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She means business: How women are conquering unconventional industries
THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT, a film on Netflix, is a true story about the first and only women’s army battalion of colour that was stationed outside the U.S. during World War II. The all-women 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion sorted a three-year backlog of mail (over 17 million letters) that hadn’t been delivered to American soldiers. The story is about how 855 coloured women facing discrimination, in an alien country, brought hope to disillusioned frontline American soldiers and their families, many of whom had given up hope that their loved ones would ever get back home.
If one were to connect the dots of this film with the corporate world (currently caught in the dilemma of balancing diversity and meritocracy), there lies an important learning — the gender of talent hardly matters, it is the situation and opportunity that make a difference. For the women of the 6888th Battalion, equal opportunity was a far-cry, though. They performed and proved themselves in the midst of unimaginable adversities.
The corporate world is riddled with gender biases — a woman can’t work in factory locations, it isn’t safe for her, the working hours are too long, it is not fair to put her on night shifts, and so on. But women have always been used to long working hours. If one looks at the agriculture sector, it is the women who spend longer hours on the fields. Over 60% of the work on farms that involves drudgery is done by women.
So, what prevents organisations from hiring women on shop floors or in remote factory locations? If security is a concern, organisations can take care of it by ensuring they are picked up and dropped home after work.
This was exactly what played in the mind of ReNew co-founder Vaishali Nigam Sinha, who is also chairperson-sustainability for the company, when she was hiring staff for her factories located in remote areas. “ReNew has sites in the remotest corners and what we realised is that if we facilitate transportation and housing, there could be an inflexion in the engagement of women.” The initiative resulted in higher efficiency, improved safety compliance and stronger team collaboration. Around 15% of ReNew’s 4,300-strong workforce today is women and many of them work in remote locations. In fact, some of the locations also have all-women teams of graduate engineers. “This journey began as a D&I (diversity and inclusion) policy, but today, it’s a full-scale cultural transformation. Our all-women site has set a precedent for gender diversity, encouraging similar efforts across the industry,” says Sinha. The company is eyeing a diversity ratio of 30% by 2030.
Similarly, the Mahindra Group is re-writing the rules of workplace inclusion by bringing women into roles where they were never seen before. From all-women dealerships, women on shop floors and service centres to field roles in agriculture and finance, the company is pushing boundaries across the group. Its real estate business hires 25–30 women graduate engineers annually, who are deployed on construction sites. “We empower women with meaningful, challenging frontline roles that match their capabilities, not softer options,” says Asha Kharga, chief customer and brand officer, Mahindra Group. The group has a diversity rate of 27.2%.
Companies operating in traditionally male-dominated sectors such as energy, real estate, auto, and logistics have generally struggled with meaningful gender representation. But the likes of Mahindra Group, ReNew, Brigade Group, Avaada Group, and JSW MG Motor India are changing the narrative. As studies increasingly highlight the operational and financial advantages of hiring women, these companies are moving beyond tokenism. They recognise the tangible benefits of a diverse workforce and are taking deliberate steps to ensure the right mix of employees at all levels. Much like their counterparts in sectors such as FMCG, IT services, and healthcare, the shift has delivered measurable results, translating into stronger operational performance and a more vibrant, inclusive organisational culture.
Changing narratives
Modern day management experts often emphasise the need for corporations to have the right mix of ‘machines’ and high performance, and subtle aspects such as cooperation, compassion, and understanding. The latter is referred to as feminine qualities, while ‘machines’ represent masculinity. Unni Krishnan, founder, Living Machine Institute (an arm of the Peter Drucker Foundation), says an organisation where feminine aspects are absent is a recipe for disaster. “Earlier, corporations were running more like armies, there were battlefield connotations. That cycle is at a point where it is going through self-correction. The feminine aspect, or the aspect of womanly qualities, has become even more important. Senior leaders have realised while action-orientation is important, one needs contemplation (the values of compassion and understanding), too. Action without contemplation leads to burnout. This blend of contradictory qualities leads to better meritocracy.”
The logic of having a blend of masculine and feminine business traits is especially applicable to sectors such as manufacturing, power, infrastructure and real estate, where gender-balanced workforces are a rarity. Though women have always played an important role in the decision of buying a house, most real estate companies prefer to talk to the man of the house.
Bengaluru-based Brigade Group, led by sisters Pavitra Shankar (MD) and Nirupa Shankar (joint MD), ensured the narrative changed. Their first intervention was in the board. Including Pavitra and Nirupa, the Brigade board had three women when the duo took over the business from their father in 2018. Pavitra recalls a shareholder telling her at her first AGM that he wondered how the business would perform with three women board members. “Six years later, the numbers speak for themselves — our revenue has grown from ₹1,946 crore in FY18 to ₹5,064 crore in FY24. Beyond financial gains, there has been an improvement in employee happiness, customer satisfaction and sustainability, which are key indicators of long-term success,” she points out.
