Project Report

On

“A study on the perception of women employees regarding their Empowerment at Imperfect

NGO”

Submitted In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirement

Of

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Internal Guide Submitted By:

Name Ms Tanushree AkankshaLochan

01761203913

Assistant Professor 2013-2015

Banarsidas Chandiwala Institute of Professional Studies, Dwarka, New Delhi

(Affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University)

 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this Project Report titled “A study on the perception of

women employees regarding their Empowerment at Imperfect NGO” submitted

by me to Banarsidas Chandiwala Institute of Professional Studies, Dwarka is a

bonafide work undertaken during the period from January 2015 to April 2015

by me and has not been submitted to any other University or Institution for the

award of any degree diploma / certificate or published any time before.

(Signature of the Student) Date: 05/ 05 / 2015

Name: Akanksha Lochan
Enroll. No.: 01761203913
 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that as per best of my belief the project entitled“A study on
the perception of women employees regarding their Empowerment at
Imperfect NGO” is the bonafide research work carried out by Akanksha
Lochan student of MBA, BCIPS, Dwarka, New Delhi during January –April
2015 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of
Business Administration.

He / She has worked under my guidance.

--------------------
Name Ms. Tanushree
Research Project Guide

Date: 05/05/2015

Counter signed by
-------------
Name :

Director
Date:05/05/2015
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I hereby express my profound gratitude to all those respected people who

supported me in the completion of this project.

It is indeed a matter of great pleasure and privilege to be able to present this

project on “A study on the perception of women employees regarding their
Empowerment at Imperfect NGO” in New Delhi.

The completion of the project is a milestone in a student’s life & its execution is
inevitable in the hands of our guides. I am highly indebted to the project guide
Ms Tanushree for her invaluable guidance and appreciate her for giving form
and substance to this project.

I would also like to thank our teaching staff and our friends who have helped me
all the time in one way or other. Finally I sincerely thank to all those who have
rendered their valuable service either directly or indirectly & helped us for
making the project successful.

With sincere thanks

Akanksha Lochan
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Society acts as fertilizer for business to grow, right from providing a ground till
flourishing it successfully .The concept of working of woman in cooperate
sector develop in the year 1950 in USA. It came into prominence after public
debate during 1960s and 1970s to meet the problem of poverty, unemployment,
population growth, corruption.

As the growth of the woman’s in the cooperate sector started the tremendous
revolution came in the society. Women anticipated being valued for their brain
power, assuming it would serve to create equanimity in the workplace.

Women are not only taking good care of their professional life but also makes
efforts to live a healthy and wealthy personal life .There are many successful
stories of women who didn’t give up their jobs – or their careers – and learned to
successfully manage motherhood and a career. These women pioneered
compartmentalization. They have crafted shared childcare arrangements with
other working mothers, live-in nannies (giving rise to an entire industry
heretofore virtually non-existent in the United States) and sometimes relied on
their own mothers to help with childcare.

The rising demand for childcare also created rising childcare costs, prompting
some women to choose between a career and motherhood. Rather than lose
their investment in those women, some organizations created on-site childcare
facilities to combat the trend of women choosing to stay home after maternity
leave. Some women, the alternative to leaving their careers was to start their
own businesses. They left their organizations with accumulated management
skills and a database of customers, armed as competition to those very
organizations which trained them.
This Project gave me a great learning experience and at the same time it gave me
enough scope to implement my analytical ability. The analysis and advice
presented in this Project Report is based on perception of female employees
about their empowerment. This Report will help to know about the females
working in the cooperate, the various challenges they face on eday to day basis,
the kind of environment provided to them etc.This Project as a whole can be
divided into two parts. The first part gives an insight about Woman, Cooperate
culture and gender discrimination, the Company Profile, Objectives of the study,
Research Methodology. One can have a brief knowledge about life of woman in
cooperate culture and growth of woman in the Project. The second part of the
Project consists of data and its analysis collected through survey done on
50women employees of Imperfect NGO.
 Index

 COVER AND TITLE PAGE 1

 ACKNOWLEDGMENT4

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5

 INTRODUCTION7

 COMPANY PROFILE12

 OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE 22

 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY23

 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 24

 FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS 39

 SUGGESTIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS41

 BIBLIOGRAPHY42

 ANNEXURE 49
INTRODUCTION

The opening up of Indian economy , the increased role of the private sector and the
increase in the number of the multinationals springing up has facilitated a slow but
definite rise in the number of woman managers and entrepreneurs in the cooperate
sector. Kiran Mazumder Shaw runs a biotech firm’s worth over 1.1 billion with her
stake at 449 million. Vidya Mohan Chhabria chairperson of the 2 billon Jumbo group,
and Naina Lal Kidwai Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of HSBC securities
and capital markets are the two Indian women to feature on the list of the 50 most
powerful women in International Business by Fortune magazine.

