Why more women in workforce can be a disruption

While travelling China and Vietnam, one thing as an Indian stood out for me was the participation of women in workforce, and when I say workforce, not like its seen in western countries, its about regular jobs like running shops, managing local transport, running cabs. This is something we totally miss in India, middle east and some parts of western countries. I think if we can improve women participation in day to day workforce, it will be a big disruption. We keep talking of technology as a big disruptor, I will put my bets on more women participation.

A recent report points out, India has lowest percentage of women in labour force, about 27%, this in comparison to 64% in china and 56% in the USA. I am not talking purely from the statistics perspective. I think overall, women tend to be more productive except a few jobs and have a lot more discipline than men. It has been proven in a report by Mckinsey, higher women participation at the top level has given 34% better returns to the organisations. With more women at all levels, the diversity of thinking increases by a margin and that makes decision making a lot more comprehensive.

For India, male domination is common and traditional mindsets create a very condescending attitude to women. improving women participation will be a real disruption. It will have a cascading impact on productivity and well being.