In today’s era, companies and organizations are doing much more than just businesses and profit. They are contributing their best to society in the form of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Following which the global CSR landscape has evolved enormously in recent decades, with many significant changes in the last five to ten years. CSR has grown from a trend to becoming standard practice for large and mid-cap companies around the world. It is being integrated into the DNA of firms, their supply chains, and the communities in which they do business. The world is witnessing an increased action on CSR activities, and the same is the scenario in India.
India is one of the first countries in the world to formalize the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in nation-building through Section 135 of Companies Act, 2013, which mandates eligible companies to spend two percent of their net profits on social development. This, as a result, is reflecting as the empowerment of women across the country, which is a dire need for the developing nation like India.
The schedule VII of the Act states ‘promoting gender equality and empowering women’ as a key cause area for corporate investment. The reason for this is clear: despite significant strides in economic growth and social development, India ranks 127 out of 189 countries on the gender inequality index as of 2017. Our falling female labour force participation rate has been the subject of international discussion for years, having declined from 34.1 percent in 1999-00 to 27.2 percent in 2011-12.
According to McKinsey Global Institute, progress towards gender parity in economic participation could boost India’s GDP by $0.7 trillion (16 percent) by 2025, not to mention the human and social gains that are incalculable and invaluable.
Let’s have a look on few of the women empowerment projects through CSR:
Tata Technologies Limited: The Company’s Empowerment via Education program aims to empower girls in a way that they become financially independent and productive individuals who will work alongside men thereby reshaping the traditional gender norms and bringing equality in all spheres of interpersonal and social relationships. With this dream, the Company signed a fresh MoU with Lila Poonawala Foundation to provide scholarship and mentorship support to 70 meritorious girls coming from low-income families and help them to become successful Engineers. This partnership is expected to lessen the underrepresentation of Indian women in careers related to Science, Technology and Engineering. The scholarships will be awarded for the entire period of the Engineering degree course, subject to academic performance and participation in various educational & personality development programs of the Foundation.
Sterlite Technologies Limited: The Company’s Flagship Program, Jeewan Jyoti Women Empowerment Programme (JJWEP), Setup in 2014 at Ambavane, Velhe. The purpose of the JJWEP is to equip rural women with vocational skills in computers, tailoring, nursing and beauty culture that will propel them towards financial independence. However, empowerment is not possible just through financial independence. The programme, therefore, encompasses various other facets such as confidence building, public speaking, knowledge of health and nutrition, life skills and even provides necessary help for entrepreneurship and employment. It works to create self-reliant, confident and financially independent women who are aware of their potential and the change they can make to the communities they live in. They are made to understand the importance of education and gender equality. During FY19, the JJWEP had the highest number of admissions, 421 students. The programme is one of the few in the country to provide the students with transport facilities in view of the lack of public conveyance in the region. This has helped women even in remote villages to avail of the programme’s benefits
Hero MotoCorp Limited: The Company under Women Empowerment launched project Sakhi in association with the police departments of 8 states to empower women cops by providing them two-wheelers to increase their independent mobility when responding to distress calls. The total cops supported currently are 960. The Company also promoted Employability for girls and women wherein the short-term courses provided include tailoring, beautician, hospitality and more. The Entrepreneurship Development program for women focused on the marginalized section of the society by providing opportunities to enhance their capacity to earn a decent livelihood and support their families. The Company has thus promoted socio-economic and community development awareness through all means and media.
Hindustan Zinc Limited: SAKHI - The flagship project is geared towards mobilizing rural women into self-help groups (SHGs) and developing their capacities around leadership, skill development, savings and entrepreneurship. Under this project, there are 1922 SHGs with a membership of about 23,954 with total savings of Rs. 6.2 crore and cumulative loans of Rs. 17.13 crore including credit of Rs. 2.7 crore leveraged from banks. 18,053 women availed loans from SHGs for various purposes like livelihood activities, education, debt redemption and household consumption. 492 women have started or expanded their micro-enterprises. Two other significant developments from the year were: The project now has 126 functional VOs and five federations with a base of 23,000 women were formed during the year and two of the largest programs – Khushi and Sakhi were brought together under various initiatives. One example is the involvement of about 140 women in stitching uniforms for 60,000 Khushi Anganwadi children under the ‘Khushi Baatiye’ Campaign.
Apart from these four projects, there are many other projects handled by organizations that has helped women across the country through CSR activities. These projects are really commendable and is an attempt to create a better society and the nation needs such projects for its development.
Results According to Research Report
A report published by the United Nations Development Programme in India (UNDP India), in partnership with Samhita Social Ventures, has found that 72 percent of BSE 100 companies report an intervention in women’s empowerment. The report, Corporate Engagement in Women's Economic Empowerment includes a micro-analysis of the CSR and business activities of India’s top 100 companies on the BSE 100 index on women’s economic empowerment (WEE).
According to the report here is the key findings for CSR in Women’s Economic Empowerment:
With 72 percent of BSE 100 companies reporting an intervention in women’s empowerment, there is a huge opportunity to tap into the widespread CSR interest in this cause. However, CSR expenditure is relatively low: women’s economic empowerment garnered Rs. 251 crore, with a median of Rs. 1.97 crore per company, accounting for 4 percent of total CSR spend. Companies are taking a siloed approach, with only 31 percent of the businesses intervening in all three stages of prepare, enter, grow & sustain. CSR support was concentrated in the Prepare and Enter stages. Vocational training was the most common CSR intervention (68 percent of companies reported such a program), followed by SHG creation (42 percent) and entrepreneurship development (30 percent). Not many companies reported supporting digital and financial inclusion explicitly – 11 percent and 15 percent - despite the presence of well-established and scalable models and NGOs working in these sectors. There were fewer CSR programs in enablers. Just 22 percent of companies reported program on soft and life skills, and only two companies were working in domestic violence.
Also, let’s have a look at the key findings on addressing WEE through business practices:
Highlighting a key need gap, the report nudges companies to look beyond the regular CSR focus on initiatives for women, to promote an enabling environment for women to participate and thrive in the workforce. Data showed that women make up less than 10 percent of the permanent workforce of the majority of BSE 100 companies, possibly because industries that have historically been male-dominated, including manufacturing and automobile sectors, are very highly represented in this category. All except 2 companies complied with the mandate to appoint at least one women director in their board. However, only 15 percent companies had three or more women board members - the strength it takes to create balanced board dynamics that allow for women’s ideas to be heard as per global research. Case studies on Godrej Ltd., Arvind Ltd. and ACC show how companies are being responsible employers. While representative, quantitative data was not available to map supply chain performance of companies on WEE, the report highlights case studies on Future Group, Hindustan Unilever, Mars Inc. and others to showcase how companies are supporting women’s empowerment through their procurement and distribution practices.
Conclusion
Women are central to the entire development process, be it in an individual family, village, province, state and the whole nation. Women have maintained the traditional Indian culture since ages. CSR is one of the most prominent concepts through which organizations have scope for ensuring development in the status of women in India through women empowerment. More and more organizations must participate in CSR activities, this will not just empower the women community but help India to develop and flourish as a nation.