So, it can be seen how quickly the carrier of woman’s are growing in the corporate
world, gone are the days when we hardly could see any woman in the core
management of the organization. Woman are increasingly taking up superior position
in the cooperate world. Efficiency of woman to succeed professionally has been
acknowledged all over the world. Nevertheless gender discrimination in the work
place did exist and still continues in one form to another. With better education
opportunities, more and more woman are opting for financial independence by
working towards a stable carrier. If a woman qualifies on the basis of all the
requirements of a profession than there is no reason why there should be gender
discrimination in the workplace. Although laws have been passed in most of the
countries to provide equal opportunities at the workplace for both man and woman the
fact that woman and the glass ceiling still exist.

Women today comprise only 2 per cent of the total managerial strength in the Indian
corporate sector. The fact is that there are so many cases which demonstrates how
woman are undermined in the Corporates and the other forms of Institution. Many
woman struggle finding better ways to balance work and life and often this guilt
comes from outside sources like pressure from Husbands, family and friends. Some
woman opt. to travel less to have more time for their family and friends. Gender lines
are drawn early and exclusions for woman continue throughout adulthood .Not only
woman discrimination against private business but also by the federal Government.
Gender basis began elementary school continuing into collage.

Women hold a key position in the shaping of the next generation, and in the life of
their husband. The high cost of living in modern society has put the family in the

8|Page
position where both adults must work full time jobs to survive. While many people do
this purely to obtain a lot of possessions, many do so out of necessity. In the Bible, the
book of Proverbs mentions the woman of virtue working outside of her home. In the
last chapter of Proverbs, she is pictured as working long hours to help her family with
making money. The problem occurs when, after coming home from work, both
parents do not put in an equal amount of energy into the home. Often, the woman is
left with all the responsibilities with the children and household chores .This shows
how hard working the woman is and what is its position in the society in current time.

As the growth of the woman’s in the cooperate sector started the tremendous
revolution in the society.

Women anticipated being valued for their brain power, assuming it would serve to
create equanimity in the workplace. Women were donning suits, albeit skirted, and
sometimes bow-ties, to compete with their male counterparts for management
positions.

In their attempt to climb the corporate ladder they face many difficulties but they got
success and the males also accepted the fact that woman can take every challenge and
maintain their work life balance with the Cooperates. There are many successful
stories of women who didn’t give up their jobs – or their careers – and learned to
successfully manage motherhood and a career.

For the purpose of increasing women empowement in India:The United Nations

Development Programme constituted eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
for ensuring equity and peace across the world. The third MDG is directly related to
the empowerment of women in India. The MDGs are agreed-upon goals to reduce
certain indicators of disparity across the world by the year 2015.

The third MDG is centred towards promoting gender equality and empowering
women: “Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably
by 2005, and in all levels of education by no later than 2015”

While India’s progress in this front has been brave, there are quite a few corners that it
needs to cut before it can be called as being truly revolutionary in its quest for
understanding what is women empowerment. As UNDP says:-

9|Page
India missed the 2005 deadline of eliminating gender disparity in primary and
secondary education. However, the country has hastened progress and the Gender
Parity Index (GPI) for Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER) in primary and secondary
education has risen. Given current trends, India is moderately or almost nearly on
track. However, as the Government of India MDG Report 2009 notes, “participation
of women in employment and decision-making remains far less than that of men, and
the disparity is not likely to be eliminated by 2015.” Achieving GPI in tertiary
education also remains a challenge. In addition, the labour market openness to women
in industry and services has only marginally increased from 13-18 percent between
1990-91 and 2004-05.

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Company Profile

Info Edge (India) Limited (Info Edge) is an India-based online classifieds company.
The Company is primarily in the business of Internet based service delivery operating
in four service verticals: recruitment services, matrimonial services, real estate
services and education services the recruitment portfolio is supported by the offline
executive search business Quadrangle and the associated portal
www.quadranglesearch.com. The Company has a Web portal, www.naukrigulf.com
that caters to the Middle-East job markets; the professional networking site,
www.brijj.com, and the fresher hiring site, www.firstnaukri.com. Its other vertical
Websites include the online matrimonial classified vertical, which operates through
the portal www.jeevansathi.com. The online real estate classified vertical, which
operates through the portal www.99acres.com. The Company’s online educational
classifieds vertical, which operates through the portal www.shiksha.com.

The Investee companies of Imperfect NGO are

 Zomato

 Happily Unmarried

 Policy Bazar

 Mydala etc.

Most of women working here are:

 Women employees are sincere and diligent and meticulously complete their
work;

 They are time conscious and punctual.

 They are less often involved in frauds and corruption

 They know their responsibilities.

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Literature Review
Studies on Empowerment of Working Women A number of studies have been carried
out in India and elsewhere that have tried to look in to the empowerment of women.
The study by Vianello et al. (1990) showed that a husband’s power within marriage
tended to increase in proportion to the resources that he could muster: education,
income, prestige, social status, and so on. The author also found that the husband’s
power was associated with the stage in the life cycle and with the presence of children
in the home. More importantly, wives who worked for pay had more power than
wives not gainfully employed.

