We Need to be Gender Inclusive, Not Gender Neutral

Abstract

The present paper is based on an empirical study on women employees of the Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) sector in India, who have joined back their organizations physically after 2 years of working from home. The paper argues that organizational practices for work from home (WFH) during the pandemic had deep gendered implications. ITES sector in India was quick to produce WFH policies to ensure the safety ofemployees without hampering productivity.The findings of the study indicate that although organizations tried to take care of the logistic of WFH and the emotional well-being of the employees by engaging them in work and activities, these practices remained gender neutral.These gender-neutral policies had a negative implication on the productivity of women employees as they felt an empathy gap from their organizations towards them.The findings further highlighted that given the fact that almost 40 to 50 per cent of the employee base of the ITES sector is women, the work from home was designed in such a gender-neutral manner that it became extremely challenging for women.There was no specific support provided by the organization that was focused on the women employees and hence there is a need to address this empathy gap.