as well as working to address attitudes of a woman’s spouse, father, community members and collaborate with schools, colleges and workplace to provide a conducive ecosystem for women.
The study released in late September relied on publicly available data from Annual Reports, as well as Sustanaibility, CSR and Business Responsibility Reports.