The study by Malhotra et al. (2002) identifies the methodological 4 approaches in

measuring and analyzing the empowerment of women. The various indicators for
measuring empowerment of women given in the study are: domestic decision-making;
finance and resource allocation; social and domestic matters; child related issues;
access to or control over resources; freedom of movement; and so on.

In the study named “Emancipation of women through Empowerment" conducted by

Deepa T Barani (2009-2010) it was found that Advancement in technology,
knowledge transfer, and education speaks about the well-being of the nation. But the
real term of development or advancement lies in empowering the women . In India,
the empowermentof rural women will lead to the overall development of our
economy. With these perspectives, this paper reveals whether the empowerment
process has really helped the women community to develop them on economic, social
and political basis

In the study conducted by Achar, Ananthapadhmanabha. (2008) “Women

Empowerment by Entrepreneurship Development” it was observed It has been
globally accepted that women entrepreneurship development results in overall
economic and social development of the nation. Being an empowering process,
developing entrepreneurship among women brings them into the main stream and thus
leads to economic development women's entrepreneurial activities are not only a

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means for economic survival but also, empower them economically and enable them
to contribute more to overall development. Now there is a worldwide consensus that
women Entrepreneurship Development leads women empowerment.

In an article by Paula Cantor(1980) named “DETERMINANTS OF WOMEN'S

MICROENTERPRISE SUCCESS IN AHMEDABAD, INDIAit was investigated.
That the determinants of a two-dimensional concept of microenterprise success for
women in Ahmedabad, India, by analyzing data from a 1998 study of home-based
garment producers. Growing economic success for these garment producers decreased
empowerment outcomes, which suggests that evaluating both economic and
empowerment outcomes and their interactions is important to understanding the
process of achieving success. Improving the economic outcomes of women's
enterprises via better training and access to markets, credit, and capital equipment
does not necessarily facilitate women's empowerment. Microenterprise scholars and
practitioners must focus on improving women's status within their homes, so they
may contribute to and benefit from the decisions made about how to use their
resources.

In further study carried out by Ranjula Bali Swain (2006) Does microfinance
empower women? Evidence from self‐help groups in India it was exposed that
Microfinance programmes like the Self Help Bank Linkage Program in India have
been increasingly promoted for their positive economic impact and the belief that they
empower women. However, only a few studies rigorously examine the link between
microfinance and women’s empowerment. This article contributes to this discussion
by arguing that women’s empowerment takes place when women challenge the
existing social norms and culture, to effectively improve their well‐being. It
empirically validates this hypothesis by using quasi‐experimental household sample
data collected for five states in India for 2000 and 2003. A general model is estimated
by employing appropriate techniques to treat the ordinal variables in order to estimate
the impact of the Self Help Group (SHG) on women’s empowerment for 2000 and
2003. The results strongly demonstrate that on average, there is a significant increase
in the empowerment of women in the SHG members group

In the study conducted by Mithun Dey,”Need for women empowerment” he says

thatIn this contemporary world, women need to gain the same amount of power that

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men have. Now, it is time to forget that men are the only holders of power. In India,
women are still facing different obstacles in male-dominated cultures. The things are
related to women’s status and their future. However, I believe that Indian women are
slowly getting empowerment in the sectors like education, politics, the work force and
even more power within their own households. The worth of civilization can be
arbitrated by the place given to women in the society

Many women self-help groups in rural India have motivated thousands of uneducated
women to work in community to achieve financial independence. Micro-enterprise
development related to livestock management activities like dairy farming, poultry
farming, livestock feed production and production of vermi compost using the animal
waste can be an important area in which women can utilize both their technical skills
and raw materials from the farms and livestock to earn substantial income.

What is Women Empowerment?

There are a variety of understandings of the term ‘empowerment’ due to its

widespread usage. Yet this widely used term is rarely defined. The claims for
women’s empowerment to be the goal or ultimate objective of many development
policies and programmes leads to a demand for indicators of empowerment, both to
reveal the extent to which women are already empowered, and also to evaluate if such
policies and programmes have been effective towards their stated aims.

Empowerment is described as “the enhancement of assets and capabilities of diverse

individuals and groups to engage, influence and hold accountable the institutions which affect
them.” Social inclusion is defined as “the removal of institutional barriers and the
enhancement of incentives to increase the access of diverse individuals and groups to assets
and development opportunities.1” Thus, empowerment process, operates “from below” and
involves agency, as exercised by individuals and groups. Social inclusion, in contrast, requires
systemic change that may be initiated “from above.”

The word empowerment goes together with power, one way of thinking about power is in
terms of the ability to make choices: to be disempowered, therefore, implies to be denied the
choice. Thus, the notion of empowerment is that it is inescapably bound up with the condition

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 of disempowerment and refers to the processes by which those who have been denied the
ability to make choices acquire such ability.

Empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors is essential
to build stronger economies, achieve internationally agreed goals for development and
sustainability, and improve the quality of life for women, men, families and
communities.
The private sector is a key partner in efforts to advance gender equality and empower
women. Current research demonstrating that gender diversity helps businesses
perform better signals that self-interest and common interest can come together. Yet,
ensuring the inclusion of women’s talents, skills and energies—from executive offices
to the factory floor and the supply chain—requires intentional actions and deliberate
policies.
The Women’s Empowerment Principles offer practical guidance to business and the
private sector on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and
community. Developed through a partnership between UN Women and the United
Nations Global Compact, the Principles are designed to support companies in
reviewing existing policies and practices—or establishing new ones—to realize
women’s empowerment.
In brief, the Principles are:
1. Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality
2. Treat all women and men fairly at work—respect and support human rights and
nondiscrimination
3. Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers
4. Promote education, training and professional development for women
5. Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that
empower women
6. Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy
7. Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality

While concerns with women’s empowerment have their roots in grassroots

mobilisations of various kinds, feminist scholars helped to move these concerns onto
the gender and development agenda . Their contributions drew attention to the
unequal power relations which blocked women’s capacity to participate in, and help

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to influence, development processes and highlighted the nature of the changes that
might serve to promote this capacity at both individual and collective level. There
were a number of features that distinguished these early contributions.

First of all, there was a focus on women’s subjectivity and consciousness (‘the power
within’) as a critical aspect of the processes of change. Secondly, they emphasized the
importance of valued resources (material, human as well as social) to women’s
capacity to exercise greater control over key aspects of their lives and to participate in
the wider societies (‘the power to’). Thirdly, these contributions attached a great deal
of significance to the need for women to come together collectively as women, both to
acquire a shared understanding of the institutionalized (rather than individual and
idiosyncratic) nature of the injustices they faced and to act collectively to tackle these
injustices, a challenge beyond the capacity of uncoordinated individual action.
Processes of empowerment were seen to have a strong collective dimension (‘the
power with’). Finally, these contributions recognised that women did not form a
homogenous group. Gender inequalities intersected with other forms of socio-
economic inequality, including class, caste, race, ethnicity, location and so on,
frequently exacerbating the injustices associated with them. The widely used
distinction between women’s practical gender needs and strategic gender interests
partly helped to capture some of the differences and commonalities between women
within a given context (Molyneux, 1985).

Macro and Micro Indicators of Empowerment

There are a variety of ways in which indicators of empowerment can be

developed. Each have some value, but none can be taken as complete or absolute
measure, because the nature of empowerment as a multi-faceted concept means that it
is not readily quantifiable. To understand empowerment it is helpful to divide
indicators of empowerment intotwo categories: those which attempt to measure
women’s empowerment at a broad societal level, in order to gain information and
make comparisons between countries (GEM, GDI), and those which are developed in
order to measure the effects of specific projects or programmes or catalytic factors
(education, employment etc.) requiring a micro approach involving women
themselves as agents of change.

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 There have been several efforts to devise micro indicators of empowerment. In
this effort, Naila Kabeer, Linda Mayoux, Anne Marie Goetz, Rahman, Ackerley, JSI
(John Show International researchers), Sara Longwe and Hashmi have provided their
own indicators.

JSI Six Domains of Empowerment

Domain Expressions

1. Sense of Self & vision Assertiveness, plans for the future, future-oriented actions,
of a future relative freedom from threat of physical violence, awareness of
own problems and options, actions indicating sense of security.

2. Mobility & visibility Activities outside of the home, relative freedom from harassment
in public spaces, interaction with men.

3. Economic Security Property ownership, new skills and knowledge and increased
income, engaged in new/non-traditional types of work

4. Status & decision- Self-confidence, controlling spending money, enhanced status in

making power within the family, has/controls/spends money, participation in/makes
the household decisions on allocation of resources, not dominated by others

5. Ability to interact Awareness of legal status and services available, ability to get
effectively in the public access to social services, political awareness, participation in
sphere credit program, provider of service in community.

6. Participation on non- Identified as a person outside of the family, forum for creating
family groups sense of solidarity with other women, self-expression and
articulation of problems, participating in a group with
autonomous structure.

JSI defines empowerment in a behavioral sense as the ability to take effective

actionencompassing inner state (sense of self, of one’s autonomy, self-confidence,

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openness to new ideas, belief in one’s own potential to act effectively) and a person’s
status and efficacy in social interactions. In particular, it is the ability to make and
carry out significant decisions affecting one’s own life and the lives of others.

Various issues in Women Empowerment

The various issues of women impowerment talks of the problems and challenges
faced by the women employees in the corporate sector:

Women and Poverty, including Women’s Economic Empowerment

Women and Poverty, including Women’s Economic Empowerment and female-headed

households tend to suffer poverty and economic marginalisation more acutely than men and
male-headed households in India. A number of factors contribute to the differentials in the
experience of poverty and economic advantage. These include social and cultural conventions
that restrict women’s access to and control of productive resources. Gendered inequalities also
exist in the development of human capabilities (education, skills and information). There are
inequalities in access to development programmes and resources, as well as the increasing
burden on women of caring for relatives including children, the aged, and terminally ill family
members (invalids). This translates to women having lower incomes but more dependants.
This situation contributes to lack of development of human capabilities and perpetuates
women’s poverty in particular, over generations.

