Chennai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai have emerged as top cities for Women in India with their City Inclusion Scores above 60 as per the ‘Top Cities for Women in India’ report by the Avtar Group.
The survey
The report is based on the City Inclusion Score, a composite of the Social Inclusion Score (SIS) and Industrial Inclusion Store (IIS).
It made use of data from over 200 sources including the current ease of living index, Periodic Labour Force Survey, national census, crime records, National Family Health Survey, Ministry of Women & Child Development’s annual report, the IMF, and Avtar’s primary research with employer organisations and women.
Social Inclusion Score
SIS takes into account social factors (quality of life, women’s safety, women’s representation in the workforce and women’s empowerment initiatives) that makes a city to be women-friendly.
When speaking about social inclusion scores, it refers to the extent of safety, women-oriented initiatives, and a general sense of ability to live and raise families (which are critical to women).
Industrial Inclusion Store
IIS evaluates the extent to which organisations in the city across industries are inclusive of women.
This is based on three indicators–inclusive organisations, inclusive industries, and career enablers.
Poor performance
The report features a list of 111 cities for women in India based on their inclusivity parameters toward supporting a conducive ecosystem for women’s employment.
Just nine out of the 111 cities have scored above 50 in their City Inclusion scores.
Many capital cities do not feature in the top 25.
Their absence in the top 25 warrants a probe from the side of policymakers to understand barriers faced in womens inclusivity.
Opposing achievements
Delhi, Nagpur, Aurangabad, and Faridabad have a social inclusion ranking that is lower than the industrial inclusion ranking.
Puducherry, Vishakhapatnam, Surat, and Bilaspur have a high social inclusion score but a low industrial inclusion ranking.
Those with high social inclusion scores provide the opportunity for corporates to expand and set up operations here thereby attracting a larger pool of diverse talent.
How top cities fared
- 8 Tamil Nadu cities were among Top 10 Cities for Women in India in both the categories
- Kerala emerged on top in the State Averages of City Inclusion Score
- The national capital of Delhi secured 30 points less than the top city and ranked 14th in the population of over a million category.
- Cities in south India dominate the top cities for women in India. Comparing average scores for each region, the Southern region emerges on top closely followed by the West.
Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Founder – President, Avtar Group commented, “The fact that the South and West regions are more women-friendly in terms of employment is not a surprise, given the politico-historic context of these regions.
The rise of cities like Hubli, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, and Coimbatore as promising hubs of women’s employment, due to their high Industrial inclusion scores is very heartening.
Metros like Delhi and Kolkata have fallen behind in terms of social inclusion due to lower standards of safety and poor enablers for women to pursue employment”.
Other key findings
- Chennai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Vishakhapatnam, Kolkata, Coimbatore, and Madurai are the top 10 cities in category 1 – Top 25 cities with a population of more than one million.
- Tiruchirappalli, Vellore, Erode, Salem, Tirupur, Puducherry, Shimla, Mangalore., Thiruvananthapuram, and Belagavi are the top 10 cities in category 2 – Top 25 cities with a population of less than one million.
- In the northern region, the top three cities are Delhi, Srinagar, and Amritsar
- In the southern region, the top three slots are taken by Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad
- In the eastern region, Kolkata is at the top slot, followed by Dhanbad and Patna.
- In the western region, Pune, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad secure first, second and third places respectively.
- Raipur, Indore, and Bhopal secured the first, second and third places respectively in the Central region.
- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka have the top 5 state averages in the country.