The real estate company is pushing for 20% women leadership representation in the next three years. It has women across all levels, many of whom have returned to work after prolonged sabbaticals. The company regularly upskills them through skill-development and leadership training programmes. “We have seen first-hand how diverse teams drive better problem-solving, collaboration and happier customers,” says Nirupa.
Mumbai-based diversified real estate conglomerate K Raheja Corp, on the other hand, is integrating women into real estate taxation and architecture in a big way. Women now make up 51% of its taxation team, 42% of its architecture department, and 57% of its legal team. The company’s #IncludeHer campaign supports new mothers with pre-maternity assistance, flexible work hours, and travel support. “Our SHEROES programme provides targeted leadership training for high-potential women, strengthening our pipeline for future growth,” says chief human resources officer (CHRO) Urvi Aradhya.
The impact of gender diversity is also evident in automotive manufacturing. JSW MG Motor India, which has a 41% female workforce, believes women-led teams bring precision, efficiency, and improved quality control. “Our all-women crew successfully manufactured the 50,000th Hector. The meticulous attention to detail demonstrated by female associates has significantly enhanced our direct run rate and defect detection,” says senior director, human resources, Yeshwinder Patial.
In an earlier interview to Fortune India, Rajeev Chaba, CEO emeritus, had said JSW MG Motor’s decision to give women a chance in their manufacturing facilities came from the belief that no country can progress well without the participation of women in the formal economy. It required a huge investment in time to convince incumbent managers to hire women. “The belief was that girls can’t do welding or painting. We decided to experiment by training a man and a woman who had never done welding in their lives, post which we did a blind test. The woman turned out to be better than the man. Today over 20% of welders on the shop floor are women.”
In its management cadre, JSW MG Motor runs DriveHerBack, a one-year programme where the company hires women who have taken a break. Their performance is evaluated after a year, and if there is a position vacant, the company absorbs them. “We have had 70-80 women per batch in the last five years and close to 20 have joined MG in various functions such as communication, HR, finance, sales, after sales, manufacturing, supply chain,” says Patial.
Muskan Kakkar, COO, GoMechanic, a car servicing and repair solutions provider, says having a gender-balanced team in a male-dominated business brings unique perspectives to the table. “Several women leaders within our company have directly contributed to improving our vehicle repair systems, reducing turnaround times, and elevating customer satisfaction levels.”
In logistics, where female participation has been low, Mahindra Logistics is pioneering change. Its Community Centre of Excellence aims to train over 500 individuals, including women, in FY25 alone. Programmes such as Udaan (for returning professionals) and Ignite U (for young hires) focus on hiring and upskilling women across functions. “One of our women leaders turned around service levels for a luxury automaker in under three months, earning 80% dealer appreciation,” says MD & CEO Rampraveen Swaminathan. “Our diverse teams have fuelled innovation and agility, enabling us to adapt better to evolving customer needs.”
Being an enabler
The intent to build diverse teams can be fulfilled only when organisations walk the talk on creating an enabling environment. Had ReNew not arranged for transportation, accommodation, and security of its women employees on remote locations, having a diverse workforce would have remained a mere dream.
ReNew’s Sinha says D&I should be a leadership agenda. “One of the criteria that our board evaluates our CEO on is the impact he has made on diversity and inclusion. The top management reporting to the CEO is also assessed on their D&I contribution in line with the company’s overall D&I target. Our target is to have 30% women by 2030.”
FMCG major Hindustan Unilever has built hostels for its women employees on the campus of its Sumerpur factory in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. This enables women employees to work night shifts. For those coming from nearby villages, there are buses with security to pick them up and drop them off. These initiatives have resulted in an over 40% diversity rate on the shop floor of that particular factory. Similarly, L&T pays an allowance to women engineers posted in remote locations to hire caregivers for their toddlers. In the electronics division of L&T Precision Engineering & Systems’ Talegaon factory near Mumbai, women make up for around 80% of the workforce in the assembly section. They assemble critical circuit boards for missiles, which are then dispatched to different missile manufacturing facilities under the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
Mahindra Group’s five-year maternity policy, launched in 2023, supports a woman employee right from the day she decides to have a baby till her child goes to playschool. The company also supports women opting for IVF. “We cover 75% of the cost and offer a week of paid leave. We give 26 weeks of maternity leave in case of adoption or surrogacy. We offer 45 days of leave to support recovery after a miscarriage,” explains Kharga.
The greatest worry a woman has after she is back from maternity leave is whether she will have a meaty job to do. “The five-year policy includes a ‘three-year support at work’ after a woman is back from maternity leave. We offer flexible roles and sabbaticals for up to a year. Career assurance is central to our maternity policy. If a woman employee is eligible for a promotion during maternity leave, she receives it or is offered the same role or an equivalent one upon her return,” Kharga adds.
India needs to add 145 million “missing” women into the workforce by 2047 to achieve a 70% female labour force participation rate [FLFPR] and reach its GDP goal of $30 trillion. Without intervention, the country is projected to add only 110 million women, with an FLFPR of 45%, leaving a huge gap, according to an October 2024 study by Magic Bus India Foundation and Bain & Co.
Source: Fortune India