Gender perspectives on health

Gender differences in health are explained from at least two perspectives, the
biological and the socio‐cultural.The biological perspective stresses genetics,
physiological and anatomical features as explanatory factors while the socio‐cultural
perspective accentuates women’s and men’s diverse circumstances in social, working
and family life. The biological perspective is often viewed as uncomplicated. Women
and men are seen as separated and unchangeable units, universally applied. The

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socio‐cultural perspective is more complex and has to consider the individual in a
context influenced by family, work and society. This perspective has to understand the
construction of femininity and masculinity and how these are influenced by society
and culture. As opposed to the biological perspective the socio‐cultural also has to
recognize the constructions’ changeability. However, it is essential to integrate these
two perspectives, since neither can be sufficient on its own.

The work‐family conflict has been found to constitute a risk for sickness absence in
both women and men, most pronounced in women however, and with poorer health
outcome among women. Even though this thesis is focusing on work‐related stress in
women it is vital to keep in mind the influences of stress from other domains of life.

Women in Power and Decision-Making

The participation of women in decision-making at all levels of public and private life is
important as an issue of human rights as well as for the strengthening of the democratic
process. Democracy also requires that all participate in the making of decisions, not only at the
national, public level, but at all levels including the so called private sphere of the family, their
work place, the school, the club, the trade union or any other organisation.

Violence Against Women, including Human Rights of Women

Violence Against Women, including Human Rights of Women Violence against women and
the girl-child has become recognised as one of the pervasive social problems, which require
urgent attention. Violence against women and girls is a serious concern and an escalating
problem, which destroys the emotional, physical and social well being of women and girls.
The recent study on the socio–economic implications of violence against women, shows the
government’s commitment to rooting out this evil from the society. A multi-sectoral plan to
implement the recommendations of the study has been developed.

Occupational gender segregation

The fact that the labor market is gender segregated both horizontally and vertically can
also have an impact on health development and sickness absence in women. The
horizontal segregation concentrates women and men in separate occupations; women
are mainly in public employment, providing education, social service, health and
child‐care, while men work mostly in the private sector. The vertical gender
segregation refers to women not being in higher positions, either in female or in male

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dominated occupations, and to the possibility for women to achieve career or wage
improvement as being low.

Work characteristics and work-related stress

Work‐related characteristics, such as injustice at work, i.e. low ability to influence the
decision‐making procedures and not being listened to, has been connected to low
health perceptions as well as to sick‐leave. Poor organizational climate, including low
role‐clarity, bad social relations at work and insufficient management, have also been
related to ill‐health, sickness absence and disability pension claims. Furthermore,
organizational factors such as re‐organizations, expansions and downsizings have also
been tidied and proven to cause adverse health outcomes and to raise the rate of
sickness absence . A larger proportion of women report more physically demanding
and stressful work, a higher workload and more sleeping difficulties owing to work
than men . High workload, with both perceived high psychological and physical
demands has also been connected to symptoms of illness, as well as to sick‐leave,
predominantly among women. Physical and mental demands exceeding the
individual’s own capacity has constituted a risk for long‐term sick‐leave among
women, and not having control over working time has been related to a higher level of
self‐ reported stress and to a high risk for sick‐leave, particularly for women.

Historically, India has been a male-dominated society. Yet, in the past two decades or
so, social change has opened the possibility for women to attain managerial roles in
corporate India. Today, the number of women students in business schools has grown
significantly. These changes are in large part due to a significant cultural shift in
parental perspective that allows for the possibility of women working outside the
home, contributing economically to the family and even pursuing a career. As social
values change, Indian women have been entering the workforce in the past couple of
decades. Globalization has brought an influx of multinational corporations to India,
with Western HR practices and concepts such as gender diversity in leadership roles.
As opportunities for women in management in India slowly increase, women are
entering professions previously seen as the domain of men in the corporate world:
advertising, banking, civil services, engineering, financial services, manufacturing,
police and armed forces, and emerging fields such as IT and communications.

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Women experience great pressure to work hard to prove themselves in the workplace,
and one of the greatest obstacles is how women managers are treated by men. They
often receive differential treatment, reinforcing the stereotypical view of being inferior
and less important than men, resulting in not being offered challenging jobs and not
being part of important organizational issues.

Many women have shown the world that woman can achieve anything with hard word
gender basis means nothing to them and there is no short cut for success. Only the
hard work is the way for success here are some powerful woman’s of India who
showed the world that woman can achieve whatever they want with their talent, brain
power and hard work.

CHANDA KOCHER: CEO & MD ICICI BANK Chanda leadership qualities have
been evident from the time she started carrier. She has built a brilliant carrier while
nurturing a family as a devoted mother and wife, she is outstanding example for
woman everywhere.

