The challenge in diversity hiring

We feel concerned when companies reach out to us to help them with their Diversity Hiring. The concept of introducing and encouraging diversity hiring is to give equal opportunity to all individuals, regardless of their gender, race, age, physical ability, ethnicity or religious beliefs. But this is largely practiced as hiring more female employees to maintain the gender ratio in the organization. This helps them to attract more female employees and to maintain a healthy diverse atmosphere.

It is now almost a decade I have been managing large recruitment teams, comprising of freshers, experienced professionals, some returning after a sabbatical etc etc. Recruitment fortunately has more female employees but I have now realized that in these 10 years, I do not see more than 14% of my ex-colleagues continuing to work in full time or part time assignments. And this genuinely makes me feel concerned and scared. If the ratio is better elsewhere, I am sure organizations have helped these employees stabilize their work-life balance better. When I go back and spend some time on the reasons behind the 86% of my female colleagues not being in the industry, it is disturbing.

It is easy to generalize why many females drop out from a promising career: Getting married, on the family way, husband in a different city or may be new family do not want them to work (the usual suspects). I am not sure if this helps any of us in the society. While I understand that as a woman, we need to manage and fulfil multiple roles of a caring wife, good mother, responsible daughter or daughter-in-law, we have been taught from the very beginning that each of the roles has to be performed to the fullest. In these roles, a career aspiration doesn’t exist and if somehow any woman decides to take up this option, then she naturally feels she has compromised on her other roles. Many women quickly end up dropping out of their careers.

Is this a situation we have to accept? Do we have to choose between office demands and pressure and household workload? While the family can be a challenge or a support for a long term career plan but it is the same family which has taught us from very beginning that whatever situation one has to face, we are never allowed to drop out of our schooling. Then why drop out of your career today? Why not figure a solution for every situation? Do some of us see this as an easier option – taking our partners for granted to manage our expenses and our life at the cost of us managing their household work? We need to take a stand, for a better individual, a better family member, a better mother and a better Indian.