CSR is a new means to tackle gender inequality. Women’s empowerment across all sectors can be enhanced if corporations can identify common priorities and work together collaboratively to bring about major change that can be seen.
Census 2011 data was a call for urgent action because it highlighted that the girl child is increasingly being excluded from life itself. The unabated decline in Child Sex Ratio (CSR) since 1961 (from 976 in 1961 to 927 in 2001 and 918 in 2011) was a matter of grave concern as it reflected the low status of women in our society and indicated her disempowerment over a life-cycle continuum. Declining CSR is also indicative of pre-birth discrimination manifested through gender-biased sex selection and post-birth discrimination against girls (in terms of health care, nutrition and educational opportunities).
One of the key areas of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) interventions is women’s empowerment. Women in India have played a key role in shaping the country’s socio-economic narrative. Yet, for every woman leader, millions lack education, healthcare, and livelihood opportunities. Their skill and talent remain untapped, and their potential to contribute to the country’s economic growth is lost.
Women promote progress both economically as well as socially. The government defines women’s empowerment as enjoying social and political rights, financial security, judicial strength, and all other rights at par with men’s.
In this context, the Government of India’s women empowerment programmes are based on the tenet –
“Empowered Women, Empowered Nation”. When talking about the overall development of women, we cannot ignore India’s commitment to the SDGs., India and other countries have signed a declaration on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which embody a sustainable roadmap for progress that leaves no one behind. Especially ensuring the empowerment of rural women will be the key to India’s accelerated economic growth and becoming a global economic power. However, achieving the goals may not be possible with government initiatives alone, and it needs partnerships of all the stakeholders amongst themselves, especially between the government, private sector and civil society. Fostering growth partnerships can be the key to achieving the SDG targets.
It is safe to say that CSR has the latent potential to address gender inequality, particularly by facilitating women’s empowerment. Corporates focusing on women’s empowerment through their social responsibilities have paved a new path that simultaneously leads to the self-development of corporations and women.
While there are still many challenges in mainstreaming gender equality, there are good examples from corporate India playing an increasingly greater role in ensuring inclusivity and diversity in their HR policies. Together, corporates under CSR and the government can provide a powerful model for gender equity and sustainable growth.
A sense of shared responsibility for both productive and reproductive life is required to maintain the household and society at large. However, much needs to be done, and the government and Indian industry are working to bridge the gap in labour force participation. However, overall, if one looks at the CSR initiatives of India Inc.
Many CSR projects aimed at women empowerment indicate that such initiatives have boosted livelihood opportunities for women: companies have meticulously identified gaps and designed interventions and projects that bring together different stakeholders with different expertise but are joined by a common goal of creating positive social impact.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been hailed as a new means to address gender inequality, particularly by facilitating women’s empowerment. Women are frequently and forcefully positioned as saviours of economies or communities and proponents of sustainability.
In the book Empowering Women Through Corporate Social Responsibility:
A Feminist Foucauldian Critique, Published online by Cambridge University Press, it is argued that a feminist Foucauldian reading of power as relational and productive can help explain this since those involved are engaged in ongoing processes of resistance and self-making. This raises questions about the assumptions made about women and what is it that such CSR programmes aim to empower them ‘from’ or ‘to.’ When viewed as an ethic of care for the self, empowerment is better understood as a self-directed process rather than a corporate-led strategy. This has implications for how we can imagine achieving gender equality through CSR.
Corporates that use their CSR fund for women’s empowerment have realised that rural women are key agents for achieving the transformational economic, environmental and social changes required for sustainable development. However, limited access to credit, health care, and education are among the many challenges they face, which are further aggravated by the global food and economic crises and climate change. Empowering them through CSR funds and activities is key to the well-being of individuals, families, and rural communities, as well as overall economic productivity, given women’s large presence in the agricultural workforce worldwide.