SHIKHA SHARMA: MD & CEO AXIS BANK she has an impeccable pedigree
which includes education from IIM Ahmadabad. She amply demonstrated her
managerial skills at ICICI, setting up ICICI securities joint venture between ICICI and
JP Morgan and successfully steering ICICI Prudential into the position of the second
largest life insurer in the country. Now she is building an institution diversified enough
to leverage the Indian growth story.

INDRA NOOYI: PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF PEPSICO

the world fourth largest food and beverage company. According to forbs magazine‘s
2006 poll, Nooyi is the fourth most powerful woman of the world. She would take
over as chairperson of PepsiCo on May 2, 2007.

AISHWARYA RAI BACCHAN: The 1994 Miss World is one of the biggest names in
bollywood. She had made international headlines and she brought Indian beauty into
global focus.

SONIA GANDHI : The congress president and the chairperson of the ruling United
Progressive Alliance Sonia was named the third most powerful woman in the world by
Forbes magazine in 2004 and currently ranks 13th. She said “no “to prime minister
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ship in 2004. But she wields more power and the opposition parities called her a super
PM.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Primary objective

 To study the perception of working women regarding their empowerment at

Imperfect NGO.

Secondary Objectives

 To share different experiences of the woman’s working in the corporate sector

and see what challenges they are facing in the corporate world.
 To trace the problem at hand from their personal and professional phases of
life which is different for both men and women working in the same or
different field.
 To identify major factors promoting / hindering women working in India.

Scope of the Project

 Women Empowerment is a buzz word these days. The main aim of the
project report was to extract the realities of industrial world where
employability of women is maximum. It gave an insight in to work culture
and atmosphere prevailing for the women employees in the organization.
To investigate the issues prevailing at workplace for this a questionnaire
was designed and distributed to the working women following which the
data was analyzed and concluded.

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  In the end recommendation was given so that steps can be taken further to
empower more women.

Research Methodology

3.1Research Design:: Exploratory followed by Descriptive Research

3.2Data Collection: The dissertation is a mix of Primary and secondary data

i) Primary Data:Self – Administered Questionnaire was used to collect

primary data. The responses were supplemented with personal interactions.

ii) Secondary Method:Internet, Journals and Research papers were used as a

source of secondary data.

3.3 Sampling Design:

i. Sampling Technique: Non Probability- Convenience Sampling was used

ii. Population: Women employees of Imperfect NGO India Pvt ltd.
iii. Sample Size: The sample size is 50.

Research Instrument: The research instrument used is a

QUESTIONNAIREwhereLikert scale (5 point) is used. This scale gives an ease to
respondents to specifytheir level of agreement or disagreement on a symmetric agree-
disagree scale for a series of statements, the range captures the intensity of their
feelings for a given item.

A. Number of questions: The questionnaire prepared by me contains 15

questions.

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 Instrument used for analyzing the data collected: Ms Excel.
 Tools and Techniques of Analysis: The tool used for analysis in the project is
percentage, tabulation and barcharts.

Data Analysis & Interpretation

ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA

1). Gender based favoritism is faced by you during promotions or while getting
incentives?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 6 12%
Agree 5 10%
Neutral 12 24%
Disagree 13 26%
Strongly Disagree 14 28%

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 Chart 1
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 22% believe that no gender based favouritism is faced by

them during promorions whereas 54% think otherwise(or disagree with the same).

2) The attitude of your superiors and male colleagues is dominating towards you?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 7 14%
Agree 8 16%
Neutral 12 24%
Disagree 11 22%
Strongly Disagree 12 24%

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 Chart 2
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 30% believe that the attitude of their superiors and male
colleagues is dominating towards them whereas 46% disagree with the same.

3)At your workplace you receive a constant support from the management in all your
endeavors?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 8 16%
Agree 8 16%
Neutral 10 20%
Disagree 14 28%
Strongly Disagree 10 20%

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 Chart 3
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 32% believe that they receive a constant support from the
management in all your endeavorswhereas 48% disagree with the same.

4).Gender puts an additional pressure on you to prove yourself?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 14 28%
Agree 16 32%
Neutral 10 20%
Disagree 8 16%
Strongly Disagree 2 4%

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 Chart 4
40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 60% believe that gender puts an additional pressure on

them to prove themselves whereas 20% disagree with the same.

5). Is there a sense of equality in terms of remuneration among men and women employees in
the organisation?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 6 12%
Agree 4 8%
Neutral 10 20%
Disagree 20 40%

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 Strongly Disagree 10 20%

Chart 5
50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 20% believe that there a sense of equality in terms of

remuneration among men and women employees in the whereas 60% disagree with the
same.

6). Are you provided with equal opportunities to grow and develop yourself as compared to
your male counterparts?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 10 20%
Agree 16 32%
Neutral 20 40%

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 Disagree 2 4%
Strongly Disagree 4 8%

Chart 6
50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 52% believe that they are provided with equal opportunities to
grow and develop yourself as compared to your male counterpartswhereas 12% disagree
with the same.

7) Do you feel hesitant to work with your male colleagues because they may underestimate
you on the basis of gender?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

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 Strongly Agree 13 26%
Agree 10 20%
Neutral 15 30%
Disagree 7 14%
Strongly Disagree 5 10%

Chart 7
40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 46% believe that they feel hesitant to work with their male
colleagues because they may underestimate you on the basis of whereas 24% disagree with
the same.

8) Do you face sexual or gender based abuse of any kind by your boss or colleagues?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

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 Strongly Agree 5 10%
Agree 11 22%
Neutral 10 20%
Disagree 10 20%
Strongly Disagree 14 28%

Chart 8
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 32% believe that they face sexual or gender based abuse of any
kind by your boss or colleagueswhereas 48% disagree with the same.

8 a) If yes, did the office authorities take any strict measures against the accused
person?

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 Response Category No. of Responses Percentage
Strongly Agree 20 20%
Agree 10 20%
Neutral 14 28%
Disagree 6 12%
Strongly Disagree 0 0%

Chart 9
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 40% believe that office authorities take any strict measures
against the accused person during sexual or gender based abuse whereas 12% disagree
with the same.

b).If no, do you think the office authorities will act in a fair manner if you ever face
any sexual or gender based harrasement?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 13 26%

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 Agree 12 24%
Neutral 14 28%
Disagree 9 18%
Strongly Disagree 2 4%

Chart 10
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 50% believe that office authorities will act in a fair manner
if we they ever face any sexual or gender based harrasementwhereas 22% disagree
with the same

9In your opinion, do people draw conclusions about your character, reputation and
attitude the way they like just because you are a woman?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 14 28%
Agree 11 22%

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 Neutral 9 18%
Disagree 14 28%
Strongly Disagree 2 4%

Chart 11
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 50% believe thatpeople draw conclusions about their

character, reputation and attitude the way they like just because you are a woman
whereas 32% disagree with the same.

10 Management ensures safety of women by providing them transport facility

during night shifts (if any)?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 16 32%
Agree 14 28%
Neutral 10 20%

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 Disagree 6 24%
Strongly Disagree 4 16%

Chart 12
40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 60% believe thatsafety of women is ensured by

providing them transport facility during night shifts whereas 40% disagree with
the same.

11 In your opinion, do people draw conclusions about your character, reputation

and attitude the way they like just because you are a woman?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 14 28%
Agree 11 22%
Neutral 9 18%
Disagree 14 28%

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 Strongly Disagree 2 4%

Chart 13
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 50% believe thatpeople draw conclusions about their

character, reputation and attitude the way they like just because you are a woman
whereas 32% disagree with the same.

12).Management ensures safety of women by providing them transport facility

during night shifts (if any)?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 16 32%
Agree 14 28%
Neutral 10 20%
Disagree 6 24%
Strongly Disagree 4 16%

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 Chart 14
40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 60% believe thatsafety of women is ensured by

providing them transport facility during night shifts whereas 40% disagree with
the same.

13 You feel to have a considerable amount of say in the decision-making process of

the organization?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 8 16%
Agree 12 24%
Neutral 14 28%
Disagree 10 20%

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 Strongly Disagree 6 12%

Chart 15
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 40% believe thata considerable amount of say in the

decision-making process of the organization whereas 32% disagree with the same.

14.Are you given all the necessary support from management during the maternity
period?

Response Category No. of Responses Percentage

Strongly Agree 12 24%
Agree 13 26%
Neutral 9 18%

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 Disagree 14 28%
Strongly Disagree 2 4%

Chart 16
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Interpretation

A majority of respondents 50% believe thata considerable amount of say in the

decision-making process of the organization whereas 32% disagree with the same.

Findings and Conclusion

Findings

 The age Group of mostly working woman was between 24-30 years.
 Most of the working women were Graduate or Post Graduate and there were few
undergraduate women.
 They do not face gender based discrimination during promotions.
 They find theattitude of their superiors and male colleagues to be supportive and
not dominating.

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 They feel that they have an additional pressure to prove themselves as compared to
male employees.
 Most of the women does not have equality in terms of remuneration when compared to
men.
 They are provided with equal opportunities to grow and develop themselves as compared
to their male counterparts.

 They feel hesitant to work with their male colleagues because they may underestimate
them on the basis of gender.
 Most of the employees does not face sexual or gender based abuse of any kind by their
boss or colleagues.
 If they face any sexual or gender based abuse office, the office authorities takes
strict action.
 People draw conclusions about their character, reputation and attitude the way they
like just because they are woman.
 They are provided cab facility for night shifts. The organisation takes measures to
ensure security of women.
 They are allowed to give suggestions and help in decision making process.
 Women are ready to fight against injustice if they are faced with any situation of
harassment or intense discrimination.
 Woman are not found themselves being discriminated by men in the office.
 Women have shown the world that woman can achieve anything with hard work.
Gender basis means nothing to them and there is no short cut for success.

Conclusion

To conclude, I would like to say that this study gave me the glimpse of the corporate
world and the way women feel regarding their empowerment. It helped me to extract
the true picture of the industries where the employability of women is maximum. On
the basis of the study I would like to say that women these days enjoy power at par
with their male counterparts. They are empowered and no longer feel shy to raise their
voice against injustice. This study further strengthens certain facts and drawbacks
which are as follows:

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Equal opportunities and resources: Considerable numbers of women feel that they
are provided with adequate resources and opportunities as compared to their male
colleagues which is a good sign for their growth as well as company’s growth.

Fight against injustice: Women are no longer submissive. They have the courage to
openly act against any kind of wrong meted out to them reflecting their gallantry.
They would not sit back in fear and accept any kind of non sense.

No underestimation: Women employees no longer feel underestimated by their male

counterparts which shows that women have arrived in the main stream of corporate
world which emanates respect and good signs for the growth of nation.

Additional pressure: Women feel the extra pressure to prove themselves i.e. they
have to work extra to show their caliber to higher authorities.

Unfair treatment: it is manifested in the form of lack of encouragement and career

progression which serves as an element of demoralization for the women and kind of
stops them from achieving their dreams.

SUGGESTIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

After analyzing the responses I would like to recommend the following things which
would further enrich the notion of modern working women regarding their
empowerment at workplaces:

 Bringing reforms in company policies, rules and regulations to accommodate

more women employees, providing opportunity to women employees to work
with male counterparts to facilitate mutual understanding.

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  Fostering career progression, career planning, equal pay, providing supportive
environment, collaborative work culture will enrich women.

 Honoring and valuing the women employees will boost their morale, steps
should be taken to elicit their good work performance

 Strong family support, internal motivation and external motivation should be

provided to the women.

 To foster and raise the standard of women’s safety at workplace stricter laws
should be implemented. Prompt action should be taken against anybody who
misbehaves or treats a woman employee wrongly. The genuine complaints
made by women should be considered with due seriousness.

 Increase in the level of education of women, changing the mindsets of people

 Shift in the regressive attitude of people, societal change would definitely

help.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Esther Duflo (2011), Women's Empowerment and Economic Development, NBER

Monthly Review Press, New York

 Naila Kabeer (2012) , Women’s economic empowerment and inclusive growth:

labour markets and enterprise development Professor, SIG Working paper 2012

 Prahlad Kumar and Tinku Paul, Empowerment of Women: Concept, Policy

Approach and Implications.Sociological Forum 12(4), pp. 599-630.

43 | P a g e
 Payal Patel, Patti Petesch (2009) and Anju Malhotra,Innovation for Women's
Empowerment and Gender Equality,Rawat Publications.

 Manisha DesaiJuly 2010,Hope in Hard Times: Women’s Empowerment and

Human Development by, UNDP Human Development Reports.

Online links

 www. Google.com
 www.ilo.org
 https://cdr.lib.unc.edu
 http://reviewsofliterature.org/
 http://www.villageearth.org/
 http://idfresearch.org/
 http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/
 http://www.womenempowermentinindia.com/
 http://en.wikipedia.org/
 Work Life balance at corporate sector available at www.citehr.com
 Gender Equity and the Corporate sector available at www.unece.org
 Gender Discrimination at Workplace article available at www.buzzle.com
 Woman urged to strengthen cooperate sector - The Hindu

44 | P a g e
 Questionnaire on Women Empowerment

A study on Growth of Woman Empowerment in corporate sector

1. Personal Details:

(a). Name:-

(b). Qualification:

(c). Age:-

(d) Occupation:-

(e) Work Experience (if any):-

2. Gender based favoritism is faced by you during promotions or while getting incentives?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

3. The attitude of your superiors and male colleagues is dominating towards you?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

4 At your workplace you receive a constant support from the management in all your
endeavors?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

5 Gender puts an additional pressure on you to prove yourself to higher authorities?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

45 | P a g e
 6 Is there a sense of equality in terms of remuneration among men and women employees in
the organisation?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

7 Are you provided with equal opportunities to grow and develop yourself as compared to
your male counterparts?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

8. Do you feel hesitant to work with your male colleagues because they may underestimate
you on the basis of gender?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

9. Do you face sexual or gender based abuse of any kind by your boss or colleagues?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

a) If yes, did the office authorities take any strict measures against the accused person?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

46 | P a g e
 b) If no, do you think the office authorities will act in a fair manner if you ever face any
sexual or gender based harassment?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

10 Do you feel hesitant to work with your male colleagues because they may underestimate
you on the basis of gender?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

11 In your opinion, do people draw conclusions about your character, reputation and attitude
the way they like just because you are a woman?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

12 Management ensures safety of women by providing them transport facility during night
shifts (if any)?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

13 You feel to have a considerable amount of say in the decision-making process of the
organization?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

14.Are you given all the necessary support from management during the maternity period?

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

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 15. In your opinion what steps should be taken by the organization to make you empowered
and to make environment more friendly?

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